Mildly controversially, MS have found themselves compelled to offer Windows users in the EU a ‘browser ballot’ screen in an effort to make IE a less default choice, which is fairly understandable (if perhaps not understandably fair).
But MS have decided for some reason that the best way to do this is is render it as a web page in IE8. So before making an unbiased decision with no leading questions, you’ve already had to configure IE8.
I was going to post about the crapness of IE8’s multiple configuration dialogues, but this is more amusing.