Microsoft this week reiterated that it would keep the new version of Microsoft's IE Web browser available only as part of the recently released Windows XP operating system, Service Pack 2
Hello? Is anyone at Microsoft listening? What a great strategy! Let's abandon the 200 million customers who chose not to upgrade and leave them with software known to be defective. Of course, Microsoft will backport its Avalon and Indigo subsystems from Longhorn to Windows XP because they see the uptake of Longhorn as too slow. Maybe it's time for them to re-examine their business model and consider enticing customers to upgrade with carrots (like features!) instead of sticks (like abandoning them with buggy software).
It's your choice. Upgrade for $99 to Windows XP, a new version of the operating system that may or may not work with your existing hardware and software. Or abandon the "free" browser and run something more secure. Microsoft has claimed the IE will always be "free," so how can they demand $99 for the most recent version?
Alex Feldstein links to Rick Strahl's "Browser wars? Maybe not, but..." and Alex adds "Rick writes an opinion about the browser wars... I completely agree with what he says. I use IE at work (corporate standard) and the latest Firefox version at home. Although I personally like Firefox, I try to make my websites compatible with both... IE and Firefox both have some security problems, but IE's are worse. There are many issues that Microsoft has to address, security being just one of them. Read the full blog at "Browser wars? Maybe not, but..."
I'm surprised by the strength of Rick's writings, but agree whole-heartedly. IE is my last choice for browsing, after Camino, Safari, FireFox and Opera...
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