Posted on 05/07/2009 10:18:22 PM PDT by JoeProBono
Microsoft Corp's next version of Windows is stirring fresh complaints of anticompetitive behavior from rivals who say the new version of the operating system gives unfair advantage to Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser, the Financial Times reported. "Our initial review suggests this is a blatant use of the Windows operating system to change the market dynamics of browser usage," Mitchell Baker, chairperson of Mozilla, developer of open-source Firefox browser, told the paper.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Perhaps I am missing some thing. But the browsers are free, are they not? So why would any one care about Microsoft cornering a market where they are unable to make money? Besides, don’t people already have a choice to go with some version of Linux, which is not only free but also allows them to select a browser of choice? Even Opera.
IE8, OTOH, is pretty smooth. It wouldn't be beyond belief to imagine that W7 is purposefully making things difficult for FF3.
DOS isn’t done until Lotus won’t run...
Swordmaker is bleeding from the truth portal. Give him two weeks.
If I were Microsoft I would go open source and just get a licensing fee. Lay off all the development people and concerntrate on owning the internet.
Windows would be a much better product if someone else could modify it to make it run better.
I noticed this at home when I got the FF updates about a week ago. I'm using XP SP3. Sometimes it snaps to attention and other times it thrashes the HD and doesn't load the pages right away. FF worked very well before this week. I'm clean as to malware and other crap.
That was the only app that wouldn't start.
It could be the new release. I don't have anything to compare it to as my machine's W7RC and FF3 is a clean install on a fresh HD. Plus, I installed only the latest FF3 release - I believe it's only a few days old.
I've got other machines in the house running W7RC, but they don't have FF3 installed. Maybe I'll try the previous FF3 version and see if it's working any better.
I had FF3 on the 7000 build of W7 and it worked without any problems for almost 6 months. I've also noticed that the FF3 Adobe Reader plugin crashes with FF3 and not IE8 as well.
Strange. I had it on 7 Beta and it worked fine. Some other apps I had didn't work in the Beta but are working fine in 7RC.
[Perhaps I am missing some thing. But the browsers are free, are they not? So why would any one care about Microsoft cornering a market where they are unable to make money?]
Because Windows has woven a nasty web that is everyone’s problem. Internet Explorer is the Operating System, and vice versa. That’s also why Windows is a virus super highway.
I'm not discounting everything you said, but don't you think the biggest reason that MS gets nailed with so many virus' is because of the anti-capitalism anarchist that see a large, ubiquitous and for-profit MS as the ultimate incarnation of "the man"?
For whatever reason, Apple is not looked upon with as much loathing and contempt by the nutbag left and therefore isn't as targeted by the hackers as much.
Sure MS makes it easier because of the incestuous relationship between OS and browser (and other MS apps), but a lot of it has to do with MS as the object of hatred in and of itself.
“the biggest reason that MS gets nailed with so many virus’ is because of the anti-capitalism anarchist that see a large, ubiquitous and for-profit MS as the ultimate incarnation of “the man”?”
No, it goes all the way back to the DOS days. Windows was (unlike the Nixes including Apple) originally designed with zero security because it was meant to run on single PCs. Its marketing model was always to allow itself to be cracked and pirated to establish market share.
Now, love them or hate them, but open source and Linux and BSD programmers wouldn’t be caught dead trying to pawn off the crap code Microsoft writes, it is just considered an embarrassment. So the other operating systems simply do not have the same structures built in that allow them to be easily compromised.
Interesting. I would have $hitcanned MS when Vista came out, but I'm a small business owner and ultimately, you just can't get away from MS because of it's dominance in the business workplace.
I only gave W7 a go on my home machine because someone on FR was speaking so highly of it and I was building a new rig so I thought what the heck - 7 beta certainly worked much better than I thought it would.
> Because Windows has woven a nasty web that is everyone’s problem. Internet Explorer is the Operating System, and vice versa. That’s also why Windows is a virus super highway.
Well, as a user if you prefer a different system you always could pick a Linux (or an Apple). In fact you could save yourself several hundred $$$ by not using Microsoft. So where is the problem?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.