Why does Microsoft let competitors install alternatives to IE and outlook on their machines, like Firefox and Thunderbird?
Because the machines are NOT their machines. The machines are owned by the people that buy them and they have the right to put whatever software they choose onto them. Microsoft cannot dictate that. If they made an attempt to, they would go out of business very rapidly. They are not so stupid as to attempt such a thing. Microsoft has never forbidden other browsers (nor other programs) from being installed, but they did keep you from removing Internet Explorer because they claimed it was part of their O.S. (with very little justification). People demanded that Microsoft allow users to uninstall Internet Explorer, and that eventually led to a lawsuit. Microsoft eventually capitulated and changed the software to permit it to be uninstalled. It’s still difficult today, actually. Try uninstalling Internet Explorer 7 on Windows XP. It’s not a simple process, and you’ll probably have to google around to find out how to do it.
