[beef]

"Some clown actually thinks Bill Gates is losing sleep over this?"

Controlling the browser gives Microsoft an edge when it comes to setting standards. They would like nothing better than to have everyone creating web pages with their software that can only be loaded with their software. Once they have the content encoded in their proprietary formats (such as they do with Word and Excel), every couple of years they turn over a ton of $$ by forcing everyone to upgrade. This is done by giving corporate clients a price break if they agree to buy upgrades when they are available. The upgraded software fights like hell to save everything in the new format. Older software can't read the new format, so now another wave of upgrades occur because people can't read the documents being sent to them. They control all of this, so they don't have to provide versions of their software for other platforms, like Linux. Attempts to create clones are met with legal action over their proprietary and secret formats. All of this hinges on controlling the format in which information is encoded, and MSIE is an important part of that.

[Arkinsaw]

All of this hinges on controlling the format in which information is encoded, and MSIE is an important part of that.

Not according to many here. To many here, having THE dominant internet browser is worth absolutely nothing....say it again....absolutely nothing.

[Last Visible Dog]

Controlling the browser gives Microsoft an edge when it comes to setting standards

You are missing the point - that game is over. The standards and features are set. For a browser to compete it must follow the standards and features set in large part by Microsoft. Microsoft already won that battle. Microsoft's goal was content - the browser now has the functionality to deliver the content Microsoft wants to deliver. Microsoft makes money off the content, not the browser - all Microsoft needed was a browser that delivers the level of content they envisioned. That has been done already so the browser is no longer an issue.

Once they have the content encoded in their proprietary formats (such as they do with Word and Excel), every couple of years they turn over a ton of $$ by forcing everyone to upgrade.

Content is not encoded in their proprietary format. That was the desktop model and that is so "ten years ago". Microsoft's main focus now is .NET and that is a standards-based platform (no proprietary anything - other than the actual OS's). The game has changed.

This is done by giving corporate clients a price break if they agree to buy upgrades when they are available.

Yes. It all one giant conspiracy.

The upgraded software fights like hell to save everything in the new format. Older software can't read the new format, so now another wave of upgrades occur because people can't read the documents being sent to them.

Yeah. Right. This has nothing to do with the Internet paradigm.

They control all of this, so they don't have to provide versions of their software for other platforms, like Linux.

So why is Microsoft the number one software vendor for the Mac? Why should Microsoft spend the money to create software that can only run on about 3% of the market?

Attempts to create clones are met with legal action over their proprietary and secret formats.

What are you talking about? Point me to one of these Microsoft legal actions over proprietary and "secret" formats.

All of this hinges on controlling the format in which information is encoded, and MSIE is an important part of that.

Wrong. IE conforms to open and published standards. There is no secret encodings or secret decoder rings.

Microsoft had a vision of what Internet content could be and they created a browser to deliver this content. The standards used, HTML-XML-SSL-JavaScript-etc, are open standards and not proprietary. If somebody makes a browser that can deliver the same content IE can deliver - Microsoft does not care. They sell the tools to create and deliver content, not the browser.

[kezekiel]

Controlling the browser gives Microsoft an edge when it comes to setting standards. They would like nothing better than to have everyone creating web pages with their software that can only be loaded with their software. Once they have the content encoded in their proprietary formats (such as they do with Word and Excel), every couple of years they turn over a ton of $$ by forcing everyone to upgrade.

Those Office file formats are legendary for being so badly documented that even Microsoft has trouble writing filters for it, and I have yet to see a 3rd-party filter that is 100% faithful in rendering Office documents (especially Word).