So Microsoft is essentially having their hand forced to advertise for their competitors?

What's next? Force Microsoft to pre-load Real Player, Mplayer, VLC? Linux?!

The EU Commission is being ridiculous.

Don't pre-load IE8, fine... but forcing them to advertise for their competitors just seems outright wrong.

This is still dumb. Lets face it, if you do NOT want to use IE, just use it ONCE to get your new browser. I have no issues having IE on for sites that need it and using FF for everything else.

Someone better go tell Ubuntu to quit auto installing Firefox then

Seriously tho, it takes 10 seconds to open up IE, go to www.firefox.com and click the big Download Now button.

"But we euro-pee-ons hate IE so much,we cant bloody stand to look at it at all! Thats Bullocks! Rubbish!"

I don't think this will pose a problem to Microsoft. You'll be installing Win7 and the ballot screen will come up asking which browser you want. Ok, you choose Firefox. Oh... no network drivers... then all the other options would blank out making IE8 the only choice because its included on the installation media... duh...

The best of Capitali... wait what is the EU again?

What, are the users in Europe too stupid to figure out how to go online and download a different browser?

[Sarcasm] I would like to have choice to run Internet Explorer 8 on any newer Linux distributions and OSX, even though I probably still prefer Chrome and FireFox. Come on, EU, now sue Apple Inc., Ubuntu, IBM and RedHat for bundle browers other than M$ IE8.
[\Sarcasm]

Those who are, are probably too stupid to choose a browser on their own.

The EU is being totally asinine. By their logic, Windows should also have a bullet menu for:
Media Player (as mentioned in another comment)
Email Client
Photo Manager
Photo Editor
Calculator
Solitaire
Paint
Notepad
Command Prompt
Disk Cleanup Utility
Every other built-in tool or utility that has a 3rd party company developing the same thing.

Look, you idiots, if you don't want to use Microsoft products, don't buy Microsoft products. Dee-da-dee. The EU is WAY beyond the scope of what the government should be regulating.

The only way they should even be able to formulate an argument against Microsoft (let alone a full on anti-trust lawsuit) is if Microsoft was forcing you to use their product AND actively hindering you from using a competing product... and don't even get me started about the fact that ALL the valid browser alternatives are FREE so there is ZERO financial gain (other than ad revenue from msn.com).

I'm so glad I'm not European.

Fairly smart solution on M$'s part. I would have just pulled IE out of the build so they'd have no internets at all, that'd show the 'Union' they don't know whats good for the people

But this is obviously the hand that Microsoft wants to succeed. Their first proposal would suck for the EU, so now they give them this one which will surely fly through. Game theory people.

I imagine the ballot screen will have IE 8 first, in bold, perhaps having to click on an "Other browsers" button to get to the rest. "Are you SURE you want to install Firefox? Microsoft is not responsible for any DANGER from use of other web browsers."

EU 1 ; MS 0

Call Steve Ballmer about it and if MS ever made a Linux version I am sure that SuSE (Novell) and Ubuntu (Canonical) will include IE in their distributions.

Is the EU also going to force Apple to do the same?

No of course not. That would be having a FAIR MARKET, which the EU doesn't care about.

Can't believe the EU is still picking on M$ for Antitrust yet have not said a word about ebay & paypal limiting choice and generally ripping people off.

I wholly support the initial MS plan of no browser at all, and no ballot screen. After all, without IE installed to begin with you reduce bloat once the user chooses to install FF.

But... but, how does one install FF without another browser?

Well, friends, I believe MS still bundles an FTP command line client.
It's pretty straight forward, actually.
start -> run
cmd
ftp
open
ftp.mozilla.org
anonymous
my@fakeemail.com
cd pub
cd firefox
cd releases
cd latest-3.5
cd en-GB (or other language of your choice -- user freedom at its finest!)
bin
get Firefox Setup 3.5.1.exe

Voila. This is, I believe, what the EU had in mind.

Anybody who cared enough about stuff like browsers would have just downloaded them anyway, so what's the point?

"The Commission welcomes this proposal, and will now investigate its practical effectiveness in terms of ensuring genuine consumer choice."

