EU Could Force Bundling Firefox With Windows

Barence writes "The European Commission could force Microsoft to bundle Firefox with future versions of Windows. The revelation came as part of Microsoft's quarterly filing with the Security and Exchange Commission. Among the statements is a clause outlining the penalties being considered by the European watchdog, which recently ruled that Microsoft is harming competition by bundling Internet Explorer with Windows. The most interesting situation outlined in the filing would see either Microsoft or computer manufacturers forced to install Firefox, Chrome, Opera and Safari by default alongside Internet Explorer on new Windows-based PCs."

And My Browser Too!

[eldavojohn]

The most interesting situation outlined in the filing would see either Microsoft or computer manufacturers forced to install Firefox, Chrome, Opera and Safari by default alongside Internet Explorer on new Windows-based PCs.

Don't forget to also bundle my browser, MSBlastWorm32.exe! Tell all the naive people that it's the hip new botnet way to see the interweb!

Lynx

[eldavojohn]

... computer manufacturers forced to install Firefox, Chrome, Opera and Safari by default alongside Internet Explorer on new Windows-based PCs.

And also Lynx [isc.org], I would bring me great joy to see a video of an average Windows user trying to use Lynx.

Also

[rlp]

How 'bout requiring that each copy of Vista ship with a Ubuntu disk labeled 'Vista Service Pack 2'.

Re:Restricted browser

[Yetihehe]

It would be far better if Microsoft provided a restricted simple browser that could be used to download other software - a sort of graphical version of lynx.

A simple and restricted browser? IE6 perhaps? We already have it and look what it does [howtocreate.co.uk].

Re:And What of the Others?

[robthebloke]

Damn. I just bought a mac, but now I learn that IE isn't available for it, I'm going to have to put it on e-bay.... ;)

Re:And What of the Others?

[jschen]

Don't worry, dude. You can get IE on that shiny Mac of yours by installing Vista on it.

Re:And What of the Others?

[jank1887]

but what about my off-network pc where I still need something to view on-disk HTML files? and I have no floppy or CD or usb for copying a browser install file that was downloaded on another machine. and there's no keyboard for me to manually create a new browser from source, and I couldn't install a compiler anyway. and... hmmm... okay I'm out.

Re:And What of the Others?

[Yvan256]

That's like... I dunno.... buying a BMW and putting a LADA engine in it.

Re:And What of the Others?

[Yvan256]

Okay then.

Prendre éteindre ma pelouse!

Bleh. I think I need a new english-french translating program.

Re:Astroturfing?

[hkmwbz]

I share your frustrations. It is amazing how all these people people are spewing out uneducated nonsense. And to think that some of these people can vote... :)

Re:Also

[itsdapead]

How 'bout requiring that each copy of Vista ship with a Ubuntu disk labeled 'Vista Service Pack 2'.

Caller: I installed SP2 and it comes up with something called Ubuntu

Support: Yes, its a new operating system with all the features of Windows Vista and Office 2007

Caller: but my desktop looks weird, and half my peripherals have stopped working! All the buttons in the word processor have changed, the formatting in my documents has gone funny and nobody can open the files I send them.

Support: As I said, all the features of Windows Vista and Office 2007...

Caller: but it won't run this new software called Conficker that everyone is talking about!

Support: Oh dear, that is a problem. I'll get a Windows XP disc in the post to you at once.