Microsoft: back to the bad old days

Sam Varghese
Tuesday, 22 November 2011 10:49

Opinion and Analysis

Embrace, extend, and extinguish. These three words became synonymous with Microsoft after the anti-trust trial of the 1990s found that the company used this phrase internally to describe its strategy to get the better of competitors.

The company would enter product categories that were using widely used standards, then extend those standards with proprietary capabilities, and finally use the differences to disadvantage its competitors.

With a US consent decree hanging over its head, the company has been something less than its predatory self for most of the noughties. But the last restraints of that decree ended earlier this year and there are plenty of signs that Microsoft has not changed; it has merely worn a mask for as long as it had to.

One of the signs that the good people at Redmond have gone back to their old tactics is the tying of Internet Explorer to Windows 8. Under the terms of settlement following its conviction for monopolistic practices, Microsoft had to make IE removable from Windows.

No longer is that the case. If you turn off IE in Windows 8, you will not be able to use the so-called Metro interface. Yes, you cannot remove IE from the system; there used to be specific instructions in IE 8 and 9 on how to remove the browser but in Windows 8 you can only turn off some features, and that includes the browser.

The only thing that happens when you turn off IE in Windows 8 is that it gets hidden. There is no information on Microsoft's own website on how to remove IE from Windows 8.