[ Thanks to steve
hill for this link. ]
“I have been wanting to write this article for a while.
Years, in fact. I am determined to write it in the simplest
possible format: no punch-line at the bottom, no building up to a
grand conclusion, but simply stating something impressive, true,
and simply wonderful: the hegemony that Internet Explorer once upon
a time had is… over. Right now, other browsers are fighting
amongst each other, and it’s all about how much of IE’s share they
are getting. The war is over: Internet Explorer lost. Everybody
else won.“So, what kind of scenario has the IT world painfully missed?
And more importantly, now that the deed is done, what are the
consequences? What the risks were“First of all, I really feel the need to point out that
Microsoft with a de-facto monopoly would have been disastrous for
the IT world — and for the world in general. Thing is, I am
not exaggerating. Yes, I am the editor of Free Software Magazine
and therefore am bound to talk in extreme terms about the dangers
of the proprietary competition. However, “no”: a stronghold of
Microsoft in the browser’s world would have had far, far reaching
consequences.”