Microsoft has finally craved to pressure from the European Union, and instead of offering no browser in Windows 7 E in Europe, the company will offer a ballot screen which will allow users to choose a web browser.

This is a big win for consumers, with the EU acknowledging the decision. “The European Commission can confirm that Microsoft has proposed a consumer ballot screen as a solution to the pending antitrust case.”

“We believe that if ultimately accepted, this proposal will fully address the European competition law issues relating to the inclusion of Internet Explorer in Windows and interoperability with our high-volume products,” said Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith.

A proposed ballot screen can be seen below:

Microsoft has revealed that it will charge €4 for a copy on Internet Explorer 8 on CD, after announcing that Windows 7 will ship in the European Union without Internet Explorer.

The move to remove the browser from the operating system is a direct result of action taking against Microsoft by the European Union with companies such as Opera and Mozilla.

Internet Explorer 8 will however remain free for users to download, along with competing browsers. The biggest issue that most will face is the inability to browse to websites on a fresh install of Windows 7 to download a browser of their choice.

This is not expected to be a problem for those who buy their PC’s from manufactures such as Dell and HP, as they are still expected to bundle browsers with new systems.

Microsoft has pulled a web only Internet Explorer 8 ad which depicts a woman projectile-vomiting.

The ad was aimed at promoting Microsoft’s InPrivate browsing feature, but now has users wondering if it is even an Microsoft creation.

Featuring actor Dean Cain, the ad shows a woman vomiting after seeing her husband’s Web browsing history and is still available on YouTube.

You can watch the ad below (if you dare).

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As an appreciation for all their hard work, Microsoft is sending free toolkits to official beta testers of Internet Explorer 8.

“Thank you for your hard work during the Internet Explorer 8 Technical Beta Program. Your dedication to making this product the best it can be is truly amazing. We would like to personally thank you by sending you a small token of our appreciation. We will be sending you an Internet Explorer 8 Workmate Toolkits (see attached images). If you do not want this, then simply respond to this mail with “Thanks, but No Thanks.”” said an email sent out to testers yesterday.

Testers are asked to ensure they have their details up to date on their Connect profile by this Friday US time so they can receive their goodies. An image of the “workmate toolkit” can be seen below.

Microsoft has started a campaign that will donate the financial equivalent of eight meals to the Feeding America network for every complete download of Internet Explorer 8.

The Browse for the Better campaign runs from June 10th till August 8th 2009. Microsoft will be donating $1.15 per download, to a maximum of $1,000,000.

The Feeding America network distributes close to 1000 tones of food per year to more than 25 million low-income individuals in the United States.

More information on how you can help can be found on the Browse for the Better campaign website.

Microsoft is proposing to release Windows 7 E in the European Union (EU), a version of Windows without Internet Explorer.

The move is aimed at pleasing the European Commission regulators who are currently taking action against Microsoft over it’s bundling of Internet Explorer with Windows.

If agreed upon, Microsoft will completely remove Internet Explorer from Windows, and not just hide the browser like is currently possible. Despite this move, manufactures are still likely to release PC including Internet Explorer.

We will let you know Microsoft’s final decision when it is made.

The European Union (EU) is set to ask major PC vendors for evidence that Microsoft pressured them to oppose the EU’s plan to give consumers choice when they first start Windows.

Questionnaires have been sent to PC makers seeking information about their communications with Microsoft.

“Microsoft hasn’t seen the commission’s questionnaire and doesn’t pressure any PC makers to oppose the ballot-screen remedy”, said Microsoft spokesman Jesse Verstraete in Brussels.

More information can be read on Bloomberg.

On schedule Microsoft has released the final wave of language packs for Internet Explorer 8, with the browser now available in 63 languages.

New languages included in this wave are Albanian, Assamese, Basque, Bengali (Bangladesh), Bengali (India), Gujarati, Indonesian, Kannada, Kazakh, Konkani, Kyrgyz, Latvian, Malay (Brunei Darussalam), Malay (Malaysia), Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi (India), Tamil, Telugu, Uzbek (Latin).

The language packs can be downloaded from the Internet Explorer website.

Latest news coming from the European Union’s (EU) anti-trust case against the bundling of Internet Explorer with Windows suggests that one possible remedy could be the inclusion of other browsers in an installation of Windows.

The move could potentially see Opera Browser, Mozilla Firefox, and Google Chrome bundled with Windows in Europe with the user being asked which browser they would like to set as their default on first run.

Any ruling against Microsoft would see a solution that “would be based on the fundamental principle of unbiased choice” said a EU spokesperson. Microsoft has said they they will comply with any ruling. A final decision is due in the next few months.

Microsoft has confirmed to Silverlight 3 beta testers that Silverlight 3 will be released to the public on July 10th, much earlier than the original expected date of Q4 2009.

Silverlight 3 adds many new features, including 3D support, local graphics acceleration, and H.264 video.

Silverlight is Microsoft’s answer to Adobe AIR and Flash, and is available on PC and Mac. The current beta can be downloaded from Microsoft.