And I believe it is unfair and unreasonable to require them[MS and third parties] to take it[risk of browser-OS incompatibility]. Your thoughts?

If Microsoft sold Windows as a complete, non-extensible application suite, avoidance of risk would make sense. But Microsoft sell an operating system which is a platform for separate applications. MS own a natural monopoly in the PC desktop operating system but don't own the PC application market. If MS is not required to publish application interfaces beyond their application divisions, this allows them to use their monopoly as leverage into an application market. This is leverage no third party can hope to counter; a free market is no longer free. Unless we want to turn the web browser market into a monopoly, MS has to live with incompatibility risk.

The third-party developers take most of the risk anyway. If MS weren't being anti-competitive, they'd publish the browser interface and expect third parties to adhere to that. If a program doesn't work and it isn't a problem with the OS, then the third party has to fix it.

If a ton of basic Windows stuff doesn't work\ufffd- ... - who do you think the user will blame? Whose brand do you think the user will lose confidence in?

So, Microsoft should be allowed to dictate OEM configuration because they might mess it up, even though the OEM has to support it? Because a PC uses their operating system, their brand extends to all hardware and software that use it? The OEM is not a brand in itself? If, for some reason, MS does not bounce a support call to the OEM, they can demonstrate to the end user that the configuration isn't theirs, get IE installed and get it working. The end user would then understand whose software was at fault and reassign the blame.


In short, Microsoft should maintain the proverbial Chinese Wall between the OS and other divisions for competitive practices.