Windows 7 Released with NO IE!!

Just come across this...

Microsoft to ship Windows 7 without Internet Explorer - Telegraph

Now will someone tell me how people are going to download a browser to use if they have no access to web pages in the first place?? Or am I missing something here?

This wouldn't affect me as I have software setup programs backed up all over the place, but for people who are just going out to buy this OS and never had a PC before, what are they going to do?

I personally use Firefox so I have no interest on the legal issues of IE etc.

Ah I was reading this yesterday. To me I believe this is a bad move. 60% of the people out there using IE dont know how that there are or how to get a different browser. I have a feeling that for people that upgrade and use IE go to windows 7 and find no browser they will flame like they did with Vista. We would start seeing Blogs and forums with titles "Windows 7 is useless, cause I installed it and couldn't get online."
Yes they state something about FTP but of those 60% of people how many have ever heard of FTP? To me this is bad all around. Just think about how much junk PC makers load on machines and then let them load their choice of browser it will be the days of AOL on every desktop again......

Also see here.
Windows 7 to be shipped in Europe sans IE

Yes ... on the other hand ... they are complying with EU laws. The consumer is given (forced ) to make a browser selection and the browers are now all on a nearly level playing field. MS has one advantage in that they are shipping IE on a seperate CD.

Now, then, one could argue that MS should provide a better choice ... that they should have included versions of the other major players in this game on that same disk. Hmmmm .... force a company to support their competition. Not sure how well that would fly. It is, after all, a competitive market and not "give the small guy a leg up" market.