Microsoft Announces It Will Ship Without IE in Europe(Groklaw)

Of course Microsoft is likely up to its old tricks like deceit.

Microsoft claims it would ship its OS without IE. But, it is highly likely to be lying.

Chances are that Microsoft only intends to ship without IE icons displayed. Or possibly without a start up scrip. But, most likely almost all of IE is bundled in just like always.

Microsoft loves deceit and fraud. Deceit and fraud work very well for them. And they know it.

But, the EU proposal (or perhaps Microsoft's suggest of what that proposal should be) is not a good idea.

So far:

Microsoft forces all consumers to buy IE. Or, Microsoft does not include any browser at all and hopes to brown nose all OEMs to force consumers to buy IE.

The only solution that will work is as follows:

Microsoft includes a ballot list. Download scripts are provided for all browser distributors. These scripts will either download and install a basic no frills browser that would permit a more up to date review or comparison of available browser choices; or perhaps always download and install the latest browser from the various browser distributors.

Whether or not a browser is available without cost should be up to the browser distributor. In other words, if a particular browser is available without cost that is fine. But, it must also be possible to pay a reasonable fee and then download a browser. Pre-loading or bundling a browser (or many of them) all but prevents any browser from being made available on anything but a free basic.

There is nothing wrong with no cost products provided the consumer can decide NOT to take the technology. Not taking any technology is very important. It is important for consumer choice. And it is important for security reasons.

The EU is taking the correct route here. Microsoft is trying to screw everyone.

The Groklaw article points out that the questionnaire passed around by the EU asks about the feasibility of including a ballot list and fixed download scripts. That is good thinking. Microsoft is only interested in raping everyone with IE or refusing to include anything at all. And, of course, Microsoft wants to blame the EU for the screw job that Microsoft is doing. The EU has not made that suggestion at all. Microsoft did that.

And Microsoft did that hoping to again deceive the public into thinking that the EU is screwing everyone and it (Microsoft) should be permitted to continue to rape all consumers with IE. Which by the way Microsoft's plan was going to continue to do anyway. Removal of some icons or even a start up scrip for IE is NOT removal of IE code. Hiding IE is one thing. It is raping consumers with IE but not telling them so.

Clearly some ISVs dependent upon IE code hope that Microsoft will continue to rape everyone with IE code. They only want to support the monopoly browser technology. And clearly Microsoft is counting on those idiots to help sustain its monopoly position. But, that is restricting consumer choice.

There is a solution to be found here. But, you can bet Microsoft will use deceit, lies and fraud to obscure it if at all possible. Microsoft is only interested in raping consumers with IE. That has not changed.

Frankly I am amazed at the stupid consumers that claim to want to give Microsoft the right to do as it pleases. I guess some people still rely upon their mommy to put out cloths everyday and make their lunch. “Let mommy do it”, they say.

Letting OEMs decide is also a bad idea. Microsoft can manipulate OEMs. Just recently Microsoft defined which netbooks can qualify for the less expensive OS, right? And there is no doubt that Microsoft will manipulate OEMs such that they will rape consumers and Microsoft will lie claiming it was not them.

Microsoft hates consumers. It hates the idea of letting consumers make any decisions at all that might permit benefits to be derived from non-Microsoft products. This is product manipulation by a monopolist. This is consumer manipulation by a monopolist.

Oh, and the idiots at the Bush US DOJ.