I have 2 Win98 boxes with NO IE on them!!!
For those of you that can't seem to remember WIN95, The A version DID NOT have IE it was in the Plus Pack, it had to installed from the Plus Pack. The B version IE could be removed. It was not until the C version that MS bound IE to the OS.
Don't give me any crap about IE being a part of the OS. It was became a part of the OS BECAUSE of the Anti-Trust trial.
MS thumbed there nose at the court and bundled it with the OS.
With each and every version of Windows that comes out MS just bundles more and more MS crap with it.
The next time I tried to use Word, it would not work. I got a pop up saying that some file was outdated. My computer was just a couple of months old at the time. A brand new Dell. I checked around, and was told to go to the Microsoft website and install some file. But, when I tried to install the file, it said that I could not install that file unless I had IE installed on my system.
At this point, I remembered about having removed the IE browser, and figured that was why Word would not work. So, I reinstalled IE and sure enough, Word worked just fine, without the file from Microsoft.
I have windows 98. Microsoft FORCES you to keep their browser on your system, taking up space whether you want to or not!!
Yeah, dood, sock it to 'em!
At the rate it's going, before too long they'll be just like Apple! And if you want to hear how bad that is, tune into one of the Macolyte threads, where The Faithfull -- while damning Microsoft for bundling features, wax eloqent in praise of Steeeeeeviejobs for tying hardware, operating system, and applications together. According to Der Maq Faythfool, the more things that are made unter the same roof, the better.
Unless it's Microsoft's roof, of course.
The MS-haters are like Ol' Nick. They can try to sound like your nice old auntie who Only Wants What's Best For You, but sooner or later, "she" crosses "her" leg, and out sticks that telltail cloven hoof.
Oops.
They start out telling you how good something is that someone or other does, and then when you point out "hey, Microsoft does that too," they immediately switch gears, and tell you how bad it is to do that.
You can always tell an MS-hater, but you can't tell him much.