Microsoft has confirmed that Windows 7 is the first Windows OS which lets you disable Internet Explorer 8 not only that, the list includes -

• Windows Media Player
• Windows Media Center
• Windows DVD Maker
• Internet Explorer 8
• Windows Search
• Handwriting Recognition (through the Tablet PC Components option)
• Windows Gadget Platform
• Fax and Scan
• XPS Viewer and Services (including the Virtual Print Driver)

Earlier version of windows too had the feature to turn features on or off but the list wasn’t this extensive. The development of Windows 7 is certainly going in the right direction – the end user now would get more controls over the features without using up all the resources.

[via Engineering Windows 7]