I couldn't accuse Microsoft of acting quite that far ahead.
No, instead I think they're still going for "Microsoft and only Microsoft software on all computers!". That's why they put IE in Windows in the first place. That's why they encourage people to design to IE. That's why they want to sideline Linux, BeOs and anything else that's not Windows and not Microsoft.
However. They cannot escape the pressure to produce compliant browsers. IE has always come under fire for "doing it's own thing" with HTML. The only consistent praise for IE is that newer versions consistently have better standards compliance! AFAICS, this is currently very slowly derailing them because the trend in the last 5 years for browser writers - on all platforms - has been to target precise compliance. As IE gets more compliant, targetting IE gets less and less satisfaction for Microsoft because all these other browsers happen to work, too.
The situation is, of course, more complex than that. Meanwhile, end-users who have disdained IE but who have a reason to try to use the IE-centric sites need to keep complaining - nicely, of course - to the relevant webmasters about their short-sightedness. All it takes is one person in a position of power to make the change. I've seen it.
Wade.
"All around me are nothing but fakes
Come with me on the biggest fake of all!"
