Apparently, being stuck in the start-up menu instead of getting your own icon is anti-consumer and egregious! What story will the boys in Redmond innovate next?
[link|http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200-6691350.html?tag=mn_hd|
AOL wins space on Compaq desktops]

July 26, 2001, 9:10 p.m. PT
AOL Time Warner won an early victory Thursday in its battle with Microsoft for prominent placement of their icons on computer screens.

Compaq said that it has decided to go ahead to feature AOL on its desktop screen, considered the prime piece of real estate on a computer. MSN would be relegated to the "start" menu, where a user would have to click and drag the cursor through at least two steps to get to the service.
...
"It's not a question of AOL paying computer manufacturers to be present in the new machines. They have always done that," said Vivek Varma, Microsoft spokesman. "In fact, they are already distributed with over 90 percent of PCs. What they are doing here is paying computer manufacturers to eliminate alternatives and we think that's anti-consumer and troubling."

Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer also weighed in at the company's annual analyst meeting, saying, "We've never told an OEM what they can and cannot ship, or tried to restrict what they can put on the operating system. The stuff AOL is doing now is just limiting market choice, it's just egregious."