| dunno001 said: My thoughts on this pretty much line up with nordlead. And he'd even do something similar to what I would do- not offer any browser. What's that? You need to get online to download Firefox? Sorry, but the way we gave you prior to choose was forcefully removed. There is no internet browser. Hope you have an installer! Oh... you don't? Well, since Windows Update runs through the shell, we can offer you IE8 as an optional download, free of charge! (Though admittingly, I also like the CD idea.) As things are right now, I can choose whether I want to use IE, Chrome, or what. Hell, if I were that adamant against IE, I could get Opera, then go into the settings and disable access to IE! I don't need a court order, an EU build, or any of that crap- it's already all there! And guess what? It's all free! The choice has always existed; IE is offered to give you a gateway to said choice. Sorry, but no company should ever be forced to advertise for their competitors. Last gen, why didn't the EU force Sony to advertise for Nintendo and Microsoft? Why doesn't Apple have to advertise for Sanzo MP3 players? They both have (or had) a bigger share of the market than IE, yet no ridiculous ruling came against them. As scat said, the EU sees MS as their personal ATM, except that they've never really made a deposit into the account. Isn't that some sort of crime itself...? |
No matter who's fault it is, people would blame Windows. I mean, the government has already decided people aren't smart enough to download browsers... If they're right, they probably wouldn't know who's fault it is that they can't get online, either. But if MS did that, then Macs would still be allowed to bundle a browser, just like every other OS, so it would only be Windows that comes without the web being enabled. That would be bad. So they selected an option that wouldn't risk impacting OS marketshare.
In the end, it's all just stupid, though. IE has what, 58% marketshare? and falling? I could see if IE was still 80+% of the market, and noone could compete, but new guys (Firefox, Chrome) have popped up, and are consistently taking marketshare. And you know how they do this? By offering some cool features IE doesn't. And their success is a result. It's almost as if IE being a Titan forces companies to try harder, thus benefitting consumers further. If I didn't know better, I'd think that's what capitalism is all about.
