hutcheson - 6:30 pm on Jun 16, 2009 (gmt 0)

>they hope MS will have to offer updates to their browser on M$'s dime.

To say something like this is to insult your entire audience for being total idiots, and Luddite to boot.

Nobody is asking Microsoft to pay for anything.

Everyone is asking Microsoft to NOT charge OEMs extra, just for daring to load a competing browser on new machines.

Which is what Microsoft was doing before.

And yes, that is unquestionably illegal behavior for a monopolist, as the DoJ and 19 states argued -- and the U.S. courts agreed.

And Opera performed a great public service, particularly as people who testify against organized crime cartels tend to end up spectacularly dead. Most people, including the OEMs, are afraid to testify. (one of the DAs involved in the U.S. antitrust trial who had experience with Mafia prosecutions said he was seeing exactly the same kind of reluctance to testify against Microsoft.)

I personally don't use IE except under duress. In my experience (admittedly limited--reviewing a hundred thousand or so random sites for the Open Directory, besides casual browsing), under my rather heavy use, the IE invariably explodes within 1/2 - 2 hours, while even Netscape 4 could run for 50-100 hours or so without a crash. And, of course, Netscape didn't lock up the whole computer when it crashed, because it wasn't integrated into the 'Operating System' with staples and baling wire.

And, as already mentioned, Opera has been a strong competitor, constantly shrinking the resources-required envelope, while aggressively supporting standards AND adding new, USEFUL, user interface features. This is a picture of what the word "innovation" meant before Microsoft prostituted it. And Firefox wouldn't be what it is, without Opera's alternative perspective on the path to better software. And without Firefox, Microsoft would be content to still be shipping IE 4, or maybe 5 -- probably without security patches. (There's probably be a third-party market in security front ends for the IE, like Norton Antivirus for Windows, that cost every internet user another $50.00 a year.)

Add it up. Opera's worth a lot to the world. We could live without Microsoft, no problem, but a world without the little companies with bright people who care about good software, would be a bleak place indeed.

[edited by: hutcheson at 6:46 pm (utc) on June 16, 2009]