In Forum: Windows 9x, ME
By User: WinPC
Hmm when did the actual fair trading ruling happen that meant that Browser Choice was installed on XP machines?
That's after the EU antitrust case, iirc. Quite correct. The United States antitrust case was earlier (1998-early 2000s) and was much more severe, and could have even theoretically split Microsoft into two companies, whereas the European Union case was much later (2009-early 2010), and nowhere near as extreme, despite the striking similarity between the two cases.
It's not like I wasn't around to see it either, since in 2009, I was keeping up with Windows 7's development on a daily basis, and while my own private beta-related projects may have failed as you may have heard, that didn't mean that I simply wasn't around to see it being developed and released. And like many people, I myself was greatly concerned about this issue, which was why I kept up with the news reports, etc...
The earlier United States antitrust case was somewhat different since it was much more severe, and from what I can see, contrary to popular belief, the issue with Windows 98 was not the new features by themselves (including the web-integrated shell), but rather the fact that Windows 95 OSR 2 and Windows 98 lacked an uninstall feature for their browser, including the web-integration in Windows 98 itself. There were also many other issues at stake, such as the controversy surrounding the phasing out of MS-DOS as a separate product, as well as the CP/M and DR-DOS controversies.