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Microsoft required PC manufacturers to have IE installed along with Windows, which is shitty, but not nearly as shitty as preventing users from installing Netsc
by dnissley 3y ago
Microsoft required PC manufacturers to have IE installed along with Windows, which is shitty, but not nearly as shitty as preventing users from installing Netscape, which they did not do.
- yreg 3y agoHow is shipping OS with preinstalled apps shitty?
- IanCal 3y agoMakes it much harder for any similar apps to compete, even if they're better. So you end up with worse overall outcomes.
- sbuk 3y agoThey absolutely did. The whole antitrust case revolved around Microsoft threatening OEMs to terminate their reseller agreements if they sold the machines with Netscape Navigator pre-installed. It is the literal definition of monopoly abuse!
- dnissley 3y agoPardon me for not being more precise -- they never prevented end users from installing Netscape on their machines.
- hn_acker 3y agoIf we assume for the sake of argument that a particular customer would knowingly buy a computer from an OEM who pre-installed Netscape on it, then the OEM is the user of the computer before the end user buys it. Why should Microsoft be allowed to prohibit such a pre-installation? For security, maybe, but that probably wasn't Microsoft's motivation.
- throwaway290 3y agoBy that logic Apple does not prevent end users from rooting the phone and installing anything they like, it just makes it very inconvenient... and less shady than Microsoft's shell execute bug.
- mpol 3y agoIt was a different situation. Microsoft Windows was considered a monopoly, with around 95% of the desktop market (there was no mobile market yet). Microsoft used this to gain a monopoly in desktop browsers. When you are a monopoly, other rules apply, you cannot just abuse your customers and competitors with it.