Microsoft bundling IE with windows deemed illegal by EU (IBM, Adobe agree)

**Nick** · April 20th, 2009 10:42 PM

Originally Posted by p0lar_bear

What burns my ass is that this will probably affect Windows distributions worldwide, and not just Europe. Look at SP3 and the Address toolba- wait you can't never mind.

Unless you hack it, of course, heh.

What? It will only affect the N edition, just like the removal of WMP and other "monopolyware". All Microsoft has to do is offer retailers the option of purchasing a monopolyware-free edition throughout the EU and they've done their part; if said retailers choose to only buy the full editions, that's not Microsoft's fault.

Nick

**Con** · April 21st, 2009 12:27 AM

Didn't this crap happen when Microsoft first started implementing IE?

**Kalub** · April 21st, 2009 01:28 AM

Ugh, most operating systems come pre-equipped with a browser, whats it matter if Windows just uses IE? (Even though IE blows) Just take 5 secs to DL another one and be about your business.

**rossmum** · April 21st, 2009 02:28 AM

Originally Posted by Kalub

Ugh, most operating systems come pre-equipped with a browser, whats it matter if Windows just uses IE? (Even though IE blows) Just take 5 secs to DL another one and be about your business.

Apparently the average consumer is too profoundly stupid/lazy to do it themselves, and this is a horrible tragedy which needs to be resolved by deeming the same thing every other company does as illegal for MS.

**Cortexian** · April 21st, 2009 02:40 AM

This is basically the same thing that prevents Windows Movie Maker and such from coming packaged with Windows now. Honestly I'm all for streamlining the OS, it makes for quicker fresh installs, as a system builder that's something I love.

**Nick** · April 21st, 2009 11:24 AM

Originally Posted by Freelancer

This is basically the same thing that prevents Windows Movie Maker and such from coming packaged with Windows now. Honestly I'm all for streamlining the OS, it makes for quicker fresh installs, as a system builder that's something I love.

I installed Windows 7 in 15 minutes. Pulling out a few hundred MB of various programs (IE, WMP, WMM, etc.) isn't going to speed that up significantly. It's not like it has to compile each application during installation, it's a simple copy operation for the most part.

Nick

**p0lar_bear** · April 21st, 2009 11:27 AM

Originally Posted by Nick

I installed Windows 7 in 15 minutes. Pulling out a few hundred MB of various programs (IE, WMP, WMM, etc.) isn't going to speed that up significantly. It's not like it has to compile each application during installation, it's a simple copy operation for the most part.

Nick

Uh, he said that having the programs added in from the get go makes it quicker.

And it does. Having Windows installed with IE, WMP, and WMM means that I don't need to stop working, find the discs, go out and buy them if I don't have them, and then wait for each of those to install.

**Nick** · April 21st, 2009 12:36 PM

Originally Posted by p0lar_bear

Uh, he said that having the programs added in from the get go makes it quicker.

No, "streamlining" means to be as minimalistic as possible to improve performance. When people talk about streamlining something, they're talking about removing "unnecessary" bloat.

Nick