[teletech]

IMO they don't want to measure up. More people use Internet Explorer than any (all?) other browsers. Why should M$ spend their time playing catch up when they are already #1? They would rather set standards than follow them. It's their way of thumbing their noses at the competition.

The trouble with this kind of thinking is that to remain #1, you must build a better mouse trap or be prepared to find yourself in a game of catch up. Resting on your laurels will NOT cut it! NO company is to big to topple.

[spacewarp]

When things got going in the marketplace with word processors, WordPerfect was the MASSIVE leader. It had 95% market share. Microsoft came along and bought Word from a tiny little company and tried to rebuild it to a little bit better. They succeeded. WordPerfect corporation decided to delay doing a Windows version. MS came out with a new Windows version of Word. WP had to play catch-up. They came out with a half-hearted effort at a Windows release. It was buggy, unstable and caused Windows 3.0 to actually be WORSE than it was before, if you can believe that. By the time they came out with a workable Windows version, they had 25% of the marketshare, and shortly later, had to sell the company. It's been sold at least 4 more times since. The simple moral is you can't wait for the world to catch you, they build too much momentum and sweep you under the rug.

Paul