Microsoft Shifts Plan, Ties IE to Windows 7

2Aug2009 Filed under: Applications, Crisis, Internet Resources, Internet Search, Internet Users, New Launches Author: admin

Microsoft's Windows 7 "ballot screen"

Microsoft plans to cancel the plan to offer versions of Windows without the Internet Explorer browser in Europe. This was a move that was thought to ease antitrust concerns.

Windows 7 E, the browserless version of its operative system, was decided to scrap in response to statements made by the European Commission and feedback from manufacturers, says Dave Heiner, Microsoft’s vice president and deputy general counsel, in a blog statement titled “Windows 7 and Browser Choice in Europe.”

Microsoft says it still has plans in place to offer a “ballot screen” which will allow Windows 7 users to install a competing Web browser and disable Internet Explorer.

Ongoing Antitrust Negotiations

In January the European Commission, the European Union’s executive and regulatory branch, raised antitrust concerns and said that Microsoft is distorting competition by bundling Internet Explorer with Windows.

On June 11, Microsoft outlined a Microsoft plan where it told about offering versions of Windows without Explorer. However, the commission did not think an idea was a good one and said that “Consumers should be offered a choice of browser, not that Windows should be supplied without a browser at all,” in a statement.

Then, on June 24, Microsoft’s announced it would offer the ballot screen plan.

Microsoft also announced about its plan to continue with the Windows 7 E plan until the Commission made a final decision. But within a week, it has changed its mind, probably due to concerns of manufacturers and business partner.

The in the “Several worried about the complexity of changing the version of Windows that we ship in Europe if our ballot screen proposal is ultimately accepted by the Commission and we stop selling Windows 7 E,” Heiner said.

“Computer manufacturers and our partners also warned that introducing Windows 7 E, only to later replace it with a version of Windows 7 that includes IE, could confuse consumers about what version of Windows to buy with their PCs,” Heiner added.

Microsoft will on October 22 ship Windows 7 to Europe, adding the ballot screen and also to other parts of the world.

Latest Battle

The antitrust tussle over Explorer mirrors Microsoft’s antitrust battle in Europe in 2004. The Commission fined Microsoft €497 million ($794 million) and ruled that it should not tie Media Player into Windows because that was anticompetitive and illegal. Microsoft had to offer a second version of Windows with the player stripped out. But Microsoft kept the price same for the version of Windows without the media player and the one equipped with Media Player and the provision became useless.

Microsoft had another similar case, which focused on Explorer in the U.S., launched in the late 1990s. That case became a broader federal antitrust suit. Microsoft was found guilty of illegally quashing competition and extending its operating system monopoly.