Why MS wants to control the browser

[David Dunn <david.dunn@vc3.com>]

  Michael Katz wrote:
  > 
  > It is obvious that Microsoft's efforts to control the browser are a thinly
  > veiled effort to control the lucrative server market.
  
  Since HTTPD is the protocol that's used for communication
  between the browser and the server and that protocol is, currently,
  not owned or controlled by Microsoft, having control over the
  browser market has little to no impact on their control of the server
  market.  Look at Netscape's example, their large control over the
  browser market hasn't helped them stem the MS NT/IIS tide at all.
  
  Microsoft's primary reason for wanting to control the the browser
  market is so they can continue to control the desktop.  Microsoft
  woke up one day and realized that the web/browser was the
  biggest threat to date to their desktop dominance (Sun realized
  it much earlier - hence their Java push).
  In a web-centric world based on open standards all the user ever
  sees is the browser and the applications developed using open
  standards (HTML, Java, JavaScript, etc.).  The user never sees
  the underlying OS and it quickly becomes irrelevant
  This means that low-cost solutions such
  as Java Workstations and Net PCs can be used rather than
  a $2,000+ MS Windows based workstations.
  
  Microsoft has decided to counter this threat by creating their
  own browser and pushing their own standards such as ActiveX, COM,
  and their "enhanced" java that would compel the web development
  community to develop web based applications that still require
  MS Windows on the client end.
  
  As long as the web development community stays away from 
  creating web-sites and web-pages that require the MS Windows
  specific features of MS IE to run then it really won't
  matter if MS owned 100% of the windows browser market.  In a
  web-centric world without Microsoft's standards, your average
  user could toss their PC/Windows box and for some other "hot"
  platform and never miss a beat (no learning curve, no support
  issues) and market shares could shift drastically between whoever
  has the hottest "browser box".
  This would not be very good for Microsoft and is why
  they are being so aggressive in pushing ActiveX, etc. on the
  development community.
  
  David
  
  -- 
  David Dunn			| Email: david.dunn@vc3.com
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