This latest act of arrogance, combined with their outright lies
has convinced me to delay no more.
By the end of 2001 my PCs will all be MS-Free!
Serhaps someone can create a neat Web page that tracks the
market percentage of the various browsers and we can make a
crusade out of driving the M$ percentage down one percent per
month starting with December 2001.
Would that be fun or what?! :-)
Doc
BTW: Anyone know how to contact ProComp and other "anti-M$"
or in the non-pejorative -- pro-competition organizations to see if they
already have such a site and such a movement?
ALSO: How does who calculate the 87% M$ browser percentage?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Microsoft's MSN Portal Shuts Out Alternative Browsers
Saturday, October 27, 2001
NEW YORK - Microsoft's premier Web portal, MSN.com, denied entry to millions
of people who use alternative browser software such as Opera and told them
to get Microsoft's products instead.
The decision led to complaints from the small but loyal Opera community that
Microsoft Corp. was abusing its status as the Internet's browser leader.
Microsoft later backed off and said Friday it would support the other
browsers after all.
Browser products affected included Opera, Mozilla and Amaya, said Kevin
Reichard, editorial manager for Internet.com's BrowserWatch site.
He said version 4.7 of Netscape's browser worked, while Microsoft said MSN
also supported Netscape version 6.0, which is based on Mozilla.
Opera is the Internet's No. 3 browser software, with more than 2 million
active users, though it's dwarfed by its competitors. It uses less memory
and less disk space than Microsoft's and Netscape's browsers, and Opera
users say they can surf the Web faster.
Opera users complained that Microsoft's tactics reduced choice.
"It shows that Microsoft unfortunately has a stranglehold on the Internet
community, where they can force users to use their browser," said Tim
Altman, a Lynchburg College student who uses Opera.
Mike Pettit, president of ProComp, an anti-Microsoft group, urged state and
federal investigators to look into the matter as part of their ongoing
lawsuit accusing Microsoft of anticompetitive practices.
Jon S. von Tetzchner, chief executive of Opera Software, said he first heard
from Opera users Thursday that they were being shut out of MSN.com after the
Web site underwent a face-lift.
The blockage coincided with Microsoft 's showcase launch of its Windows XP
operating system. Instead of getting MSN's news, games and shopping
features, Opera users were given links to download Microsoft's browsers.
Tetzchner said Microsoft originally offered the excuse that Opera did not
support the latest standards from the World Wide Web Consortium, or W3C, an
independent standards body. But he insisted that Opera supported the
standards better than Microsoft did.
A Microsoft spokeswoman said no one was immediately available for an
interview. In a statement, MSN marketing director Bob Visse said Microsoft
wanted to maximize the user experience.
"If customers choose to use a browser that does not tightly support W3C
standards then they may encounter a less then optimal experience on MSN,"
Visse said. "However, we still welcome them to enjoy our services at
whatever level available."
The statement did not address claims that Microsoft's own pages do not
comply with the standards, and a check of some MSN pages through W3C's
validator feature returned examples of coding noncompliance.
Tetzchner called the Microsoft move a likely acknowledgment of his
6-year-old company's higher profile in the Internet business world.
"Most of the players in the Internet world know who we are and are taking us
seriously and I think this incident shows that Microsoft is one of those
players," Tetzchner said.
Tetzchner said Opera recently reached a major deal with Symbian, a
partnership that includes Nokia and Ericsson, to be the default browser on a
number of wireless devices that connect to the Internet.
According to WebSideStory's StatMarket, Microsoft's Internet Explorer is the
leading browser, used by nearly 87 percent of the U.S. online population.
Netscape had 13 percent, while Opera had less than 1 percent.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,37434,00.html
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