I really wouldn’t be surprised if MS later modified the options so that the reboots aren’t required and IE will simple be hidden (hence available again when software would otherwise fail). They can probably still meet legal requirements so long as IE’s not presented directly as a browser.

It’s far more of a concession than I’d ever have expected – I thought they’d just brazen out the legal case/requirements by making it theoretically possible for people to buy a version of windows with IE removed (probably at greater cost).

I think Microsoft have been very clever. This is an easy fix, causes minimal disruption to other applications, and could be the answer to all their legal issues.

Also, how many users will actually attempt an IE uninstall? The vast majority of Windows users never venture into the control panel and, even if they do, why would they remove IE even if it’s not their default browser?

Well before they can rest easy, I believe there is the matter of the $2Billion that Microsoft owes to the EU for late fines and the original unfair business practices charge. Unless they have already paid that.

Originally it was a mere $737 million when they were found guilty of the charge and then because they kept stalling and loosing on appeal the number went way up (late fees and penalties). I haven’t followed it for a long time but about a year ago it was $2B.

Launching IE’s rendering engine is indeed possible with its API only, but how do you launch an IE window without the iexplore.exe? Can you give any sample code that could do it? An application that does it?

The interface is not defined in iexplore.exe – iexplore.exe is not much more than a launcher. The reason I know is that people have created portable versions of IE by completely substituting iexplore.exe with another binary (only 89KB in size) and it still launches and runs the full Internet Explorer.

The interface is defined in a bunch of DLL files which are shared, such as browseui.dll for the browser shell UI.

The ones you mention in your comment probably initiate iexplore.exe – you can’t know for sure, unless its an open source app.

You can know for sure. You can use an event monitor. That’s how you debug Windows applications. Also, you may have slightly misunderstood my point about applications such as virus scanners needing to use IE. If they did launch it explicitly using iexplore.exe, then they would stop working as soon as iexplore.exe was removed, therefore this cannot possibly be the case if Microsoft is taking the approach of removing iexplore.exe (they would never break compatibility with that many existing products). Therefore I doubt if Microsoft is removing much at all when you ‘uninstall’ Internet Explorer.

However, some users are certain to uninstall IE without installing an alternative browser first!

Indeed – those who don’t use the internet… as crazy as it sounds, such people do exist. Most of them currently use old PCs with Windows 98 or XP at best, with 10GBs HDD or so, 128MBs RAM, etc. but when such components become impossible to find (they are currently difficult, but not impossible to find), people will eventually migrate to Windows 7 or so.

Not much more than removing the link to it (iexplore.exe is little more than a launcher; it doesn’t ‘contain’ Internet Explorer and you can launch an IE window other ways).

Launching IE’s rendering engine is indeed possible with its API only, but how do you launch an IE window without the iexplore.exe? Can you give any sample code that could do it? An application that does it? The ones you mention in your comment probably initiate iexplore.exe – you can’t know for sure, unless its an open source app.

the option to uninstall these windows components will cause more harm to the user than benefits

It’s a possibility. I suspect Windows will throw up plenty of warnings and perhaps you won’t be able to uninstall IE if it’s your default browser. However, some users are certain to uninstall IE without installing an alternative browser first!

However, I don’t think this will make a large difference either, to normal users of Windows. Hardly anyone who isn’t tech savvy knows what a web browser is and what the alternatives are so I doubt that they would even dare to try checking that Internet Explorer 8 box.

I personally feel that having the option to uninstall these windows components will cause more harm to the user than benefits. But we’ll see what happens.

Andrew Cooper

How will this affect Microsoft’s legal battles?

I’d be interested in how it affects all of the software which relies on Internet Explorer for basic operation. Even things like virus scanners (I’m looking at you, McAfee) require Internet Explorer to be installed on the computer in order to work. Not to mention game launchers, and of course, Microsoft’s Windows website itself.

If those pieces of software continue to be able to access Internet Explorer, then I don’t think it’s really ‘removed’ at all. Not much more than removing the link to it (iexplore.exe is little more than a launcher; it doesn’t ‘contain’ Internet Explorer and you can launch an IE window other ways).