Internet Explorer isn't popular because of Microsoft evil. It's popular because it comes with every Windows PC. The majority of users think that the blue "E" is the Internet.
172. Microsoft's refusal to respect the user's choice of default browser fulfilled Brad Chase's 1995 promise to make the use of any browser other than Internet Explorer on Windows "a jolting experience." By increasing the likelihood that using Navigator on Windows 98 would have unpleasant consequences for users, Microsoft further diminished the inclination of OEMs to pre-install Navigator onto Windows. The decision to override the user's selection of non-Microsoft software as the default browser also directly disinclined Windows 98 consumers to use Navigator as their default browser, and it harmed those Windows 98 consumers who nevertheless used Navigator. In particular, Microsoft exposed those using Navigator on Windows 98 to security and privacy risks that are specific to Internet Explorer and to ActiveX controls..
173. Microsoft's actions have inflicted collateral harm on consumers who have no interest in using a Web browser at all. If these consumers want the non-browsing features available only in Windows 98, they must content themselves with an operating system that runs more slowly than if Microsoft had not interspersed browsing-specific routines throughout various files containing routines relied upon by the operating system. More generally, Microsoft has forced Windows 98 users uninterested in browsing to carry software that, while providing them with no benefits, brings with it all the costs associated with carrying additional software on a system. These include performance degradation, increased risk of incompatibilities, and the introduction of bugs. Corporate consumers who need the hardware support and other non-browsing features not available in earlier versions of Windows, but who do not want Web browsing at all, are further burdened in that they are denied a simple and effective means of preventing employees from attempting to browse the Web.
174. Microsoft has harmed even those consumers who desire to use Internet Explorer, and no other browser, with Windows 98. To the extent that browsing-specific routines have been commingled with operating system routines to a greater degree than is necessary to provide any consumer benefit, Microsoft has unjustifiably jeopardized the stability and security of the operating system. Specifically, it has increased the likelihood that a browser crash will cause the entire system to crash and made it easier for malicious viruses that penetrate the system via Internet Explorer to infect non-browsing parts of the system.
With the release of IE7, which has a dramatically different interface, many ISPs got calls asking "What did you do to my Internet??"
Most don't know that an alternative exists, and they don't care.
Sure, IE6 and older are plagued with security vulnerabilites, but IE7's security has been good so far. This is particularly true on Vista, with User Access Control and running as a non-privileged process by default. If people insist on using IE and get spyware or other crap on their computer, that's what I call the "stupidity tax"
b.must aggree that thats plain stupidity
c.there are more users than those kinds! besides the ENTERPRISE consumers!
You think it's unfair/not right that Internet Explorer is bundled with the OS and can't be uninstalled?
Konqueror: Including the current version, and planned for future release, file browsing and web browsing tied together through Konqueror
IE: Bundled with Windows, cannot be uninstalled except through painstaking steps
Konqueror: Bundled with KDE, cannot be uninstalled without getting rid of KDE, except through even more painful steps
I see striking similarities. You may argue that nobody forces you to use KDE. Well, nobody forces you to use Windows either.
I cannot understand such a deep hatred for a web browser.
If you like Firefox, then great, use it. I do. I never use IE unless it's absolutely necessary for a particular website.
It has never broken into my apartment and stolen my TV. It has never slapped my girlfriend. To me, it's like a bad restaurant... you eat their once, decide you don't like it, and never return.
Comment