Windows 7 E coming to Europe without Internet Explorer

Likely being mindful of the ever-watchful eye of the European Union, Microsoft's announced its Euro version of Windows 7, affectionately and officially dubbed Windows 7 E, will not come packaged with Internet Explorer, or any other browser for that matter. Of course that's not the whole story, as OEMs will be provided free copies of IE8 to bundle themselves alongside / instead of other browser options, and consumers can pick up their own copies via CD, FTP, or retail channels. This is undoubtedly in response to the antitrust cases the EU keeps throwing Microsoft's way, and while we wouldn't be surprised to see it end up on almost every European computer sold, we do wonder if this will at all speed up IE's already rapidly diminishing share in the war of web browsers.

[Rey @ Jun 11th 2009 10:14PM]

If only I can get my Windows 7 without IE, I prefer Firefox, IE is crazy slow

[TeddyLikesComputahs! @ Jun 11th 2009 10:26PM]

IE is awesome on 7!

[Setnev @ Jun 11th 2009 10:32PM]

Firefox is quickly getting on my shitlist. The things that are wrong with it thus far. It takes so long on my XP machine to open vs. other browsers. Not to mention the consistent memory leaks that have plagued it since FF2. My new browser of choice is Chrome 2. I find it loads quicker, surfs quicker, and there is not one single memory leak while listening to streaming radio.

[no. @ Jun 11th 2009 10:35PM]

Agreed. Firefox is getting pretty bloated.

I use Opera on my mac and Chrome on my PC now.

[Scot @ Jun 11th 2009 10:39PM]

From the UK myself, and I find this to be absolute ****. A giant annoyance, but beyond that what does it achieve? Ultimately these people are still going to get IE installed. Or are there browsers on disc out there in shops I wasn't aware of?

[Timstew @ Jun 11th 2009 10:54PM]

I thought I was alone with FF loading/unloading so slowly. My main issue with IE7/8 is that the top interface is too static for my liking (the same with Chrome).

[BigD145 @ Jun 11th 2009 10:54PM]

You could just use your pre-7 era computer to download it.

[OneLove @ Jun 11th 2009 11:33PM]

I find it funny that IE 32-bit is default in 64-bit windows. However, when I switched to 64-bit IE I got:

"Adobe Flash Player is not supported for playback in a 64-bit browser. However, you can run Flash Player in a 32-bit browser running on a 64-bit operating system."

Say what? Whats the deal?

[WixosTrix @ Jun 11th 2009 11:38PM]

In Windows 7 IE is a feature just like Paint and can be turned off. Just go to Programs and Features in the control panel.

[Mike10010100 @ Jun 11th 2009 11:47PM]

Have you all tried the beta Firefox 3.5? It's like the speed of Chrome with the addons you love.

[Templarian @ Jun 11th 2009 11:50PM]

@Mike10010100, Agreed, I need it for development reasons and love it.

[Mike10010100 @ Jun 11th 2009 11:52PM]

Seriously, I JUST (like 2 seconds ago) updated to the b99 release (the one right before the release candidate), and I have to admit, even going from the 5th or 4th beta to the 99, it's SUCH a huge difference. It pulled up in a half second flat.

[Andrew Timson @ Jun 12th 2009 12:07AM]

"Say what? Whats the deal?"

The deal is that Adobe is far behind in porting their applications to 64-bit. And 64-bit browsers can only run 64-bit plugins (or at least, not without major difficulties).

[SABRAGE @ Jun 12th 2009 12:22AM]

Firefox has been slow for me for about the last year, I've been using Chrome since it released in September or whatever that was. But if they're getting Firefox back up to speed I'll gladly switch back for the add-ons.

[insky @ Jun 12th 2009 12:27AM]

OneLove
Now you see why 32 bit IE is installed by default. Adobe doesn't make a 64 bit version of Flash. Microsoft would have a lot of upset people if they had a default version of IE that didn't have flash. Not to mention all the fanbois who would be complaining that M$ is just copying the iPhone.

Straight from Adobe themselves.
http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/000/6b3af6c9.html

[Mike10010100 @ Jun 12th 2009 12:37AM]

Yeah, Firefox 3.5 would be the best time to switch back. Loads like butter.

