-=> On 01-09-98  18:41 Robert Plett said to Tom Enright <=-
 TE>What about Microsoft's little policy of *requiring* vendors to
 TE>buy Internet Explorer in order to be *allowed* to purchase
 TE>Windows 95?
 RP> Was that truly the situation, or was it rather that Win95 was simply
 RP> unavailable without it?
Microsoft *decided* than Win95 would not be available without the
vendor *purchasing* IE in addition to *purchasing* Win95.  This
was the OEM vendors who bundle the OS with assembled systems.  If
Microsoft had simply bundled IE in with the OS for one price,
there would be no problem.
That *is* what they do with the retail versions sold for upgrade
from Win 3.x or the stand-alone version.  It's the OEM vendors
that Microsoft was screwing, not the end-users.  This isn't just
outfits like Dell, Compac or Gateway; it includes all the small
stores who assemble computers on-site for sale.  They use the
same (OEM) version of Win 95 that Dell and Compac uses.
 RP> Is it not the case that components of IE are an integral part of the
 RP> platform itself, meaning that while it *can* be removed, some of it
 RP> necessarily will always remain?
This is contradictory; if IE were an intrinsic part of the OS, it
could not be removed.  It can not only be removed, it does not
need to be installed in the first place.  The Win95 version that
I got is the 3.5 inch diskette version, which has two sets of
disks.  A thirteen disk set for Win95 and another seven disk set,
separately numbered and with it's own install, for IE 3.02.  The
CD Rom version has everything on one CD.
Windows 98, whenever it is released (possibly in time for the
millennium), is supposed to bind IE into the OS so that it *is*
intregal.  Microsoft simply got greedy with the OEMs and was
caught; it's no different than with the tobacco extortion deal.
Lord knows I don't like Janet Reno, but in this instance she has
a point (besides the one on top of her head).
T.E. - San Diego Ilks (Sgt. at Arms)
... Microsoft:  Where quality is job 1.1C (beta)
___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.20 [NR]
--- GEcho 1.20/Pro
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