Windows 7 Lets You Uninstall IE8

CWmike writes "A just-leaked build of Windows 7 lets users remove Internet Explorer, the first time that Microsoft has offered the option since it integrated the browser with Windows in 1997, two bloggers reported today. The move might have been prompted by recent charges by the European Union that Microsoft has stifled browser competition by bundling IE with its operating system, the bloggers speculated. One solution under consideration by the EU would require Microsoft to disable IE if the user decided to install a different browser, such as Mozilla's Firefox or Google's Chrome. Microsoft had no comment when asked to confirm whether Windows 7 will let users dump IE8 or whether the option was in reaction to the EU charges."

Comments

Windows 7 for me so far

[Enderandrew]

I built a new rig and installed Windows 7 and openSUSE 11.1. I don't have XP x64 installed currently, though I may move to it. So far, many of my games just won't work properly. UAC is not magically better now, though you are harassed less.

I was copying files from my old computer. I created a samba share to copy files from. I create a new folder in my Windows 7 machine that I have access to write to. I start copying a couple thousand songs, and it stops partially though saying I have no rights on the folder. I check, and I do. The songs I'm copying aren't read only, and I have rights to read from the samba share. Some files will copy, some won't. Same with my video files and e-books.

I switch over to my old box, and it will copy all the files to my Windows 7 machine just fine, but in Windows 7, I can't copy files.

Explorer not only crashes at least once a day, but it is also fairly slow and locks up for no apparent reason that I can tell. I'm running a Phenom II X4 940 and 8 gigs of ram, and the OS is far from snappy, but every blogger on the planet is telling me how fast Windows 7 is.

I like a few small things, such as the toolbar thumbnail shows all the windows, and I can hover over individual ones, which hide all my active windows, and just show that one. But overall, most of my complaints with Vista (horrid UI, three-step tasks and replaced with seven-step tasks) are still there.

And don't get me started on this Homegroup nonsense. Why add useless clutter around a workgroup and Samba?

The best aspect of 7 that no one talks about (and it may be in Vista, which I've used for only a couple of hours) is C:\Users\Public. Brilliant. If I want to share files across multiple user accounts on the same computer (such as mp3s), I now have a good place to put them. Linux should make note with a /home/public standard as well.

Re:Confucius say

[Daengbo]

Well reasoned, anti-OS posts, though (especially those directed at OS X), generally get sent to troll hell.