Would you like our wonderful browser or this other crap?

It appears that Microsoft wants to save money on lawyer's fees regarding the release of Windows 7 in Europe. They have agreed to the EU's terms of offering users of Windows 7 a "browser ballot" during the initial boot sequence, so that users are not forced IE as their web browser. That screen would allow users to choose from a number of competing browsers, which would then be downloaded and installed on the machine. There's no word on which browsers would be eligible for votes, but Google (Chrome), Mozilla (Firefox), and Opera have all been in discussions with the EU.

Too bad they couldn't get such an agreement in North America, but governments here don't seem to have a problem with a Microsoft monopoly on personal computers. I think it would be even better if on first boot-up, you were explained that you don't have to stick with Windows period, then offer to install Ubuntu for you.