Monday, August 3rd 2009
Windows 7 EU-Specific Variant Scrapped
Following the European Commission's recent welcoming of Microsoft's proposed "browser ballot" method of providing users a choice of web-browser software to be installed, Microsoft has decided to scrap the Eurozone-specific variant of the operating system codenamed "Windows 7 E", that lacks the Windows Internet Explorer web-browser component. The company will be shipping the standard version of the software to EU which it ships to the rest of the world.
In an interview with CNET, Microsoft's VP and Deputy General Counsel Dave Heiner said "One reason we decided not to ship Windows 7 'E' is concerns raised by computer manufacturers and partners." He added that "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'. 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."
Source:
CNET
In an interview with CNET, Microsoft's VP and Deputy General Counsel Dave Heiner said "One reason we decided not to ship Windows 7 'E' is concerns raised by computer manufacturers and partners." He added that "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'. 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."
29 Comments on Windows 7 EU-Specific Variant Scrapped
The actual ballot will most likely be integrated into a limited GUI that uses Trident on the backend.
Here's the DNS info (source):
It saddens me to think that they wouldn't take advantage of a simple "check, check, check, install, done" approach. I (web developer) would love to simply have all the latest browsers downloaded and installed while others can pick their favorite or favorites.
This expands to having GPOs at work apply the right policy to people in IT (all), with whatever setup is appropriate for the rest of the users (nearly all use IE or Firefox only, so have them both installed).
Considering release isn't very far off, I doubt they would link directly to/provide alternatives on the disk for the sake of security considerations.