Internet Explorer 8 can be 'turned off', not removed in Windows 7

The Internet got a little overexcited last week and spread rumours the latest version of Microsoft's Windows 7 (build 7048) has an option to completely remove Internet Explorer 8, initiated by some blog reports based on usage of a leaked post-beta build of the OS.

Many Windows users have been longing for this option for ages, of course. While the wish won't come to fruition this time around, we do get the next best thing: the option to turn it off. According to a blog post from senior vice president for the Windows and Windows Live Engineering Group Steven Sinofsky (which features the image you see here, complete with said option), this is all about user requests:

"...we’ve received feedback that some users might prefer to run Windows without certain features. This post is about a point of choice and control in the Windows 7 control panel called “Windows Features” which is where you can choose to turn various features of Windows on or off. This continues our discussion of changes we have made based on feedback from the Beta as we progress to the Release Candidate."

Jack Mayo, group program manager for the Documents and Printing team and Internet Explorer 8 engineer says the key with the changes has been balance:

“Turning Windows Features On or Off” has a long history in Windows, going back to the earliest days of the 32-bit code base. We’ve received a lot of suggestions about features that you would like to turn on or off using your own criteria for choice. For Windows 7 we’ve engineered a more significant list of features and worked to balance that list in light of the needs of the broad Windows platform as well. We want to provide choice while also making sure we do not compromise on compatibility by removing APIs provided for developers. We also want to strike the right balance for consumers in providing choice and balancing compatibility with applications and providing a consistent Windows experience."

It's easy to find, too: essentially they've just retooled the 'Add/Remove Programs' service, titled it 'Programs & Features', and renamed the 'Add/Remove Windows Components' section "Turn Windows Features on or off”, for the sake of more plain language. As stated by Mayo, the list is more significant, though. The other difference is the given component will actually be inoperable, unlike with XP (we can't speak for Vista), but still present on the machine as before.

Whether or not this is related to the antitrust regulatory attention paid by the United States federal regulators who've been around since that infamous 2001 case (or the EU's Competition Commission claims in January) well, who knows (Microsoft has declined comment), but either way, it's a step in a positive direction, accomodating the wants of a much larger group of users.

According to Collins Stewart analyst Sandeep Aggarwal, Windows 7 could release as early as June, with Microsoft's official word being they're pushing for a holiday release.