Microsoft-Watch have an article detailing the possibility of Microsoft releasing update plugins for Internet Explorer before the release of Longhorn sometime in 2006/2007. Ironically I predicted this about a week ago. Guess what folks? If it happens, it will be the pressure exerted by Firefox that will have caused it. After all, before Firefox, IE had stagnated for about 4 years, virtually abandoned except for security patches. See? Competition really is good for consumers. 🙂
In other news, Microsoft has been paying off companies that are suing them for anti-trust and other issues at an alarming rate. So far Sun, Linspire, Novell, several US state cases and the “Computer and Communications Industry Association” have all received specified or unspecified payments to drop the lawsuits against the software behemoth. Novell plans to re-instigate litigation over anti-trust issues related to Novell’s previous office suite programs and Microsoft office, and the EU still plans to continue its anti-trust proceedings as well, however it now has to do it without the backing of Novell and the CCIA. Nokia have quit the CCIA in disgust over the settlement. Personally, I understand Nokia’s disgust, these companies have just agreed either to lose a potentially significant part of their business to Microsoft and its “tactics”, or to forgive them for having taken it already. And they did it all for what in the grand scheme of things is a tiny little pay-off that hardly affects MS’s profit figures at all.
Franki
