You are not forced to use IE in Longhorn, which is good. This release is mostly a sandbox for developers to play in so I assume that most will use IE predominantly in order to play with/test/write XAML, etc, but if you actually want to use the internet, I would avoid that bug-ridden browser MS is still pushing along (imagine 10 guys pushing a car with no front tires through the desert. Now ask them why they don't use the jack and spare tire in the back seat. That is how I would sum up MS and IE) and install Firebird.
