Windows 7 E - Will it harm IE's user share? I don't think so!

So, Microsoft is to offer an IE-free version of Windows 7, called Windows 7 E, in all member nations of the European Economic Area (and Croatia and Switzerland) to satisfy the European Union. Will this harm IE's user share, or will people go with what they know and pick IE anyway? Or, more importantly, will OEMs just continue to thrust IE on users in order to give people what they are used to?

Microsoft notes that the decision affects both OEM and Retail versions of Windows 7 products. While OEMs will have access to a free "IE8 pack" that allows them to add the browser back in, consumers who purchase retail copies will not have a browser that they can use to download a browser. Therefore, Microsoft will offer IE8 via CD, FTP, and retail channels. It looks like Mozilla, Opera, Google, and Apple will have to do the same if they want European Windows 7 adopters to have access to their browsers. 

OK, FTP (a function that can be carried out by Windows Explorer) sounds pretty straight-forward, but if users have to mess about with CDs and retail channels, things are going to get ugly, and potentially costly.

But ... the devil's in the detail. There's an interesting snippet contained in Microsoft's legal blog:

Computer manufacturers will be able to add any browser they want to their Windows 7 machines, including Internet Explorer, so European consumers who purchase new PCs will be able to access the Internet without any problem.

Ahhh, so OEMs can just go ahead and add IE to Windows 7. I'm guessing that just as with "N" editions of XP and Vista that have Windows Media Player stripped out, that OEMs will stick with what they and their customers know best and install IE rather than face torrents of support calls from people not able to access the Internet.

My guess is that Windows E will sink into obscurity like Windows N did ... and Microsoft knows this.