[The Angry Intern @ Jun 12th 2009 12:55AM]

@Setnav: if your Firefox is loading up slow, go into the options, click on Privacy and change the History from the default 90 days to something like 7 days. I had the same issue, and after I changed it to 7 days the startup time was drastically reduced

[Setnev @ Jun 12th 2009 1:34AM]

@The Angry Intern

Trust me, I have firefox set to clear out all private info, except passwords, everytime i close Firefox, and it makes not a one difference. Its funny cause my Chrome history is almost 2 months long and it loads up fine. My Vista laptop has half the specs as my desktop and it loads firefox lightning quick and they are configured the same with the same addons. IDK, but beside that, the memory leaks are a killer and i have performed every tweak known to Google on Firefox to help dampen some of the leaks, but all it does is prolong it and makes FF hangup 10x worse when it overflows memory. I have 4GB in my DT and firefox will use about 800-900MB before it starts slowing and crashing and all the tweaks in the world cant stop that. It takes down my whole system and i have to force close FF.

@Mike10010100
Maybe i will try the FF3.5B99 until the 3.5 release comes out. Test it for memory leaks.

[Leo Z. @ Jun 12th 2009 2:21AM]

@Jakem

The hell's wrong with Opera? I am honestly struggling to find any fault with it besides it's RAM use, and come on, if you're short on RAM, upgrade to the 21st century.

[nikster @ Jun 12th 2009 3:21AM]

Never thought I'd say this but... Safari 4 FTW. Fastest, bestest.

[dros @ Jun 12th 2009 6:01AM]

Safari 4 FTW, agreed

big caveat - only on a Mac does this hold true...

in Windows it's Chrome all the way

[OnOffPT @ Jun 12th 2009 6:22AM]

For me that's ok as long as they provide an intuitive way for the end user to install their preferred browser.
Being a mixed Linux/Windows user, I still find some websites that require IE to show properly.

The possibility that I am seeing is that the Desktop will have an icon saying something like "Go to Internet" that will popup a combobox to select the browser to be installed. If you are running on a 3G connection this can be painful if it does not support resume.

I would like to say that I am addict to Firefox due to their wonderful extensions (25 add-ons in use at the moment).

[wrabbit @ Jun 12th 2009 7:07AM]

@Mike10010100: I've been using 3.5 beta for couple of months now, and have upgraded to 3.5b99 this past few days (whenever it came out) and it's not butter for me. It's definitely faster than 3.0.1 (or whatever current version is), but it's still takes a while to load and worst part is memory consumption - I just opened it, I have two tabs, google reader and this one, and it's already up to 109MB, and it's about 70MB or so on fresh open - now, you explain to me how I need extra 40MB for an Engadget article tab. I still like Firefox and can't bring myself to use anything else consistently because I'm a slave to extensions, but the load and memory use are definitely issues for me.

As for the topic :) I think it might not be such a bad idea. So what if OEMs are provided with free IE8, every other browser is free as well. It would be interesting to see if any major OEMs start providing Firefox or Opera with their systems. After all Dell did start putting Linux on their computer (a bit different I know, but close enough) so why not this.

[inteller @ Jun 12th 2009 11:51AM]

everyone is ignoring the fact that Windows Update will just push down IE8 as an "optional" update. Not including IE7 is actually not a bad thing as it will just speed up IE8 adoption.

Oh and the EU is stupid. This is the second time they have been made to look like fools (the first time was Windows N)

[Wwhat @ Jun 12th 2009 7:25PM]

Yeah chrome with a gator toolbar is best.. for fools.

[E71 @ Jun 15th 2009 8:13PM]

The E.U. can suck it.

[HardlyUncleTom @ Jun 11th 2009 10:15PM]

How will I download Firefox now?

[Leindurstit @ Jun 11th 2009 10:17PM]

That's not important. What IS important is that you now have a choice! Happy?

[Ryan Trevisol @ Jun 11th 2009 10:18PM]

I forsee a large market for Firefox-on-Flashdrive in Europe this fall. Sell 'em on old obsolete small capacity thumbdrives for like €0.99 and make a kliling. . . .

