Remove IE? Do We Have the Technology? wired.com
It always sort of annoys me when some little programming thing becomes a "technology", like when installing IE3 along side IE4 trashes your machine due to "missing technology", but never mind. This article is a little stale, and sort of slanted toward Microsoft, but it has some information. Out of context:
The tech support pages found at Microsoft's site suggest it is not a gargantuan programming task to accomplish the effective removal of Explorer from Windows 95; Microsoft argues, however, that this was not what the kind of removal the Justice Department and the court's temporary injunction against the company called for.
The support document explaining the removal of IE4 says that "if you install Internet Explorer 4.0, install a program, and then uninstall Internet Explorer 4.0, some programs may not work properly." However, if "a program does not work properly," it says, "reinstall the program."
Once again, my reading of this is that every little upgrade to Windows and the much dreaded "Win32 API" that has happened since the original launch is now officially "part of IE". And, from other stories, where software vendors used to be obligated to ship up-to-date dll's used by their programs, now the line is they have to ship IE, because all the updated dll's belong to IE. OK, I guess, but not exactly beyond the comprehension of mere mortals. But, I wager Microsoft will have plenty of opportunities to explain this more extensively, if not more clearly, in the coming months.
Cheers, Dan. |
