Microsoft drops Windows 7 E

[FN-GM]

Microsoft drops Windows 7 E - Yahoo! News UK

[Gatt]

So the only thing left is this mess about the no "upgrade" version of windows 7.. which is going to confuse a lot of home users who will be unaware that they have to reformat their PC and who could potentially lose a lot of information from their PCs..

[featured_spectre]

on a fresh install it puts everything in a folder called "windows.old" so nobody loses any data.

[Zoom7000]

According to CNET, there will now be an upgrade version too:

 

Those who pre-ordered Windows 7 "E" through a recent discount offer will get the full version, as Microsoft had promised. However, Microsoft plans to now sell Windows 7 upgrades in Europe and also offer a higher-priced full version (for those without an earlier copy of Windows)--similar to what it is doing in the rest of the world.

[Michael]

I did think selling an OS without a browser would be stupid as OEMs (quite rightly) have expressed their concerns that this could create a forever flood of support calls of users unable to access the web.

 

Giving users a choice which browser to use is the way forward, however, I still think this will create problems for less experienced users who will ask which to use and why.

 

I still ask myself why this is happening, because FireFox is gaining market share every year anyway. I think we have Opera to thank for creating this mess. If people liked their browser, they'd download and use it in the first place. Hopefully this 'browser choice' feature will be easy to switch off using a GPO in networked environments.

[FN-GM]

What happens if you only have 1 computer, you buy Windows 7 without a browser, how do you download one to install?

 

I think it is the way forward giving the end user a choice on install.

[ajbritton]

I think the biggest 'mess' will be the ballot screen.

 

It will not make the blindest bit of difference to users who know what browsers are, as they will already have their favourite and if it's not IE, then they would have downloaded it anyway.

 

Users who don't even know what a 'browser' is though will be thoroughly confused. How are they supposed to make the choice at all?

 

Perhaps a better solution would have been to have a popup appear for the first 'n' times that IE successfully opens up a web page. e.g. (You are using Microsoft's Internet explorer Web Browser. Other browsers are available at no cost. If you would like to learn more, click here...)

 

It's a joke, really it is.

[ajbritton]

What happens if you only have 1 computer, you buy Windows 7 without a browser, how do you download one to install?

 

Rafael can help... Downloading a browser in E, without a browser, in 3 steps - Within Windows

[FN-GM]

Rafael can help... Downloading a browser in E, without a browser, in 3 steps - Within Windows

 

Odd way to do it. Also i was under the impression that the European version didn't come with Media Player.

[Gatt]

ok i'm confused now in the EU which is it?

 

Windows 7 with IE

Windows 7 without IE

Windows 7 with a choice of browser

 

[localzuk]

Windows 7 will be released with IE by default but with a ballot screen. The screen will contain (IIRC) a maximum of 10 browsers, which the user can download.

 

So, what they've done is just add an advert page. This page will also be retroactively rolled out to XP and Vista.

[Michael]

I wonder what Opera's excuse will be when they still gain no additional market share? They'll probably realise it's not Microsoft and their browser is poor at best!