Why I dumped Internet Explorer

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Microsoft's OS Problem

The problem with Microsoft is their bludgeoning insistence that the browser must be and is an integral part of the operating system. Sorry, it's not - it's just a piece of software. An OS servers one purpose and one purpose only - provide access to hardware. So, it provides explorer to access the hard drive, the Windows API to access the monitor, drivers to access printers, API's to access ethernet cards, etc, etc. The browser is simply a piece of software that accesses these API's, just like Word or Media Player.

If Microsoft pared down Windows to simply doing the job of an OS, they could make a pretty slick OS. Instead they've decided to kluge it up with all this excess software that would be better delivered separately. The Firefox thing is just a symptom of Microsoft's disease. They didn't update their browser because it takes so long to update an OS, so a group that can just concentrate on the browser is kicking their butt. And people, even non-techies, are actually starting to switch, which is a HUGE statement. If a product comes bundled free on a PC, it has to be really bad and the competition much better for the average user to even CONTEMPLATE switching.

Here's what I see happening. Now that Microsoft is only supporting security on XP, more and more users will switch to Firefox (or whatever) for browsing, only using IE for those sites that require it. As the percentage of non-IE browsers edges up to the 25% range, IE-only web sites will begin changing so that they don't lose these users. Once the IE-only web sites are gone (or at least, not nearly as common), the biggest impediment to switching to a non-IE browser will be gone and more people will switch.

It kills me how Microsoft repeatedly said that not allowing them to bundle the browser in the OS would "kill innovation", yet once they won they never updated the browser again. Where's the innovation in that? I'm sure that once their browser begins to lose market share that the backpeddling will begin and we'll see new and better IE versions apart from the OS. As it should be. Competition is the only instigator of innovation, period.

Posted by: jzed   Posted on: 10/01/04 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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