I’m going to start with one of the single wierdest things about Windows 7. Windows 7 will ship without a web browser.
That is right, in our age of cloud computing and web 2.0 life, the new Microsoft OS will not have a web browser.
Google has announced its new OS, Chrome, which is based around a browser and web connectivity, yet Windows 7 does not have one.
Well, it isn’t as simple as that. Windows 7 E, which is the version that will be available in Europe, will not have a web browser. This is because of a European Commision anti-competative ruling, that dictates that people should be able to chose their browser from the off.
This does leave you in a bit of a conundrum, how do you download and install a browser if you don’t have a browser? The simple answer is that you either download it somewhere else and copy it across to the Windows 7 PC, or you can use a link on the machine to download and install IE8.
I’ve no problem with people using other browsers – I use IE myself simple because we have some .NET apps that insist on it, but I don find this ruling a bit ridiculous. Fair enough some people will be able to run their Windows 7 machines with only the browser that they chose installed, but I imagine that most people will simply download IE8 through the link, and then use that to download Chrome, Firefox, Opera or whatever. So the only real result is that it is more work to get the browser you want!
As an IT Support professional I’m probably supposed to be telling people to hold off of downloading, and to investigate its effects first of all.
But new browsers are fun. I say download now, and bug your IT support company if everything breaks. Of course you have to be prepared for the downtime, and the disappointment if they uninstall it for you.
Be an early adopter and don’t let the nay-sayers get you down!