I don't believe a company could fall foul of the Trade Description Act if they provide a product with more functionality than originally promised.

The important thing is that they are selling it now and specifically saying that they will not include IE or any other web browser. If they (or retailers) had said that they reserved the right to include IE or another web browser then that would be another matter entirely, but that is not what they are saying.

I agree. Providing the EU also do, I don't think anyone's going to complain if Microsoft provide a product with more functionality than is presently promised.

But none of these sales constitute a contract, under the Distance Selling Regulations, until the goods are despatched. There's no problem if Microsoft decide to change their minds and include whatever they want to (from the contract point of view, as opposed to any EU regulations). If the customer doesn't like it they can return the goods and get a refund. No problem.

it's only available for pre-order now. it won't be shipping until 22nd october and by that time i'm sure a solution will be in place.

Edited by marc2003 (Fri 31-Jul-09 21:55:59)

It's obvious what I'm saying. My friend has no clue here (they are the people who call you because of some odd alert or whatever on their PC that makes no sense to them, but perfect sense to you). They have been using XP or Vista till now, but they have seen Win 7 promoted and gone and ordered it. It has arrived on 22nd October and they have installed it (no RTFM first). Now they want to surf the web. Bit of a problem here. Not only have they found that all their data has been erased, but they also find that there is no IE. Hunt as they like it's just not there. They try and install again, but to no avail. What will they do? Bear in mind here that this friend has one PC in their home.

In my case I suspect that I will be downloading IE, putting it on a USB stick, and going to their house on 23rd October - It's going to be a whole lot easier than trying to talk them through FTP or whatever.

Tbh, I think it extremely unlikely that an "average" user will be buying and installing Windows 7. They'll be using XP or Vista and be quite happy with it. They'll get Windows 7 when they buy a new PC, but not until then.

Why would such an average user go to the trouble of trying to install a new OS? And they certainly wouldn't get far trying to install it without reading the "quick start" documentation.

They could bundle a copy of Photoshop, AutoCAD, QuarkXpress, lord knows what else, and a couple of as yet unreleased films on blu-ray with Win 7 E (none of these being contentious since they are not MS products). They have, however, specifically excluded IE or any web browser as part of Win7 E. If they included it then it would be as patently ludicrous as a DVD retailer saying that it will not send you anything rated R or over then sending hard core porn as a freebie.

where is the 'digging a hole' smilie when you need it?

Unfortunately, the experience of Vista being released tells me otherwise.