Faced with mounting legal demands by European regulators Microsoft has announced it will drop Internet Explorer from Windows 7. While computer manufacturers will be free to add a browser to their PCs, people buying the European retail copy of Windows 7 will end up without a browser once they install Windows 7 over their Windows XP or Vista image.
Better have a copy of a browser on a CD or USB stick ready when installing the retail Windows 7 or you will need to learn how to use FTP to download a browser.
The main loser may be Opera Software which the European company that is the forefront of complaints against Microsoft. Without a preinstalled browser in Windows 7, computer companies will now be able to choose which browser to include in their standard PC setup. This choice could be based on who pays the most, no doubt Microsoft or Google on behalf of Google Chrome can outbid Opera.