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IE8 not forced on Windows 7 users
- Thread starter rpm
- Start date
Telkomisaloser
Ninja
So no Internet Exploder at all!?!?!?! 
ActivateD
Expert Member
i find it unfair on Microsoft to be forced to change.. Why not give uses the most popular browsers as a list during the installation and the user can pick which ever one he wants.If he/she wants IE then he/she can select it but to force Microsoft to remove it not cool.
Telkomisaloser
Ninja
Errrr... It's the option to remove it completely which I think is fair to the user!
MS has chosen to be the monopoly and the European Commission has chosen to cut them down to size, something the US Department of Justice tried to do and won but still was not able to force upon MS.
Balstrome
Banned
And how will you work windows update? of course with internet explorer... Any bets ?
They'll have to make sure it works with any browser now. Otherwise the EU is gonna get some more cash from MS.
Gooooo European Commission
.Asha'man X
Expert Member
Sometimes I wonder why these commissions are so worked up about these things. While most people have internet, some people don't still, even in the most well developed parts of Europe. A minority, but they exist. I know I would be mad if I started up my shiny new computer and want to play a mp3 or video clip and I have no media player already built in. Without net access, how am I supposed to get one? (Hypothetical situation of course)
While choice is great, sometimes too much choice can be a bad thing. If I play a tune or video clip, I don't want to worry about whether to choose Real Player, Media Player, WinAmp, iTunes, Media Player Classic, VLC etc...
Also, why isn't Apple also being investigated for this? They do the exact same thing. Is it just because they are smaller?
While choice is great, sometimes too much choice can be a bad thing. If I play a tune or video clip, I don't want to worry about whether to choose Real Player, Media Player, WinAmp, iTunes, Media Player Classic, VLC etc...
Also, why isn't Apple also being investigated for this? They do the exact same thing. Is it just because they are smaller?
I think the issue is that these things are available for install, BUT are not forcibly installed by default as they are now. A person is given a choice, eg
"Install Media Player" -- Yes or No. You can still choose Yes.
Apple is a complete product. It's hardware plus OS. Windows is just the OS.
Also Windows got to where it got by some pretty nasty anti-trust actions, at least as shown by the US DOJ and the EC. When you buy a PC (from company 1) you must buy Windows from company 2 automatically. There is now more Linux available but yeah.... still the inertia of Windows in the market has made most software available for that platform and everyone learns about Windows because schools get discounts on MS products and so on and on....
DJNgoma
Expert Member
I don't remember Vista or in this case 7 even needing IE at all for Windows Updates, I think letting people downloading their applications is better than having it integrated with the OS. Imagine if the applications are integrated, then we would get "those" people complaining to Microsoft just because the developor's application has bugs. I highly doubt they would want to create a service pack with optional extras.
Arthur
Honorary Master
Yeah, and did you know new hires at Mirosoft have to spend their first year going into homes and offices pulling guns on people forcing them to install stuff like Media Player and IE. And then there was this secret rendition program where the Microsoft Software Police captured recalcitrant individuals and sent them to re-education centers. Thankfully Big Governments, always eager to protect the ordinary honest taxpayer, have put a stop to that. I for one am really grateful, and can't wait for governments to legislate software standards and control those who get too successful.
PS. Unite the urban proletariat! USSA!
Sackboy
Executive Member
I remember Microsoft had by default all the install boxes ticked (a long list of them) and it was quite a task to go through each one and deselect it. They didn't provide a 'choose all' function, which they could easily have done. That's what they are like.
Please tell me, how would a competing browser enter the Microsoft Windows market when Windows simply provides all the browser you need?
Surely one browser should be enough then? Though it may be a buggy browser or full of security holes.
One media player?
And successful they are, but to the point that you can ONLY buy Windows on a PC in an ordinary consumer shop. No alternatives, until the netbooks came along and MS' own folly of Vista's bloated resources led to return of XP and a cheaper alternative - Linux - on Netbooks. MS was happy to bring XP back very quickly, perhaps it's leaned down Win7 is a tactic to counter Linux on the netbook.
And Windows, why is it so full of security holes? Why can it run an application just with preview or even just by hovering a mouse over the icon? The said application can take over or sabotage your system logging your keystrokes and stealing your credit card numbers and goodness knows what else. Why are there so many Zombie Windows Botnets?
Surely with Mac's what - 5-8% share in the developed world, and the likelihood that Mac users have more disposable income than people using PCs
at corporate offices and schools, malware writers would target the Macintosh and we'd see keylogging and bank account or credit card pilfering that way?
I don't hate MS, I just want more choice and perhaps if we had more Linux we could have more apps for Linux and MS would become less complacent and more competitive. Maybe we'd see more value?
I'm definitely not Communist, heck I grew up under Communism but sometimes an unfair monopoly has to be reprimanded and the punishment MS received wasn't all that severe.
I've used Internet Explorer until about 2 months ago, virtually exclusively. Sure, I started with Netscape 1 in 1995 on Win 3.1, the availability of IE in Win9x eventually swayed me towards IE. I occasionally used FireFox and Opera and Netscape (till that died) but it was always a mission to install. Recently I converted entirely to FF at home and work and use FF 99% of the time and I've experienced a great qualitative improvement in my browsing. No more crashes, no more frozen IE screens, it also seems
subjectively faster. It has a few bugs of it's own but apart from that FF seems to offer a far better experience for me.
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supersunbird
Honorary Master
I use IE all the time and experience no problems...
lilDeath
Executive Member
lol... no matter what MS does, there will always be someone finding something wrong with whatever they do. It's what you get for being the market leader.
I consider this a good move on their part.
I consider this a good move on their part.
sunsoffun
Expert Member
the mass public out there don't really care what browser they use.... they just search the desktop for the "e" icon and double click that.
It blows my mind what people can moan about these days!
It blows my mind what people can moan about these days!
omg, they should stop crying !!!
Linux distros and Mac OS X both got a default browser, media player, etc installed with them. I understand that with windows install you can't select not to install them but hopefully now that users can select to disable these apps they will stop complaining.
People also don't know that many apps might need that IE or media player to be installed for some of their 3rd party apps to work. For example if I wanted a quick and easy way to get video playback in my app I can easily use media player sdk to get that going in my app, but if the media player was not installed then my app would not work cause the needed DLLs, filters, etc might not be present on the system. Think this was mentioned in the article that these things won't totally be removed and IE or mediaplayer, etc app will only be "disabled".
Linux distros and Mac OS X both got a default browser, media player, etc installed with them. I understand that with windows install you can't select not to install them but hopefully now that users can select to disable these apps they will stop complaining.
People also don't know that many apps might need that IE or media player to be installed for some of their 3rd party apps to work. For example if I wanted a quick and easy way to get video playback in my app I can easily use media player sdk to get that going in my app, but if the media player was not installed then my app would not work cause the needed DLLs, filters, etc might not be present on the system. Think this was mentioned in the article that these things won't totally be removed and IE or mediaplayer, etc app will only be "disabled".