IE Down, Win 7 Up
One in five corporate PCs now run Windows 7 -- a number that has more than doubled in a little more than a year. That's the good news for Microsoft and company. The bad news is that IE is slipping -- down two points to only an 87.6 percent share. Wow. That's got to stink (sarcasm clearly inserted). Not even Exxon comes close to that kind of market control.
But don't feel too bad for Redmond. You see, Microsoft actually charges good money for Windows. And despite the millions spent each year on development, IE is still free. Is Microsoft the UNICEF of software?
A free IE makes economic sense if you have a long capitalist view. It's all about controlling core pieces of software. Back in the day, Netscape had a vision where the browser was the OS, a vision Google is now trying to realize with Chrome notebooks. Microsoft is shelling out big bucks to protect the bigger bucks it gets from its operating systems. Plus, controlling the browser means controlling Web developers. And if all this means giving away a browser or two, so be it.
Posted by Doug Barney on 06/22/2011 at 1:18 PM