LOL. I nearly surrendered on that one. Jimbo. But Microsoft did say, in the same policy announcement (not yet fully confirmed) quote
"
according to VP and deputy general counsel Dave Heiner "we will offer it separately and on an easy-to-install basis to both computer manufacturers and users.
You will have to interpret that as you feel best. I would , 1. Tell the seller that it is no deal unless it has full internet caccess or, 2. Ask for the free software. It may even be already on the installation DVD.- not yet ascertained. The only EU ruling is that it must not be part of the installation. or
3. March en masse on the local EU rep and demand the free software -lol.
P.S. (Later)
Of course. We must not forget that the browsers are merely gui's to the internet. Before they became popular, we had to use prompts in Dos in order to achieve anything on the web. As the web was very small, this was not a big deal. It is unlikely that new users would be familiar with those old fashioned ways and, if they were new to computers, would probably not have an inkling as to how to start but, fwiw, you could download a browser, without a browser installed. Take an example of obtaining the latest Firefox:
here's how to install Firefox without using a browser:
To start FTP, click on the Start menu, then "Run..." and enter:
ftp (or go sttraight to the Command prompt, run as Admistrator, and type ftp)
Then click "OK."
When the ftp> prompt appears, type:
open releases.mozilla.org
Then press Enter. You will be connected to the Mozilla Firefox FTP download site.
Note that you will need to press Enter after every command that follows. When prompted for your username enter: anonymous As your password enter: your email address
When the ftp> prompt reappears enter these commands, one at a time, pressing enter after each one and waiting for a response from the server:
cd pub/mozilla.org/firefox/releases
cd latest-2.0
cd win32
Now, to see a list of languages and countries that Firefox is available for, type:
ls
If you live in the United States or you prefer your interface in U.S. English, your next command is:
cd en-US
If you prefer another language, cd to that directory instead.
Next, to find out the name of the current version of the Firefox installer, use one more "ls" command:
ls
This last "ls" command will show you the exact name of the installer for the current version of Firefox 2.0, among other files. You are looking for the filename that ends with .exe. AS OF THIS WRITING, it is:
Firefox Setup 2.0.0.20.exe
But you need to use the ls command to see what the
current version is instead of relying on this.
Next, type the command:
binary
To make sure the file is moved as a program and not as a text file, which would ruin it.
Now we need to get it to go to your desktop.'
Fortunately, the desktop "lives" right inside your home folder, so we can use the lcd (Local Change Directory) command to go there:
lcd Desktop
Type:
get "Firefox Setup 2.0.0.20.exe" (If that is the setup program name you found with the ls command. )
(
The quotation marks are important!) The file will take a while to download. On a dialup modem a little longer. When and if the ftp prompt comes back without an error message, type:
quit
You should now finf the install on your desktop.