Microsoft to Remove the IE Browser from Windows 7 PCs in Europe
by Sam Dean - Jun. 12, 2009Comments (3)- Related Blog Posts
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We've made the point many times that most of the innovation in Internet browsers is coming from the open source players, particularly Firefox. That trend has continued to drive Firefox's market share up, and it sits at over 22 percent market share right now. At the same time, Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser has continued to lose share, at well under 70 percent and dropping now. Nowhere are these trends more pronounced than in Europe, where Firefox now has dominant market share over Internet Explorer. That's why, as CNet reports, it's big news that Microsoft plans to remove Internet Explorer from the versions of Windows 7 that it will ship in Europe. The big beneficiary here is very likely to be Firefox.
Internet Explorer's leading market share in the U.S. has largely been driven by the advantage Microsoft has enjoyed in bundling it with Windows. For millions of browser users, for many years, the big blue "e" representing the browser on the desktops of their freshly unboxed computers has meant "Internet." It's still true that if you walk into a Best Buy or other retail store carrying computers, the icon for Internet Explorer stares back at you from nearly every desktop in the store.
The European Commission has been playing hardball with Microsoft, moreso than the U.S. Justice Department did in setting rules for Microsoft in the browser arena. It has been after the company for months to commit to offering more browser choice on computers sold in Europe, and it looks like the hardball has worked.
CNet News provides this quote, from a confidential memo reportedly sent to PC makers, that CNet obtained:
"To ensure that Microsoft is in compliance with European law, Microsoft will be releasing a separate version of Windows 7 for distribution in Europe that will not include Windows Internet Explorer. Microsoft will offer IE8 separately and free of charge and will make it easy and convenient for PC manufacturers to preinstall IE 8 on Windows 7 machines in Europe if they so choose. PC manufacturers may choose to install an alternative browser instead of IE 8, and as has always been the case, they may install multiple browsers if they wish."
According to CNet, Microsoft has confirmed the authenticity of the document. This is big news for open source browsers, and Firefox in particular, which already leads in Europe. Europe is substantially more friendly to open source than the U.S. is, and it's likely that Firefox will be the default browser on many PCs sold there for years to come. That will have a strong impact on its global market share, and should shore up Mozilla's ability to make meaningful new deals in the event that it loses the substantial funding that Google provides the company. It looks like the European Commission's tough stance has made a positive difference in one of the most critical areas of open source competition.
It's still possible that Microsoft will make contact with PC makers and find ways to coax them in the direction of bundling Internet Explorer by default, treating its memo as little more than a nod toward compliance. As Matt Asay notes, bundling no browser with Windows 7 falls short of, say, bundling Firefox or a group of browsers to choose from. However, if Microsoft has any fancy footwork in mind, it will have to tread carefully given the substantial fines that it has already been hit with in Europe, and the bad PR it has been hit with as a result. Indeed, the European Commission is proceeding with its antitrust case against Microsoft, despite the company's decision on Internet Explorer.
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