3 ms·

Let's not celebrate embrace extend extinguish, but let's also not celebrate MS handing the keys to google so they can do the same with Chrome. Why help your com

Let's not celebrate embrace extend extinguish, but let's also not celebrate MS handing the keys to google so they can do the same with Chrome. Why help your competitor? They should have gone with Firefox. Around 2012 when all 3 major browsers had similar market share [1] is what we want: everyone can make try extension but no one can ram them down our throats. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_web_browsers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_web_browsers

jfoster 7y ago
In adopting chromium they're not just helping their competitor, but their competitor is now also helping them. At the end of the day, the default option for most users would naturally be to stick to Edge, but they instead have been installing Chrome. Why? Because Chrome was better. Now Edge is like Chrome. There's much less of a reason for users to install Chrome as a result. Microsoft are likely to regain some marketshare with this approach. If Bing is good enough, that may also mean billions in revenue.
- stOneskull 7y ago
  That's it, and everything syncs across easily. Installing Chrome is now pretty much redundant.
- withinboredom 7y ago
  > If Bing is good enough I've actually noticed it is better in some kinds of searches, and worse in others. Thanks to Edge, it's my default and to be honest, I don't even realize it's not Google most days.
- Ericson2314 7y ago
  1. Google will still push people to Chrome. Users could well still switch because of that. 2. Mozilla is not a competitor but they would get just as much free work. (Or MS sponsors Firefox for the Bing plug, and they get that side benefit.)
jknew 7y ago
For others who weren't aware, "embrace, extend, extinguish" was an explicit strategy discussed internally at Microsoft for gaining control of the internet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embrace,_extend,_and_extinguish https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embrace,_extend,_and_extinguis... Though I think there are real innovations discussed in the article, the portrayal of Microsoft being an altruistic actor trying to get others to adopt their tech is downright dishonest with what we know about their internal discussions of their motivations and strategy at the time. I found the article really interesting, but I could do without the rose colored glasses.
city41 7y ago
I'm not sure this article is celebrating EEE, just more celebrating innovation in general. Regardless of the goal of these features, in isolation these features are interesting and fun to read about. And not to mention they did lead to things like SVG, fetch, etc, so it wasn't all bad in the end.

jfoster 7y ago

In adopting chromium they're not just helping their competitor, but their competitor is now also helping them. At the end of the day, the default option for most users would naturally be to stick to Edge, but they instead have been installing Chrome. Why? Because Chrome was better. Now Edge is like Chrome. There's much less of a reason for users to install Chrome as a result. Microsoft are likely to regain some marketshare with this approach. If Bing is good enough, that may also mean billions in revenue.

stOneskull 7y ago
That's it, and everything syncs across easily. Installing Chrome is now pretty much redundant.
withinboredom 7y ago
> If Bing is good enough I've actually noticed it is better in some kinds of searches, and worse in others. Thanks to Edge, it's my default and to be honest, I don't even realize it's not Google most days.
Ericson2314 7y ago
1. Google will still push people to Chrome. Users could well still switch because of that. 2. Mozilla is not a competitor but they would get just as much free work. (Or MS sponsors Firefox for the Bing plug, and they get that side benefit.)

jknew 7y ago

For others who weren't aware, "embrace, extend, extinguish" was an explicit strategy discussed internally at Microsoft for gaining control of the internet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embrace,_extend,_and_extinguish https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embrace,_extend,_and_extinguis... Though I think there are real innovations discussed in the article, the portrayal of Microsoft being an altruistic actor trying to get others to adopt their tech is downright dishonest with what we know about their internal discussions of their motivations and strategy at the time. I found the article really interesting, but I could do without the rose colored glasses.

city41 7y ago

I'm not sure this article is celebrating EEE, just more celebrating innovation in general. Regardless of the goal of these features, in isolation these features are interesting and fun to read about. And not to mention they did lead to things like SVG, fetch, etc, so it wasn't all bad in the end.