Microsoft have now confirmed that Windows 7 will ship exclusive of Internet Explorer throughout Europe.

Microsoft have always struggled when releasing their operating systems in the EU due to the laws and restrictions regarding bundled software. “We’re committed to making Windows 7 available in Europe at the same time that it launches in the rest of the world, but we also must comply with European competition law as we launch the product,” explains Microsoft’s Vice President, Dave Heiner.

This special version of Windows 7 will be named “Windows 7 E”, assuming that the ‘E’  stands for Europe. It will be no different from the standard Windows 7 that will launch in America, just without IE.

Internet Explorer 8 will be available as a separate download, but this also means that it is optional to have Internet Explorer on your PC at all. In fact, I believe that many will just download Firefox, Chrome, or another well-known Open Source browser, as these are becoming increasingly popular around the world.

I will, as I have done since version 2 came out, be using Firefox as my main browser, in actual fact my own release of Firefox, Firefox Elite. However, I will probably still download IE as in my opinion IE8 is actually quite a good browser compared to previous versions (Let’s not go there). Also, i’m a web designer and developer, therefore I need to check the websites I build in different browsers to check their functionality.

What do you think? Leave your comments

Henry

Henry Cole (Henco) | www.hencogroup.co.uk | henco@hencogroup.co.uk

Windows 7 Evaluation part 2 - Logging in

So, the next thing i will be talking about with windows 7, is logging in. Obviously with new operating systems there is always a new look, which is one of the things i always love. But in windows 7, this extends so far that even logging in to your computer is a pleasant experience.