Is Microsoft Punishing The EU For Removing IE8 From Windows 7?

This is nothing new you know?

Microsoft also charges far more for the XBOX 360 in the EU, but then again Sony also charges more for their Playstation stuff.

I’m not entirely sure why, or if the price difference is even their fault (could have something to do with an EU tax or something that I’m not aware of).

The idea that Windows, which is an intangible piece of computer software, which has absolutely no physical value or cost of production (aside from the cost of making the first copy, they can copy it as many times as they like for only the price of DVD, packaging, and shipping), it is odd that such a large discrepency in price exists.

On price alone, there is no way for Microsoft to compete with Linux, because Linux is free, Microsoft has already lost if they even charge $1 for Windows.

Microsoft usually uses lock-in tactics, and has their “partners” help.

Bought/encoded to Windows Media? May be stuck on Windows.

Used Office “Open” XML? May be stuck on Windows.

Bought a video game with DRM copy control? Has it ever stopped pirates or is it a Microsoft partner making sure the game can’t run in Wine?

Then there’s the fake interoperability, such as Wordpad in Win7 and Office ‘07 spitting out invalid ODF (such as ruining table formatting) through a deliberately sabotaged plug in.

Microsoft is essentially the Tonya Harding of computer software, hiring thugs to go break the competitions legs as they know they can’t compete in an honest match.

What new pricing scheme?

It’s a 4% price *reduction* from Vista, and you now get the full version instead of just the upgrade disc.

So what exactly is the big deal?

[...] the original: Is Microsoft Punishing The EU For Removing IE8 From Windows 7 … This entry was posted by admin and posted on June 30, 2009 at 2:38 pm and filed under Windows 7, [...]

Well it took MS some time and money to develop the tool that COULD remove IE8. They have it now… the Malicious Browser Removal Tool.

They’re just trying to get some of that money back. LOL

Ryan - good point

Brandon - interesting.

mhz- that was funny. Do you run the tool run manually or is it fully automatic????? LOL

KB IE8666

Malicious Browser Removal Tool

This update scans for signs of Microsoft Internet Explorer, if found, it will remove it then go back in time to 1999 to insist that doing so without breaking Windows will not be possible for 10 years due to the advanced technologies required in order for the tool to work.

You can help to keep your computer safe by running this tool monthly to be certain that it stays gone, the tool will be updated to detect new variants such as “Internet Explorer 8 Optimized for MSN”.
—-

Internet Explorer was first distributed as a piece of “Everything installs it, can’t get rid of it” foistware, and was eventually integrated into Windows (no uninstaller) and with Microsoft encouraging people to make programs that embed it (to make sure the user cannot surgically remove it).

My take is that this “IE-free” Windows 7 has merely hidden or deleted a few megabytes of the front end and has left the rendering engine quite intact. You’ll know if the IE engine is still on the system if things like Steam or IE-based browsers like Maxthon work.

IE kind of reminds me of the episode of Stargate SG-1 (Season 1 Ep 3) “The Enemy Within”, where the Goa’uld deceives them into removing a dead husk that it had shed.

Third-parties were encouraged to use the engine for the same reason that third parties are encouraged to use the common file dialogs, common title bar, common string parsing routines, etc. Because it makes those developers more productive, gives users a consistent experience and web developers a more consistent target, reduces duplicated code and DLL hell, etc.

I find it interesting that you complain about that, but that you seem to think it’s okay when Apple does the same thing and uses the Safari engine in apps like iTunes.

Are you really suggesting that it would be better if apps like Steam and Maxthon were broken?

Ryan, you obviously have never worked in a production plant. The people who run the machines that make the copies, that package the copies, that ship the copies etc. all cost money to pay. You seem to think that Microsoft is like some Joe Blow sitting at his computer burning DVD’s and shipping them out. It’s a bit more expensive and elaborate than the picture you paint.

In production…EVERYTHING costs money. That includes the lighting and heating/cooling, machine wear and tear etc. also going on in the production environment when the product is being made.

Of course I’m not suggesting it would be better if the apps were broken, though it would be far better if they embedded something like Gecko which is not embedded into the OS and does not expose the OS to unreasonable attack vectors.

The lack of dangerous and non-standard things like VB Script and ActiveX, and the fact that Steam or whatever could be removed along with the security problem if the vendor did not fix the problem in a timely manner. (Windows users have to wait 6 weeks or more)

Secondly, I’m not suggesting that Safari is any better, but Safari is far less dangerous to the overall system, and Apple was not the first to unreasonably bundle unrelated software that opened security hazards and provided no uninstaller.

Third, and I keep mentioning this, Firefox can be removed from any Linux distribution in about 10 seconds, provided it was even the browser the distro or user picked to be there.

And lastly, Internet Explorer *has* been an inconsistent target (dozens of versions at hundreds of patch levels across dozens of Windows platforms), held back true web standards by every definition of the word and stretch of the imagination, and is far far more difficult to extend than real web browsers.

IE requires compiled binary extensions that use a pre-defined interface, very little of IE’s behavior is customizable unless you want to hack around its deficiencies, test every supported configuration, and possibly have the next IE update break your add-on.

Internet Explorer belongs in 1999, not 2009. Even their IE 8 does not cut the mustard.

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[...] in a position that their choices were limited so they have opted to remove IE8 from Windows 7 http://www.lockergnome.com/blade/200…rom-windows-7/ In other words, they really had no choice and the most painless way of appeasing them was to [...]