Microsoft caught flack not merely for including IE, but also for requiring OEMs like Dell to set IE as the default browser. Google deserves the same flack for e.g. their requirement that OEMs set Google Search as the default search engine.
AOSP does not include all these apps. Google says if you want to install play store on your device, you must also install all these apps. I think it's exactly the same as Microsoft's behavior with IE.
