Word of the first broke when an apparent memo about the plans was leaked to Thursday morning. Microsoft acknowledged the memo's authenticity -- it was sent from the company to computer manufacturers and retailers, representatives say -- and Microsoft has since gone on to elaborate about the plans.

"We're committed to making Windows 7 available in Europe at the same time that it launches in the rest of the world, but we also must comply with European competition law as we launch the product," , Microsoft's vice president and deputy general counsel, explains.

"Given the pending legal proceeding, we've decided that instead of including Internet Explorer in Windows 7 in Europe, we will offer it separately and on an easy-to-install basis to both computer manufacturers and users," he says.

The European Windows 7 E editions, then, will function just like the regular Windows 7 offerings sold in America -- only without Internet Explorer automatically included. With that said, new computer users may still find IE on their systems, given the options Microsoft is providing for manufacturers to preinstall the program before shipping their PCs.