Comments on: Windows 7: How do you get a browser without a browser?

By: Heather

Heather — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 11:45:25 +0000

I lost five hours yesterday to getting PNGs to display in IE7 for Vista. Because Quicktime overrides the file type. Naturally. Ever have one of those days that leaves you feeling like Father Jack Hackett?

By: Gary

Gary — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 19:25:14 +0000

It’s not just that, though. Browser is essentially becoming the OS.

By: Squander Two

Squander Two — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 19:00:51 +0000

Ah.

By: Gary

Gary — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 17:23:29 +0000

Firefox, opera and safari get revenues from google search boxes.

By: Squander Two

Squander Two — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 17:17:56 +0000

Since all these browsers are given away free, why exactly is there so much competition between them anyway? Do they make money? If so, how?

By: Andi

Andi — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 09:23:57 +0000

maybe apple should do a one time aol and blanket all the retailers and mags with a safari install disc, that’d serve micro$oft right

they could stick in an osx demo into the bargain, meaning of course, this is what you could/should bought

By: Gary

Gary — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 06:59:43 +0000

Danny, the bundling thing was an EU suggestion that Microsoft isn’t happy about: rather than a welcome screen that, say, gives users the choice of IE, Firefox or Opera, Microsoft has said “fuck you all!” and removed the browser altogether.

By: mupwangle

mupwangle — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 13:37:23 +0000

I think they asked that the user be presented with a list on install, rather than just IE.

Seems daft really.

By: Squander Two

Squander Two — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 11:12:21 +0000

Really? ‘Cause I’ve seen it mentioned that they’re already making noises indicating that that might not be acceptable. Not that that contradicts you: it would be entirely unsurprising for the Commission to give out mixed messages.

If they do go for a click-to-install thing, that’ll be insane. Massive amounts of public money spent on years of deliberation and negotiation just so that Windows comes with IE almost installed instead of installed. Tsk.

By: mupwangle

mupwangle — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 01:30:29 +0000

I think that it was the EU commission that suggested the choice on install.

By: Squander Two

Squander Two — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 22:05:39 +0000

To be clear, the EU Commission haven’t decided merely that Microsoft can’t build IE into Windows; they’ve ordained that Microsoft cannot use their market position to unfairly outcompete other browser manufacturers. I seriously doubt that they’ll consider that Windows coming with a big “Click here to install IE” icon sitting on the desktop abides by that ruling.

By: danny

danny — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 20:35:05 +0000

Uh, did I miss something? They’ll bundle the setups.

How do you install a browser when you don’t have a browser?

The same way I install the trial of AOL or Norton that came with my new PC–an executable that is placed on my disc but isn’t executed until I run it.

Better yet, the executable downloads and executes a hosted setup.exe in a current-version directory, guaranteeing that the user gets the most recent version of whatever browser they chose.