Re: Boycott Microsoft

%% "Christopher Smith" <drsmithy_at_usa.net> writes:

>> There are Internet sites out there where you either have to have
>> Win95 or Internetexplorer or you can't get on them, not matter what
>> kind of computer you have.

  cs> There are website that only work if you have Navigator as well - are   cs> they equally as evil ?

They are unpleasant, but not equally evil.

Hypocrisy? No.

This is because Netscape produces its product for a variety of operating systems, and doesn't write any operating systems itself[1]. So, if you want to view those sites you're not restricted to a particular platform and operating system, but merely to a particular browser.

IE-specific sites, on the other hand, cannot be used unless you're 100% Microsoft, including operating system _and_ browser[2]... and that implies a lot of other Microsoft tools, too [I don't deny that many of the best apps that run on Windows are produced by Microsoft. Not much of a coincidence, that, if you ask me, and merely yet another example of why Microsoft is a monopoly which should be broken up. But I digress :).]

There _IS_ a distinct difference. If the WWW is the next "killer technology" for moving computer systems into large numbers of new homes and businesses, then restrictions like this _will_ shape the future of the 'Net and _do_ represent a distinct anti-competitive, monopolistic stance on Microsoft's part.

If IE becomes a standard component on 90% of the home desktops, what incentives do Web designers have to support other browsers--or, put another way, why should they eschew features known to be IE-only?

Even if people prefer Netscape and go to the trouble of downloading it, designers can merely say "well, you also have IE on your system, just use that to view our site". This is a significantly different statement, in terms of customer annoyance, than "go download another browser and use that".

This snowballs and snowballs, and soon people don't even bother starting Netscape and Microsoft is controlling the majority of the content of the 'Net (and they're big enough and hold enough of a monopoly on a huge segment of the market to do it, unlike Netscape) and in order to see this content you need IE, which means you need Windows... etc.

[1] And now, Netscape actually gives away the source code so you could

    put it on _ANY_ platform.

[2] There are rumors of IE for other platforms, but I've never seen one

    and even if true, those rumors don't posit anywhere near enough     platforms to make it a truly open browser--and really, I don't trust     Microsoft to "do the right thing" and produce equally functional     software on what is essentially software produced by a direct rival     for their main business advantage. In all honesty, knowing the     anticompetitive practices they have been busted for in the past and     those which they still admit to but won't change, do you?

-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Paul D. Smith <psmith_at_baynetworks.com>         Network Management Development
 "Please remain calm...I may be mad, but I am a professional." --Mad Scientist
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
     These are my opinions--Bay Networks takes no responsibility for them.