They mean that their 'Commission' is so incapable of rational thought that it can't decide if giving people a list of browsers to choose from constitutes genuine choice! Because MS offerred it, maybe it's a false choice. Maybe MS secretly bought up all these other browers.

I have nothing against the EU - I do against bureaucrats. No matter what country they come from, they can't actually think. They love zero tolerence policies, so you have no choice, and then to turn around and require others to offer choices. There is a short circuit in a bureaucrat's brain, I think.

since everyone here beside joex44 is so smart... and that the europeen are so dumb... why are you guys saying we cant dl a new browser without a browser????

should we now say "stupid americans" ???
The EU is blocking this 3rd party cause PPL CAN MAKE MONEY out of it. Thats it, nothing else.

and if i remember correctly... netscape was coming with ALL driver CD... and it wasnt difficult to install it

You can make money out of anything if you just use your head. Since I make money from sports betting, is the EU going to block gambling sites because I refuse to roll over and work for 50 years like everyone else? I would not put it past them, so it's a good thing I don't live in a communis-, erm, EU country (nor do I live in the US, so bashing them won't do anything for you).

Besides, Microsoft is a business, which means that *GASP!* they exist to make money.

Is it unfair to carry only your own products in your store? I hardly follow the logic of fair play and in anti competitive behavior that most anti trust lawsuits are made on. Esp with trends showing a decline in IE usage making it seem more of a way to take a swipe at MS because Opera a European biased company filed a complain against them. Anyways Europeans aren't stupid just their form of justice is all we are saying along with that the EU has the belief that the user cannot find their own products, isn't that what advertisement is for? Browsers can't advertise?
rant rant rant rant rant.......

I'm just glad this came to a compromise, although I see the entire EU argument as a bad joke.

Bown down to the EU !!
muhahaha yaarr

The best solution would have been to bring up a window stating "Your computer does not have a web browser installed. Would you like to install Microsoft Internet Explorer?". If the user chooses "no" then IE does not get installed. If they choose "yes" then IE does get installed. Problem solved. The EU is not requiring Microsoft to provide links to other web browsers. They also are NOT requiring Microsoft to provide other web browsers on the installation DVD. The EU is only requiring Microsoft to give users a choice of whether or not they want Internet Explorer on their computer.

Congratulations THG commenters: Not one person has realized/mentioned so far that anti-trust regulation can and ought only be applied to companies that hold monopoly status in a market. With %90 desktop OS market share, that is Microsoft and Microsoft only in this market.
Therefore the same regulation cannot and should not be applied to Apple (%6-7 share) or any Linux distribution (%1-2 share total).
Leveraging monopoly status in one market (OS) to monopolize another (Browsers) is illegal and is not good for consumer choice.
Furthermore, those who are under the delusion that the EU is communistic and are arguing against this regulation out of love of capitalism, are arguing in favor of monopoly capitalism as opposed to free market capitalism.
Well done.

Can`t this EU commision be sued for stupidity or smth ? what now ? they`re the supreme power of the world and the world has to do what their dicks want ? It`s clerly they are doing a shitting job here ? Is there now way to make them stop ? they have the supreme power do do antyhing ???

Poor M$... what next? Asking if you want to install Linux or OSX instead when you pop in your Windows 8 disc?

Loom, thank you, thank you very much for your comment.
I was so disappointed when I read all the other comments before. I didn't know until now that thg users write unthoughtful(or even hateful, or absurd "eu-communistic") comments with unnecessary words like "idiots"... .
Like IzzyCraft I'd like to point out that there are a lot of windows users out there who don't know anything about alternatives. Of course you can advertise them, but at this monopoly status it is quite hard to be efficient enough.

and Why in the hell do you tell Ferrari to install a Porsche engine ? It`s their fukin own OS, and it comes with w/e the company wants to come, you have no right to tell them to install software from the competition .. this is fukin absurd. And i wouldn`t be surprised next that Mozilla will sue MS because they taken their browser and integrated it with Windows thus violating god knows what License Agreement.

Honestly I'd rather have had microsoft just not give us europeans any browser at all. That is effectively leaving us with a choice after all.

ps. I wouldn't want to replace a ferrari engine with one from a porche, but I sure wouldn't mind a ferrari v10 in my vectra