Dvorak: Microsoft Should Just Give Up on Internet Explorer

Fox News/PC Magazine ^ | 4/25/06 | Dvorak

[mathprof]

I think it can now be safely said, in hindsight, that Microsoft's entry into the browser business and its subsequent linking of the browser into the Windows operating system looks to be the worst decision — and perhaps the biggest, most costly gaffe — the company ever made.

I call it the Great Microsoft Blunder.

It looks like a whopper that keeps whacking the company. The most recent bash came from the Eolas v. Microsoft patent suit over aspects of the ActiveX usage in Internet Explorer. Microsoft lost and was slapped with a $521 million settlement.

If the problem is not weird legal cases against the company, then it's the incredible losses in productivity at the company from the never-ending battle against spyware, viruses, and other security problems.

All the work that has to go into keeping the browser afloat is time that could have been better spent on making Vista work as first advertised.

All of Microsoft's Internet-era public-relations and legal problems (in some way or another) stem from Internet Explorer.

If you were to put together a comprehensive profit-and-loss statement for IE, there would be a zero in the profits column and billions in the losses column — billions.

[mathprof]

Freepers are pretty intelligent. Any of you still use IE?

[frankiep]

I only use IE again because Firefox has been doing nothing but f'n up and crashing on me everytime I have tried to use it in the past couple of months. And yes, it is the latest version, so I don't know what the problem is.

I still hate IE though.

[ahayes]

Nope. Firefox.

[ahayes]

Did you try Opera or Netscape?

[mathprof]

I had the crash problem a couple of months ago. I was about to go back to IE, but the latest version(s) of Firefox fixed that for me.

[plain talk]

Every day on all computers home and at work. Works great.

[Wiggins]

I'm using IE7 Beta and I like it so far. It's much faster than Firefox and I like the tabbed browsing.

[EagleUSA]

Microsoft has an ego problem. And myopia. Yes, they should have shed the millstone around their neck a long time ago -- but ego, just won't let that happen. IMHO, MS's days of market dominance are numbered. They are slow, stodgy and arrogant. It will catch up with them at some point.

[CAWats]

I use Firefox mostly, but some media players only work with IE.

[Clock King]

Firefox. Tried Opera, much faster, liked it a lot. Just wish it had easier extensions like FF.

[frankiep]

So you are able to use Firefox again now. I seriously couldn't be on it for more than 10 minutes without it completely shutting down.

I tried using Netscape but I didn't like it at all. I was too spoiled by firefox.

[big'ol_freeper]

I have a better idea. Everyone should give up Microsuck and migrate to Linux or MacOS X.

[CAWats]

MS's days of market dominance are numbered. They are slow, stodgy and arrogant. It will catch up with them at some point.

There are better OS than Microsoft's Windows but nobody will buy them. I bought a computer back in '96 that had an excellent operating system (the name escapes me) but it went nowhere on the market.

[Wiggins]

I like Firefox but I found that some websites don't load right with it. It also loads slow for me. I even tried a speed tweak but it didn't work well.

[CAWats]

Yeah, sites with lots of images, animated gifs and Flash animation don't work well with Firefox. I mostly stay on FR, Fox and Drudge so I don't have much trouble.

[massfreeper]

Nope. Safari on Mac OS X. Occasionally run Firefox on Mac OS X as well. Still stuck with IE on Windows at work though, and I hate it.

[Revel]

Microsoft has always been know to steal all there ideas from someone else. And that includes tabbed browesing. Mozilla/Netscape were the real pioneers of internet browsing. And they were the first to give it away for free.

[grey_whiskers]

I bought a computer back in '96 that had an excellent operating system (the name escapes me) but it went nowhere on the market.

...Cray?

Cheers!

[backhoe]

I've used firefox ( primarily ) since this sorry incident:

Hijacked! New Browser Exploits Plague Web
various sites | 07-09-04 | The Heavy Equipment Guy
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1168134/posts

...and I'll admit a sentimental fondness for Netscape. In fairness, MS seems to have tightened up the holes in Exploder recently, but I use it only for sites that insist on it.

[BellStar]

After Firefox crashes I went to the IE7 Beta. Great so far.