The EU Takes Tougher Windows Stand
A week or so back, we told you how the European Union (EU) is
still pestering Microsoft over the bundling of Windows and Internet Explorer. I was never a fan of the tight bundling, but it's been a done deal for so long I've mostly forgotten about it.
The authorities, especially those in the States, have essentially conceded to Microsoft the right to continue this bundling and the tight integration (it takes mad IT skills to delete IE from a Windows machine). The EU, however, never forgot and may force Microsoft not to remove IE, but to fully disable the browser.
I'm siding with the EU on this one, and I'll tell you why. Many in IT have Firefox or other browsers as the standard because it's more secure. That's all well and good, but IE is still in place, even if it's not used, and still offers an attack vector. The EU could be forcing Microsoft to show the world precisely how to disable IE with techniques IT can then use to offer IE-less machines for sale.
Posted by Doug Barney on 01/30/2009 at 1:16 PM