The European Commission and Microsoft have reached an agreement with respect to inclusion of Internet Explorer in Windows 7. Windows 7 has been cleared to ship with Internet Explorer preinstalled later this month.
Microsoft announced that Windows 7 will be shipped as planned. Users will get Windows 7 and then sometime later they will get a Windows update which will enable them to launch the ballot screen and choose a browser of their choice.
PC manufacturers are free to install any browser that they think will be useful. Users can also install and uninstall any browser of their choice. Users who have Internet Explorer installed as their default browser will be displayed with a ballot screen for the next five years. This will allow them to download and install any browser of their choice and set it as the default.
Microsoft’s ballot screen is a web page and not a separate software application. Microsoft has clarified that this won’t be an issue to users.
To conform to the regulations in the European Union, Microsoft plans to include a screen to explain what browsers are to users. This screen will also provide more information on each of these browsers by using “Tell Me More” buttons. The European Union can review the screen in the future to ensure that Microsoft complies with its antitrust regulations.
Opera has welcomed Microsoft’s new proposal. Earlier, the Norwegian browser was one of the main critics of Microsoft’s monopoly in the web browser market.
Opera commented that it was fully in favor of the ballot screen concept. However, it stated that it was still studying the announcement from the European Commission and would comment it at a later stage. Opera considers the question of how the ballot screen is implemented as a serious issue.