Microsoft’s Browser Blunder
John Dvorak speaks — and people are ashamed to admit they agree with him this time.
Column from PC Magazine: The Great Microsoft Blunder
I think it can now be safely said, in hindsight, that Microsoft’s entry into the browser business and its subsequent linking of the browser into the Windows operating system looks to be the worst decision—and perhaps the biggest, most costly gaffe—the company ever made. I call it the Great Microsoft Blunder. […]
If the problem is not weird legal cases against the company, then it’s the incredible losses in productivity at the company from the never-ending battle against spyware, viruses, and other security problems. All the work that has to go into keeping the browser afloat is time that could have been better spent on making Vista work as first advertised.
All of Microsoft’s Internet-era public-relations and legal problems (in some way or another) stem from Internet Explorer. If you were to put together a comprehensive profit-and-loss statement for IE, there would be a zero in the profits column and billions in the losses column—billions.
His solution? Dump the browser, gift Mozilla a bunch of money, and invest in Opera.
It’s too smart an idea for Microsoft to go for. I eagerly wait Robert Scoble’s response.