I think the idea is that your computer manufacturer (or installation cds) could determine what browser (and presumably other software) goes on your computer.
...and this would be different from what we've got now in what way, precisely? OEMs and users already have the ability to totally hide IE, block its entry points, set the defaults (browser, mail client, java vm, media player, etc) they want. They've had this ability since XP SP1.
The point is to make IE separately installable and sell and distribute Windows without it
Which will get you what, exactly? Keep in mind that the last time the EU did this, the product was Windows XP N, (a distribution of windows with no media player). Which nobody, it seems, but the EU regulators wanted- maybe 2000 of them were sold, ever. OEMs continued to purchase and sell Windows versions with media player bundled, and they still do.
If Microsoft was smart, they'd go pre-emptive in the same vein and make a SKU of Windows called EU edition, or Antitrust edition- and it'd have the kernel, maybe a shell, and pretty much jack shit apart from that. It would accomplish exactly what XP N did- sell zero units, but satisfy regulators that indeed, the public isn't being denied choices it really wants.
Mac: I'm a Mac.
PC: And I'm a PC.
Pull out to reveal tubes hooked up to Mac's head.
PC: You OK, Mac? What's with the tubing?
Mac: Oh, it's nothing, just getting read to upgrade to Leopard. Backing up the files in case something goes wrong, standard stuff, really. Unlike your upgrade to Vista, I don't have to worry about going under the knife like you did.
PC: [skeptically] Really?
In the future, you're going to get computers as prizes in breakfast cereals. You'll throw them out because your house will be littered with them.
