Question: What does Microsoft do when it cannot develop a good product?
Answer:
A: It buys out a competing company that has a good product (ex: Visio, Hotmail).
B: It uses its power to destroy the competing product (ex: Netscape, Lotus, WordPerfect, Novell, and Real Networks).
Let’s start with a personal statement from me: “Internet Explorer is the worst web browser I have ever used.” When Microsoft destroyed Netscape using its unfair advantage, it was not able to kill the code base. Mozilla Foundation inherited this code and in 2004 released the cure for the common Microsoft browser.
After killing Netscape, Microsoft did their usual thing; they never updated their terrible browser and left the world at the mercy of Internet Explorer. The growth of Mozilla’s Firefox has been phenomenal. It is now used by close to 17% of the world, compared with IE at 78%. With their total market domination in jeopardy, Microsoft finally woke up and released updates for IE (version 7 and the “new” upcoming 8th version).
Lethargic companies that are not tuned into the future (and are in bed with Microsoft) force you to use Internet Explorer. Don’t give in! More people do use IE (for now), but it’s got nothing to do with security or performance… just plain lethargy brought about by Microsoft and their domination of the personal computer market.
What can our readers do to help save the world from Microsoft? CLICK HERE to download Firefox 3, which is one of the most superior browsers in the market. Ditch Internet Explorer, as it has made the web a more treacherous and slower-paced environment.
Charles Darwin once said “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” So let’s do our part in changing how we browse the web.
Great point Vikram. At Less Everything we took an even stronger approach than just asking people to download Firefox3. On June 5th we said “no to IE 6” for our own applications. We couldn’t be happier.
Comment by stevenbristol — 31 Aug 2008 @ 8:12 PM