Actively not solving the problem

[unixronin]

C|Net reports that Opera, the chief plaintiff against Microsoft in the European browser-monopoly case, “says that the move to strip Internet Explorer out of Windows 7 in Europe is an insufficient step that won’t lead to better competition in the browser market.”

I think that’s missing the point, and Ina Fried at C|Net apparently thinks so too.  I believe Microsoft is deliberately offering a solution that at best is unworkable, and at worst will lock users even more tightly into Internet Explorer.  If Microsoft offers MSIE only separately from Windows 7 installs, that appears to mean that new Windows 7 installs in Europe will not have a browser installed at all.  And that means that users who don’t already have another working machine with a web browser — any web browser — installed will be unable to go and download a browser to install, because the vast majority of them won’t know how to do so without a web browser.  And that, in turn, means they’ll have to go to a brick-and-mortar store to buy an off-the-shelf packaged web browser.

And guess what’s going to be the only one there.

Sure, they could buy MSIE, take it home, install it, use it to download Firefox or Opera, then throw it away.  But realistically, how many consumers are going to do that after they just went to the store and paid additional money for it?

To compete, Opera and Mozilla are going to have to have boxed product there on the shelf beside Internet Explorer.  And neither of them can afford to do that for free.

This is a cunning and completely mendacious move on Microsoft’s part.  It’s fairly clearly been thought out to adhere to the letter of the EU ruling while totally violating its intent.

Of course, we’ve never seen Microsoft do that before.  And I have this really excellent historic bridge that I can let you have, cheap...