Microsoft drops plan for Windows 7 without browser

QUOTE
By Marc Ferranti
August 1, 2009 01:12 PM ET

IDG News Service - Microsoft is canceling its plan to offer versions of Windows without the Internet Explorer browser in Europe, a move that was supposed to ease antitrust concerns.

The decision to scrap the browserless version of its operating system, dubbed Windows 7 E, was in response to statements made by the European Commission and feedback from manufacturers, according to Dave Heiner, Microsoft's vice president and deputy general counsel, in a blog statement titled "Windows 7 and Browser Choice in Europe" and posted late Friday.

However, Microsoft still has plans in place to offer a "ballot screen" designed to let Windows 7 users install a competing Web browser and disable Internet Explorer.

Microsoft cooked up both plans in response to antitrust concerns raised in January by the European Commission, the European Union's executive and regulatory branch. The Commission said that Microsoft is distorting competition by bundling Internet Explorer with Windows, which dominates the PC market.

On June 11, Microsoft's Heiner outlined a Microsoft plan to offer versions of Windows without Explorer.


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