dr.happy [10.19.06 09:31 AM]

One of the most interesting aspects of the IE vs. Firefox battle is the development of the ecosystem of extensions or add-ons. Right now firefox had a great advantage in this space but you can see microsoft trying to catch up.

Microsoft has a interesting partner in Trailfire, a recommended download for IE7. See link:
http://www.ieaddons.com/SearchResults.aspx?keywords=trailfire

But this extension is also available for firefox. See link:
https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/3524/

I think the ecosystem for firefox and IE will decide who wins this battle. What do you think?

  monopole [10.19.06 10:24 AM]

Probably splitting the difference and losing on both sides.
The nominally fixed operating system (flashed onto a card) is coming back for the sub $100-200 impulse buy systems (OLPC aka CM1, and various system on a chip units that fit in small boxes or even electical outlet sockets) for what I call bubblepack computing. But the margins are too small for Microsoft and the specific installations will require heavy customization before flashing. Better chance for Linux there.

But as the Bubblepack units eat away at the vanilla laptop/desktop, the desktop increasingly becomes a tweaked server, once again win for linux.

  Marina making pictures [10.19.06 10:39 AM]

Yes I agree with you, Microsoft is abondoning power users. I think they are trying to make the system less hackable, because microsoft bacme feary of too many third party products for Windows.

Thank you for sharing this story with me !

  Gary [10.19.06 02:41 PM]

You can change some hidden stuff using the Windows Group Policy Editor (Start>Run>gpedit.msc>Administrative Templates>Windows Components>Internet Explorer). But I don't know how useful some of the edits can be...haven't played around with it enough.

  Roger Lancefield [10.20.06 09:13 AM]

I suspect that Microsoft is indeed trying to prevent users from hacking on Windows, but not merely as a solution to the OS's own security woes. Let's not forget that Windows is angling to become the default controller in your home. To that end it will be a conduit for all manner of proprietary (and aggressively protected) IP. If MS is to persuade the creators of such content to pipe it through Windows, it will need to convince them that their content is safe from interference by users - or should I say by 'consumers'.

This is, I suspect, a stage on the road to turning the whole of Windows into a giant, locked-down media player. And I fear that the answer won't be as easy as 'just go buy a Mac, or else install Linux'. Apple will need to do the same as MS if they are also to be trusted by the global content providers and using open source software to view proprietary content will become increasingly fraught and will render the user ever more at risk of criminal prosecution.

Whatever happens, at least open source users will still be true software users rather than have to suffer the indignity of relegation to the class of mere software consumers!

  Bob B [10.22.06 10:10 PM]

I just see MS tightening down on the OS to appease the media companies. If we can tweak then we can (in some way) bypass DRM. That's the big concern.
If they can lockdown the OS they can beat Apple by offering something better (as in more secure) than OS-X.

  Calo Bob [10.25.06 01:32 AM]

The nominally fixed operating system (flashed onto a card) is coming back for the sub $100-200 impulse buy systems (OLPC aka CM1, and various system on a chip units that fit in small boxes or even electical outlet sockets) for what I call bubblepack computing. But the margins are too small for Microsoft and the specific installations will require heavy customization before flashing. Better chance for Linux there.