Heh - I'm glad it didn't make the initial release. Why should a private company selling a product be dictated to in this way when they aren't even doing anything wrong! They're selling a product. They don't block you from installing alternative software. Opera (I believe they are making the biggest noise about this) need a reality check here. If the product was that much more worthy (or the customers actually cared) then there's nothing to stop the OEMs installing it and making it the default browser.
And if Microsoft have to provide a choice... force Apple to do the same when you buy a new Mac. Just as most PC users know the web as "The Blue 'e' Thingamy", there are many Mac users who know no other browser than Safari. Opera, Firefox etc run on Macs, but out of the Mac users I know, and I know quite a few, none of them would even know there is an alternative, nor would they even care - like most PC users don't actually care what browser they use (and to be fair, IE is finally starting to mature and it works quite well now)
The E edition was going to be a nightmare... although I'm sure Microsoft had distribution of free CDs through the retail sector well thought out and planned (or would that be an E?). And it works - just ask AOL! 2010 could have been the year of the Mass IE8 CD Invasion!!
But yeah... in my book, if Microsoft has to provide a browser choice to the user, then so does Apple.