Why Would Microsoft Make Such Major IE Concessions?
So, Microsoft this week settled its massive, years-long antitrust case in Europe by offering to let consumers and PC makers replace its Internet Explorer (IE) web browser with an alternative in EU-based nations. The scope of this concession can’t be overstated, given how strategic IE supposedly is to the company. (Remember, although Microsoft largely controls the PC, server, and office-productivity markets that are today the primary sources of the company’s revenues, the computer industry is heading to the cloud, and the browser is the primary interface there.) So why would Microsoft allow such a thing? Why would it provide its often hapless competitors with an entryway into its core Windows product (and provide the equivalent of a can of Pepsi in every six-pack of Coke … or in Opera’s case, a can of Tab)? I have a theory, and this is rooted in nothing more than common sense and conjecture. (That is, I have absolutely no inside information here.) That theory is this: I believe that Mic
