Monday, July 25, 2005
Microsoft Shafts Windows 2000 Users with No IE 7 Release
According to IEBlog ( http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2005/05/27/422721.aspx), Microsoft won’t backport security features or make available the more secure, basic tab using Internet Explorer (IE) 7. Microsoft claims that this is part of their new product cycle plan, but by not producing IE 7 for Windows 2000, Microsoft is cutting of 48% of the Windows market. Of course, Microsoft, with its usual sensitivity toward its customers, is telling customers that they should have switched to Windows XP four years ago even if the just finished upgrading to Windows 2000 this year.
Of course many IT technicians responded that the same reason to upgrade is also the same reason to migrate. Some pointed to Ernie Ball( http://news.com.com/2008-1082_3-5065859.html?tag=lh), a man whose business got raided by federal marshals when an ex-employee reported to the Business Software Alliance (BSA) and Microsoft that Ernie Ball’s company, Sterling Ball, didn’t have its software licenses up-to-date. Ernie Ball had to pay Microsoft $90,000 in legal expenses to avoid a lawsuit. Ernie Ball went open source. Ernie Ball moved from Microsoft Windows to Linux, Microsoft Office to OpenOffice, Microsoft Outlook to Evolution, and Microsoft IE to Mozilla.
Microsoft’s goal for releasing IE 7 was to stop the hemorrhaging of Windows users from IE 6 to Mozilla Firefox. By not supporting half of their user base, Microsoft is not only pushing more people toward Firefox for security, Microsoft is also pushing people away from the Windows operating system toward Linux as well.
Of course many IT technicians responded that the same reason to upgrade is also the same reason to migrate. Some pointed to Ernie Ball( http://news.com.com/2008-1082_3-5065859.html?tag=lh), a man whose business got raided by federal marshals when an ex-employee reported to the Business Software Alliance (BSA) and Microsoft that Ernie Ball’s company, Sterling Ball, didn’t have its software licenses up-to-date. Ernie Ball had to pay Microsoft $90,000 in legal expenses to avoid a lawsuit. Ernie Ball went open source. Ernie Ball moved from Microsoft Windows to Linux, Microsoft Office to OpenOffice, Microsoft Outlook to Evolution, and Microsoft IE to Mozilla.
Microsoft’s goal for releasing IE 7 was to stop the hemorrhaging of Windows users from IE 6 to Mozilla Firefox. By not supporting half of their user base, Microsoft is not only pushing more people toward Firefox for security, Microsoft is also pushing people away from the Windows operating system toward Linux as well.
# posted by Keith Gallistel @ 2:33 AM 
