Browser Woes

Windows 7 has been released worldwide, but in Europe, the retail copy of the latest OS from Microsoft has not come pre-installed with a browser. Internet Explorer, till recently was a part and parcel of the Windows OS. This change of circumstances has evolved due to the pressure from the European Commission, not only that, this was announced just before the ruling of Microsoft’s anti-trust charges.

The European regulators also added that Microsoft abuses its dominant status by adding their own internet browser leaving users with no choice on that subject. They had suggested that other browser be included in the package so consumers can make a choice for themselves, but Microsoft have retaliated by giving European consumers no choice at all.

So guess who benefits from this major move? Google, Mozilla, Opera and Apple as each of them have a browser that can now be installed on the new OS. Internet Explorer is used by about 60 per cent of the world’s population connected to the internet, followed by 30per cent using Firefox, 4 per cent using Opera, and Chrome and Safari make up the rest, according to StatCounter.

The decision to force Microsoft to include options of browsers with Windows 7 is still in discussion, but we will have to wait and watch these turn of events.