No Windows 7E

Ahem, I toldja so. Way back on July 25.

Microsoft General Counsel Dave Heiner drove the stake through Windows 7E’s heart:

…we decided last month that we would ship a unique version of Windows 7 in Europe—which we dubbed Windows 7 “E”—that would not include a Web browser… We have now decided to alter that launch plan… we will ship the same version of Windows 7 in Europe in October that we will ship in the rest of the world.

Windows 7 E will go down in marketing history as one magnificent piece of poker playing. To a first approximation, Microsoft bluffed and won.

Why do I say MS won? Read the details. Internet Explorer will ship as the default browser on all copies of Windows 7. When you run Windows for the first time, you’ll be able to download and install alternate browsers. But IE gets pole position.

The Bing folks should be feeling really good about it right now…