[Andrew Moulton @ Jun 11th 2009 10:29PM]

Don't tell anybody, but if you uninstall IE you can enter a web address in the path field of an Windows Explorer window and download FF, no problem :-P

[pastis1981 @ Jun 11th 2009 10:34PM]

That's my question! Is a computer with no web browser really better for the the average computer user? I guess you could open a command line and...um...ftp into a Firefox mirror? Redonk.

[Dr. Spaceman @ Jun 11th 2009 10:34PM]

wget http://mozilla2.snt.utwente.nl//firefox/releases/3.0.11/win32/en-US/Firefox%20Setup%203.0.11.exe

[Good_Bytes @ Jun 11th 2009 10:36PM]

You have to go a store and buy Opera, Firefox, IE or any web browser that is available. Presumable the price you buy for the disk covers the disk and packaging costs. Or go on another computer, download a web browser of your choice, put it into a media and then install it on your browser-less Windows 7.

[Setnev @ Jun 11th 2009 10:50PM]

Edit: How will you download Chrome now?

[birthday is 1990 @ Jun 11th 2009 11:09PM]

Very good point. How will we be able to download anything without an internet browser? This seems like a stupid call by the EU...

[ethana2 @ Jun 11th 2009 11:13PM]

Your computer vendor will preinstall a web browser. This just makes it more likely that it will be one worth using.

[CrunchBang @ Jun 11th 2009 11:24PM]

http://en-us.www.mozilla.com/en-US/

[darkmax @ Jun 11th 2009 11:35PM]

By using the magic that is the EU.

[GaryZ @ Jun 11th 2009 11:57PM]

No worries, a short video showing the use of command line FTP is included :)

[-Tj- @ Jun 12th 2009 12:20AM]

That's what I was thinking. If there's no browser included, how are you supposed to download alternatives?

[Ian @ Jun 12th 2009 1:29AM]

It's ridiculous, isn't it? The EU really should include a browser. It's 2009, and not having a browser included with the system would be annoying as hell. Even downloading another browser would be extremely difficult.



Besides, Apple gets to include Safari.

[SoulinEther @ Jun 12th 2009 1:45AM]

I don't understand that either. It's not like people know how to use wget (doesn't exist on windows; i guess the closest thing would be Start > Run or something)..

This strikes me as utter bullcrap. lol

[Dking @ Jun 12th 2009 1:56AM]

probably EU thinks Firefox/Chrome/Opera instalations apear magicly on your computer. hmm... I would say before switching to 7 get the instalation on CD or Flash drive?! Stupid EU.... why can't microsoft bundle their products, apple does hey have safari in their MAC OS X. They should do that too then... and all this is like WTF?!

[FreXxX @ Jun 12th 2009 3:12AM]

Yeah, thats my thought! :D

[r3loaded @ Jun 12th 2009 3:43AM]

OEM's will most likely preinstall a browser of their own choosing. I hope they don't do this for retail copies of Windows though (or maybe you can just re-enable it from Programs and Features in Control Panel).

[Erix @ Jun 12th 2009 3:45AM]

Completely agree. As much as I dislike using IE how are you supposed to get another browser without one to start with? It's all well saying OEMs can bundle what they like but what about people buying it off the shelf? What would be best surely is that it comes with IE (not like they'll ever bundle anything else in there) and have the option to fully remove it if desired without it impacting on the windows shell in any way.

[G @ Jun 12th 2009 4:00AM]

i was going to ask the same thing :(

[Chad @ Jun 12th 2009 8:53AM]

That's funny but serious. I think it would be hilarious if MS didn't install any browser and didn't let OEMs put one on. People (non geeks) would have no idea how to get access to the internet. It could be the end of the internets....j/k I wonder if the EU would sue them for selling Europe a crippled OS.

[petrosdias @ Jun 12th 2009 11:22AM]

!!!!!!! I was thinking this whole time "it's about friggin time they removed IE from Windows" then I saw your comment...CRAP! How the HELL am I going to donwload Firefox now? It's like the first thing I do when I install windows, I fire up IE go to mozilla and download and install Firefox. I'm so...I'm so confused.

[Alex @ Jun 12th 2009 1:54PM]

PC manufacturers in Europe will still have the option to add IE back to the computers they sell. (Or Firefox, or Chrome, or w/e.) But I still think this is bullshit because the EU is punishing a successful company by making it sell a product that is crappier. It's a mandated step backwards. What the fuck, EU.