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.

[Mrs. Darla Ruth Schwerin]

Geez...Thought the article was about the composer, only to find out the fella who wrote the article wanted his name to be the front runner...

[boris]

I was a confirmed Netscape fan until it began crashing and bringing down Windows. I tried everything--including wiping the disk and reloading Windows and Netscape (a fresh download) and it kept crashing and bringing down the system. Trying to get support from Netscape was like asking questions of the Sphynx. So finally I gave up and installed IE. I am very happy with it and see no need for alternative browsers.

--Boris

[Mr. Jeeves]

Firefox seems to have memory leaks, and can lock up when loading a lot of images. I still use it most of the time, though.

[Wiggins]

Firefox seems to have memory leaks, and can lock up when loading a lot of images. I still use it most of the time, though.

I like some of Firefox features. One in particular is they way the history is automatically deleted when the browser is closed. In IE, I have to use a utility called window washer or something similar.