“I think it can now be safely said, in hindsight, that Microsoft’s entry into the browser business and its subsequent linking of the browser into the Windows operating system looks to be the worst decision—and perhaps the biggest, most costly gaffe—the company ever made. I call it the Great Microsoft Blunder,” John C. Dvorak writes for PC Magazine. “All of Microsoft’s Internet-era public-relations and legal problems (in some way or another) stem from Internet Explorer. If you were to put together a comprehensive profit-and-loss statement for IE, there would be a zero in the profits column and billions in the losses column—billions. The joke of it is that Microsoft is still working on this dead albatross and is apparently ready to roll out a new version, since most of the smart money has been fleeing to Firefox or Opera. This means new rounds of patches and lost money.”

Dvorak writes, “Microsoft should pull the browser out of the OS and discontinue all IE development immediately. It should then bless the Mozilla.org folks with a cash endowment and take an investment stake in Opera, to influence the future direction of browser technology from the outside in. Then, Microsoft can worry about security issues that are OS-only in nature, rather than problems compounded by Internet Explorer.”

Full article here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader "Scott" for the heads up.]

MacDailyNews Take: The U.S. should just hook up John C. Dvorak to a steam-powered generator and we’d all have free electricity for as long as he lives. Now, in this case, by chance, Dvorak’s actually correct. IE causes nothing but headaches for Microsoft. Internet Explorer is the Windows of browsers. Of course we mean that in the worst possible way. That 80% or so still use IE should tell you just about all you need to know about the majority of humans. Furthermore, those that design web sites to be Internet Explorer-only are talentless hacks.

On a Mac, we use Safari, FireFox, Camino, and Netscape in that order. If stuck with a Windows PC, we’d use FireFox with a Safari-like theme.

Advertisements:
• Get the new iMac with Intel Core Duo for as low as $31 A MONTH with Free shipping!
• Get the MacBook Pro with Intel Core Duo for as low as $47 A MONTH with Free Shipping!
• Apple’s new Mac mini. Intel Core, up to 4 times faster. Starting at just $599. Free shipping.
• Apple’s brand new iPod Hi-Fi speaker system. Home stereo. Reinvented. Available now for $349 with free shipping.
• iPod. 15,000 songs. 25,000 photos. 150 hours of video. The new iPod. 30GB and 60GB models start at just $299. Free shipping.
• Connect iPod to your television set with the iPod AV Cable. Just $19.
• iPod Radio Remote. Listen to FM radio on your iPod and control everything with a convenient wired remote. Just $49.

Related articles:
Firefox breaks 10% mark, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer lost nearly 4% market share in past year – April 04, 2006
Security report shows Microsoft’s Internet Explorer was unsafe for all but seven days of 2004 – March 22, 2005
Penn State’s IT Services recommends dumping Microsoft Internet Explorer immediately – December 09, 2004
Security expert: Don’t use Microsoft Windows, Office, Outlook, Internet Explorer – December 09, 2004
Microsoft Windows, Internet Explorer products reflect arrogance, sloppiness – November 21, 2004
Web Standards Project: Abandon Microsoft Internet Explorer and ‘Browse Happy’ – August 25, 2004
IT managers loath to switch from flawed Microsoft Internet Explorer – July 07, 2004
Securty expert: Microsoft Internet Explorer ‘just cannot be trusted, use alternate browser’ – July 02, 2004
Security firm warns of new Internet Explorer flaw, advises ‘use a different browser’ – July 01, 2004
Microsoft axes Internet Explorer for Mac – June 13, 2003