As a EU citizen, i'm in general very proud with the way the EU sues companies who don't play by the rules. Contrary to what the MS-trolls might claim, they don't target Microsoft specifically, they go after many different companies in various industries. As far as i can tell the EU maintain a fair approach in deciding who to sue.

However, i agree with the parent's sentiment in that i find this compromise ridiculous and unnecessary. Most/all people who install an OS should be/are computer-literate enough to be able to put an installer on an USB stick or CD, so that they can install any software they need after they install the OS. Computer manufacturers like HP, Dell etc have no problem installing all sorts of crap programs with the PCs they deliver, adding a webbrowser to that should be no problem at all, and if MS illegaly tries to force these manufacturers to install IE instead of other browsers, the EU can sue them again.

I see absolutely no reason why a web browser is so vital to a computer that it must be installed at the same time as the OS, especially with such a "ballot screen" which raises all sorts of valid questions mentioned in the summary

You could always outsource weapons production to China, problem solved.

Yep, lies and bullshit are always debunked...everytime. How much market share does Fox have again?

Except that the typical american settings is not all-white....and the research was not about japanese games vs american and global ethnic diversity. (we'd need a lot more Indians in games then, i see no mention of that)

This suggests to me that they did specifically compare games with a US setting to the actual ethnic distribution in the US, and found that some ethnic groups where underrepresented. If it truely is a case of "write what you know" then the developers/designers should get out more often. Honestly though, i think ignorance does play a part, but that it's probably also marketing related. If say 50% of your target audience is a white male, and the remaining 50% is everything else, then it's no surprice that 90% of games focus on that 50% of the target audience, it's the easiest, largest group to target.