2010-04-13, 01:07 PM
The problem wasn't just the marketshare that MSIE had at the time, but also that the operating system REQUIRED you to use MSIE to download updates for Windows. If you disabled MSIE, you couldn't get updates as the web engine needed MSIE for its use. This meant that many other users didn't want to get any other browsers because why have two browsers? Also, you had to have some sort of MSIE client running at all times because MSIE was built into explorer.exe. This made running other browsers a hassle because the default one for Windows was ALWAYS MSIE and it was ridiculously hard to switch it.
Apple is not doing the same thing. Their updates are not tied to Safari, and you can use any browser you want. You'll notice that in Vista and Windows 7 Microsoft no longer requires you to use MSIE for updates and allows you to easily switch from one browser to another.
Google is not doing the same thing as Microsoft because you have a choice whether to use their search engine or not. With XP you did not have a choice which browser you could use. This was Microsoft forcing you to use their browser with their system and limited the choice of its users.
Apple is not doing the same thing. Their updates are not tied to Safari, and you can use any browser you want. You'll notice that in Vista and Windows 7 Microsoft no longer requires you to use MSIE for updates and allows you to easily switch from one browser to another.
Google is not doing the same thing as Microsoft because you have a choice whether to use their search engine or not. With XP you did not have a choice which browser you could use. This was Microsoft forcing you to use their browser with their system and limited the choice of its users.