European Union officials have already rejected Microsoft’s offer to sell Windows in Europe without any browser. The quick response suggests officials are not interested in doing a deal and still intend to hit Microsoft with a big punishment.

Europe isn’t going to get Windows 7. Oh no, we’re special, and are consequently going to get Windows 7 E, a version of the Vista successor without Internet Explorer built-in. Microsoft decided on this course of action to appease EU regulators’ antitrust concerns about IE being bundled with all copies of Microsoft operating systems.

The people in charge of the European Union really don’t like Microsoft. They tend to see it as an overly-dominant company which succeeds in maintaining its huge market share in many sectors by unfair means. Microsoft, rather unsurprisingly, disagrees. Cue a battle to the death, with Internet Explorer being the weapon of choice.

Microsoft has reportedly picked the name Bing as a replacement for its new search engine, originally dubbed Kumo. The firm will reportedly spend as much as $100 million advertising it across all media.

Microsoft will no longer be giving oral evidence in its appeal against the European Union’s charge of anti-competitive behavior in bundling Internet Explorer with Windows. The firm pulled out of a scheduled hearing claiming the absence of EU competition experts would make the event pointless.

Microsoft is claiming that threatened European Union sanctions over the bundling of Internet Explorer would themselves cause an unfair competitive advantage for Google. The comments follow the announcement that Microsoft will present its defense between June. 3 and 5

Internet Explorer 8 was released in March 2009 after being worked on for around two years. Although there are some nice new features, and many improvements over IE7, Microsoft’s Web browser is old, outdated and slower than a snail hitching a ride on the back of a dead tortoise. Is there any point in developing Internet Explorer 9, really?

It’s a well-known fact that Microsoft has always bundled Internet Explorer with its operating systems. Will this practice end with Windows 7? Probably not. In fact, people who have downloaded the Windows 7 Release Candidate this week have reported even worse than that.

Microsoft has officially challenged a European Union ruling that its bundling of Internet Explorer violates competition laws in the region. The case will now go to a formal hearing.

Microsoft has agreed to a Department of Justice request to extend government oversight of its activities for a second time. The firm will remain under supervision until May 12, 2011.

We’ve heard plenty of words about Internet Explorer 8, but now some numbers are starting to appear. And while it may not be true that numbers don’t lie, they are certainly making some unwelcome insinuations.

After over two years in the making, Internet Explorer 8 was finally released to the public on March 19, 2009. And no one cares.

With today’s launch of Internet Explorer 8, media response has been a mixed bag. The new features have generally been well-received, but problems with the user interface and implementation of web standards have earned criticism.

The head of the firm which sparked a European Commission investigation into Microsoft’s promotion of Internet Explorer says plans to make it an optional feature in Windows 7 don’t go far enough. Opera’s Jon von Tetzchner maintains that Windows should treat all major browsers equally.

Internet Explorer 8 is almost with us, and so begins Microsoft’s effort to drag people back from one of the other alternatives many have moved to. Microsoft has started the push by claiming IE8 is faster than either Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome.