Anti-trust had no teeth last decade because of the 'privatization is good, private enterprise can do no wrong' economic orgy that just came crashing down, and as a result IE has held the internet back a decade. Just THINK of where we would be if Netscape had won.
The political climate has shifted in the wake of the housing crisis, so... could a class action suit have some teeth? Think of all the money lost in fixing IE-specific bugs that only exist because Microsoft used its monopoly to shove an inferior browser onto every desktop, and then refused to put resources into developing it, to ensure they continued to make money on rich client applications and their operating system. Think of the cumulative cost of fixing IE bugs across our entire economy.
Microsoft owes the American people billions for IE. I want a class action suit against them. There are IE-specific bug billing records that surely amount to billions of dollars at companies across America. Companies would line up with invoices to web developers to join the suit.
Microsoft owes us all money. They must be stopped, and they must pay.
I'm pretty surprised at the negative karma. How can you all feel anything but outrage about IE? Have you not delt with its bugs for a decade? Do you think this was accidental?
"I made the perfect accessory, but it only works with electric cars. GM abused their car monopoly to make gas engines, not electric engines, costing me money.
GM owes us all money. GM must be stopped, and GM must pay."
(I'll also note that you didn't give Microsoft any money when IE helped you make money, and they're not your insurance policy when you don't make money, either.)
If IE6 hadn't existed then we would have had Op., Konq, FF, Saf and been able to move onto use PNG about 8 years earlier, the agreed box model for CSS, less screwy flash implementation, etc.. In addition we'd probably have moved on a lot more with SVG and XHTML would have been accepted by all browsers so we wouldn't be moving backwards from XML to less a consistent SGML-like HTML. We'd have been able to use opacity earlier. Web designers would have been able to concentrate on extended functionality and graceful design rather that how messed up IE was. Websites would have cost 20%+ less to make.
How the heck has IE helped make web designers / devs money? That's like saying having a leg amputation helped to make you more mobile.
Without standing very firmly behind the argument, Microsoft popularized computers in a serious way that provided the market that provided web jobs. You can argue that without Microsoft, the collection of marginal suppliers would have stepped up and provided the same large market, but you can't show that very well.
(Another argument suggests that the automatically provided browser enhanced the interest in the internet - "I have this program that doesn't work! I must make it work by getting the internet!" - that may not have existed without IE preinstalled. "If the internet is so useful, why didn't it come preinstalled, like Office did?")
I guess then AOL helped me to make money too. Time Berners-Lee helped me to make money. Wife beating helped me to make money (one of my clients is a womens' aid group). Bit obtuse.
The political climate has shifted in the wake of the housing crisis, so... could a class action suit have some teeth? Think of all the money lost in fixing IE-specific bugs that only exist because Microsoft used its monopoly to shove an inferior browser onto every desktop, and then refused to put resources into developing it, to ensure they continued to make money on rich client applications and their operating system. Think of the cumulative cost of fixing IE bugs across our entire economy.
Microsoft owes the American people billions for IE. I want a class action suit against them. There are IE-specific bug billing records that surely amount to billions of dollars at companies across America. Companies would line up with invoices to web developers to join the suit.
Microsoft owes us all money. They must be stopped, and they must pay.