[j2inet]

This ruling is kinda weird in that ultimatly the OEM decides what goes on a Windows Mobile image. Even if Mucrosoft includes another browser in the Adaptation Kit for Windows Mobile the OEM can opt whether or not to include it. Likewise if Microsoft doesn't include it in the kit the OEM can still opt whether or not to include a third party browser.

I don't like the idea of the rulling, but with the line between netbooks and phones becoming thinner this will undoubtedly ensure that Windows Mobile based netbooks are covered by the ruling.

[j2inet]

This ruling is kinda weird in that ultimatly the OEM decides what goes on a Windows Mobile image. Even if Mucrosoft includes another browser in the Adaptation Kit for Windows Mobile the OEM can opt whether or not to include it. Likewise if Microsoft doesn't include it in the kit the OEM can still opt whether or not to include a third party browser.

I don't like the idea of the rulling, but with the line between netbooks and phones becoming thinner this will undoubtedly ensure that Windows Mobile based netbooks are covered by the ruling.

[wetsleet]

what is the problem here? The reason MS bundles IE in Windows is because wihout it would be very difficult to download Firefox!

[Jason Dunn]

Originally Posted by wetsleet

what is the problem here? The reason MS bundles IE in Windows is because wihout it would be very difficult to download Firefox!

Haha - right, exactly!

[JKingGrim]

Originally Posted by wetsleet

what is the problem here? The reason MS bundles IE in Windows is because wihout it would be very difficult to download Firefox!

exactly what I was going to say. What if windows came with no browser? Now I have to drive to best buy to purchase a browser on a disc? Then everyone would curse and say windows sucks because you cant even browse the web out of the box when you can with a mac (because as others have pointed out, no one attacks mac for bundling safari; in fact, the situation is worse with the iphone where steve jobs wont let and software that poses competition to the built in apps or cell carrier services get to the app store). Why shouldnt microsoft be allowed to choose what programs they want built in? They want the OS to deliver a good experience out of the box. They are not preventing you from downloading other browser. If a user is not computer savvy and is not aware that there are alternatives, then that is the consumers fault or the software vendor's problem for not adequately advertising their product. Must microsoft now provide free advertising for competing products?

If anyone should be sued its apple and att in the US, as well as other carriers who try to prevent you from doing anything with your handset that doesn't make them money. What exactly is Microsoft doing that is so evil? They make some of the most open desktop and mobile platforms available (as open as it gets if you are closed source and commercial software).

[Jason Dunn]

I should also point out that the EU is seemingly ignoring the fact that Windows 7 is going to come without an email program, a contacts program, a calendar program, a newsgroup reader, a instant messaging client, a video editing program, and a photo management program.

LOTS of room for competitors to innovate there, for OEMs to bundle other solutions, etc. What does the EU expect? Microsoft to ship an OS without *any* browser? Are we going to go back to those days of buying the latest version of NetScape for $30 at a retail store?

[benjimen]

...just plain stupid... The ruling isn't exactly relevant. General knowledge of available browser options is widely comprehended by the average user of 2009, which definitely wasn't the case 9 years ago when these court cases seemed to begin.

Which browsers are deemed to be worth requiring? Chrome? Opera? Safari? Firefox? Who decides... the government? Geez...

For either Windows or Windows Mobile, a requirement that links pointing to alternate browser downloads be made prominently available during the setup process would seem much more appropriate...

[moaske]

Well...it's not like a little more socialism in the economy will hurt the world... The US continental model hasn't done the world that much good lately...
Aside that; i don't like the government interfering too much with us civilians as well, so neither i like the idea by ruling. However; i didn't exactly pick up that many reasonable arguments against (apart from EU-bashing that is...).
And too counter the 1974 oil-crisis remark; that is exactly what the EU is trying to prevent for the future: a dominance like that that can cripple the whole world if it sees fit to do so...

Still.... to extend this to WM is preposterous as said before...

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

Originally Posted by Jason Dunn

Haha - right, exactly!

Feh, you guys are wussies. L2FTP. :P

[Jason Dunn]

Originally Posted by moaske

Well...it's not like a little more socialism in the economy will hurt the world... The US continental model hasn't done the world that much good lately...

But this isn't an economic policy, it's a technological policy - clearly made by people who are utterly clueless about technology.

[ptyork]

Originally Posted by moaske

Well...it's not like a little more socialism in the economy will hurt the world... The US continental model hasn't done the world that much good lately...

Dude, you dropped out of high school and hit your head on the way down. First, what the heck does Socialism have to do with this? With Socialism, government selects or creates and then runs single providers of goods and services (state-run monopolies) with the thought that this does away with the inefficiencies of competition. This has to do with trying to prevent the formation of a monopoly to encourage greater competition. Despite the idiotic and out-of-touch nature of their arguments, it is certainly anti-Socialistic.

The continental model was the name given to Napoleon's policy of economic warfare through embargo. There are arguably aspects of this in place today (in the US and elsewhere), but it has NOTHING to do with this issue, Socialism, or the current recession. Incidentally, ask the USSR how well a little Socialism did for their economy. You think this recession is bad, try living in rural Ukraine in the failing years of the Soviet Union.

I don't normally attack like this (especially since I basically agree with the rest of your post), but if you're going to make misguided political statements you should be expecting rebukes.