Major Japanese personal computer makers said this week they will continue pre-installing Internet Explorer together with Windows 95, according to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun. NEC Corp, Fujitsu Ltd, Toshiba Corp, Hitachi Ltd and others say they will honor contracts that stipulate bundling Microsoft’s browser with Windows 95. The announcements came after Microsoft Corp said it would offer a version of Windows 95 that does not install the web browser software automatically – but offers flawed functionality. Microsoft, for its part, says it never pressured Japanese manufacturers to install Explorer with the operating system, but wants to clarifying its marketing practices in line with a last week’s US District Court ruling that issued a preliminary injunction against the bundling of the browser with the Windows OS. In October, five of eight major Japanese makers told The Nihon Keizai Shimbun they decided independently to pre-install Explorer. None cited any pressure from Microsoft to do so.
