c:\> ftp ftp.mozilla.org
(user name anonymous and your e-mail as password)
ftp> cd /pub/mozilla.org/firefox/releases/3.5/win32/en-US
ftp> bin
ftp> get "Firefox Setup 3.5.exe"
ftp> quit

it will also come with a separate cd with a internet explorer installer though.

i am also sceptical about windows 7 but i don't think the missing internet explorer is a big problem. pcs which will have windows 7 preinstalled will also have some browser like firefox preinstalled.

...and maybe in a few years most people who only use their computer for browsing the internet and some office work will use something like chrome os anyway. :p

hmp, aside those high frequently updates i find vista quite good. it does the job.. no need for windows7

btw, there is xp 64 bit, too. if i had known that, i might have sticked with that. anyhow. my new computer at work has vista, too. and well, it works..

i use xp64 and i am very happy with it.

The browser is no problem. In future you'll just get another installation cd offering one or more browser(s) when buying a new pc.
That's what we call progress

I upgraded to Vista-64 because a lot of people talked bad about XP-64. And MS support was told to be non-existing.

Chrome-OS reads good, but it is just another open-source Linux system. We will see how it ends. Probably it is only good for netbooks, reading mails and surfing the net.
I spent tons of money for software licenses and most of them are Windows-based. So I cannot switch without losing lots of my assets.

Vista-64 works fine here. It never crashed. But there are some compatibility problems from time to time especially with older software.

At the end the new customers will get their new hardware with Win7. The hardware companies will install a browser on their own and everything works fine.

But some people like me with the idea to upgrade are the losers.

Win7 is still better than Vista-64 though. I don't quite understand why one would go for Vista-64 instead of XP-64, but i guess driver-wise you'd have the same kind of issues.

I'm still reasonably positive about Win7 though, but I will be very patient before buying it for sure.

i agree

windows 7 have no IE? ok, i remembered the judgment, but in the build 7100 of 7 there is IE8 installed! and you can deactivate it in the system control

I dont have much expirience with vista, but I have a hard drive with regular xp, xp-64, and a beta of win7, and to be honest I'm loving win7. There are a few quirks, but then again, I stuck with xp all of the way through the vista period so it's gonna be a while till I get out of old habits. I have new hardware so almost all of it was recognized basically instantly, and worked seamlessly.

I dont know why people expect a browser with the os automatically. an os, and browser are two different types of software, thats like saying my os should come with halflife2 or microsoft access. Sure some computers come with them, but I'd never buy a computer bloated with software I didn't choose to get.

This was not my point. I have no problems to get a pure OS without Media Player, without IE. My problem is that I get no update option. I have to make full installation, losing all my installed software. And I have to pay double the price for that (compared to US people).
I agree that Win7 is technically a progress over Vista.

well yeah, i was referring to others complaints of no browser. To be hones, many programs now will rewrite reg files where needed, or just re ask for your key if you just install this windows over top of the old one. I understand that it's bad practice, but bad practice works sometimes.