Ask HN: How do I install Firefox when Windows 7 doesn't ship with IE8 ?

If you have Visual Studio by any chance, you can try that...

If there is Windows Scripting Host installed with Windows 7 by default, you can try exploring that too... maybe some createobject()s will help

Then why not boot into a live Ubuntu and get firefox for windows, reboot and have fun surfing the net

Although I'm basically pro-regulation (that is, I think governments should be able to act on behalf of consumers when they're being given a raw deal), the EU is going overboard with this. Microsoft is not such a terrible ogre and doesn't make it difficult for me to use alternatives to its own software.

OK, so I'm a nerd and Joe or Jane Blow doesn't know that well why one browser is better than another or how they might benefit. But I don't see how that's Microsoft's fault, nor do I see how they've done ~$1.5 billion of damage to consumers. Is everyone in the EU $3 worse off because of IE? Really? I can think of a LOT of businesses that have done a lot more damage - to the environment, indirectly to people's health, and so forth - than Microsoft has.

(long rumination on anti-trust regulation deleted, but) it rather disturbs me that the two biggest fines levied for supposed malfeasance have both been on computer corporations, who do more than most industries to democratize innovation and economic opportunity. I feel the EU is just demanding these big fines because the companies can pay, rather than because of real injury they have created.

A typical American cellphone contract is far more economically punishing than the lost productivity due to having to install a non-IE browser by your own damn self.