Reply to post: Re: Exterminate! Exterminate!

Everything OK with Microsoft? Windows giant admits it was 'on the wrong side of history' with regard to open source

Maventi

Re: Exterminate! Exterminate!

> Nobody was force to use IE.

Yes they were - for a while it was only only browser that worked for a good portion of the web, as websites prioritised supporting IE over web standards.

> The complaint was from companies who wanted to sell copies of their own browsers.

Somewhat; the other big issue with the web's dependence on IE was that is in turn created a dependence on Windows, as nothing else could run IE. So effectively the web was in danger of becoming locked to a single vertically-integrated platform stack. Fortunately the world has managed to move on, however Microsoft still pull the same tricks with vertical integration - for example two decades later many of their web services still only work properly in a single browser.

The big difference between not and then is that they've just finally figured out how to incorporate open source into their business model.

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