How does Micro$oft make money off of IE?

[Pokey007]

I was trying to think about this, and even though IE blows they still dedicate people and resources to developing it...and then they give it away for free. How can they make money off this?

 

[murphy55d]

what makes you think they make money off it?

they lose money on the xbox too.

 

[Hammer]

brand awareness

 

[jjones]

They don't make money off of it directly. It's all about control of the browser market and plans for the future.

 

[edro]

even though IE blows they still dedicate people and resources to developing it

Huh? You DO realize that it holds somewhere around 85% of the market when it comes to browsers, don't you?

That's like saying... Pepsi sucks, yet Pepsi Inc. thinks it's a good idea to develop it!

 

[rh71]

IE blows ? Not many browsers have been able to match it up until recently. That was quite a run. I actually still use it more than Firebird that's also installed on here.

 

[Schadenfroh]

they dont, but it keeps netscape from making money off of it so it serves its purposes

 

[arcenite]

Originally posted by: rh71
IE blows ? Not many browsers have been able to match it up until recently. That was quite a run. I actually still use it more than Firebird that's also installed on here.

I have yet to find a browser that has the stability and compatability that matches IE. Just get the google toolbar (For pop ups) and you have the best browser on the market. Security wise, if you keep your virus definitions up to date, keep your spyware definitions up to date, and a firewall... (you should have all these anyway, 'specially on broadband) you have nothing to worry 'bout.

Bill

 

[speg]

They don't need to make money off it. Besides IE doesn't blow, I use it way more often than Firebired.

 

[GoodRevrnd]

I don't see why people use IE more than Firebird, I see no advantage it offers. The only problems I've ever had w/ Firebird is it often displays Gamespot and ESPN kinda funny, but fortunately I rarely go to those sites.

 

[ElFenix]

killed netscape, didn't it?

 

[CraigRT]

IE doesn't suck, it's just the fact it's on 99% of computers out there, that's the only real reason all this bad rap comes with it. (vulnerabilities and stuff) I think it's a great browser overall really.

 

[mpitts]

One word:

Volume.

 

[MattCo]

Microsoft just pads the price of their OS to cover the expenses.

-MC

 

[Wolverine27]

I'm a fan of Firebird...now Firefox 0.8...love the tabbed browsing. Every now and then I'll use IE, but I use Firebird 95% of the time.

 

[gistech1978]

Originally posted by: aRCeNiTe

Originally posted by: rh71
IE blows ? Not many browsers have been able to match it up until recently. That was quite a run. I actually still use it more than Firebird that's also installed on here.

I have yet to find a browser that has the stability and compatability that matches IE. Just get the google toolbar (For pop ups) and you have the best browser on the market. Security wise, if you keep your virus definitions up to date, keep your spyware definitions up to date, and a firewall... (you should have all these anyway, 'specially on broadband) you have nothing to worry 'bout.

Bill

 

[Ynog]

I'm pretty sure they don't have any development of IE going on. How long ago was it we saw IE 6.
They just have people that maintain the different security holes found.

 

[Palek]

Originally posted by: MattCo
Microsoft just pads the price of their OS to cover the expenses.

-MC

This man speaks the truth. What other consumer OS costs $100-200 on a student discount? WinXP Pro costs at least $50 more than Win2000, even though the changes were mostly cosmetic. The reason: IE 6 and WMP 9. Simple as that.

 

[halik]

Originally posted by: aRCeNiTe

Originally posted by: rh71
IE blows ? Not many browsers have been able to match it up until recently. That was quite a run. I actually still use it more than Firebird that's also installed on here.

I have yet to find a browser that has the stability and compatability that matches IE. Just get the google toolbar (For pop ups) and you have the best browser on the market. Security wise, if you keep your virus definitions up to date, keep your spyware definitions up to date, and a firewall... (you should have all these anyway, 'specially on broadband) you have nothing to worry 'bout.

Bill

Security wise? Buddy you have no idea what youre talking about. IE has a ton of holes thru active X and theres ie patches just about every month. If you try mozilla you wont need to have" virus dfinitions up to date, spyware up to date, a firewall and a computer unplugged from the internet" to keep it safe.


On the serious note thought, if you have to have all of the above, the browser is definitely not safe. Mozilla is more stable than ie in my experience, i have yet to see it crash on me. IE on my XP partition would crash every couple of days. And tabbed browsing is the sh!t

 

[Wingznut]

Originally posted by: halik
Security wise? Buddy you have no idea what youre talking about. IE has a ton of holes thru active X and theres ie patches just about every month. If you try mozilla you wont need to have" virus dfinitions up to date, spyware up to date, a firewall and a computer unplugged from the internet" to keep it safe.

The ONLY reason that the other browsers don't have the security issues is that nobody is trying to exploit a browser that only like 1% of the population is using. I have no doubt that if Mozilla had a 50% share, you'd see the exact same amount of issues.

 

[Kadarin]

Originally posted by: Wingznut

Originally posted by: halik
Security wise? Buddy you have no idea what youre talking about. IE has a ton of holes thru active X and theres ie patches just about every month. If you try mozilla you wont need to have" virus dfinitions up to date, spyware up to date, a firewall and a computer unplugged from the internet" to keep it safe.

The ONLY reason that the other browsers don't have the security issues is that nobody is trying to exploit a browser that only like 1% of the population is using. I have no doubt that if Mozilla had a 50% share, you'd see the exact same amount of issues.

You sure about that? Other browsers don't share the concept of Active-X, and all the associated hooks into the OS.

 

[Wingznut]

Originally posted by: Astaroth33

Originally posted by: Wingznut

Originally posted by: halik
Security wise? Buddy you have no idea what youre talking about. IE has a ton of holes thru active X and theres ie patches just about every month. If you try mozilla you wont need to have" virus dfinitions up to date, spyware up to date, a firewall and a computer unplugged from the internet" to keep it safe.

The ONLY reason that the other browsers don't have the security issues is that nobody is trying to exploit a browser that only like 1% of the population is using. I have no doubt that if Mozilla had a 50% share, you'd see the exact same amount of issues.

You sure about that? Other browsers don't share the concept of Active-X, and all the associated hooks into the OS.

I'm not saying that they'd have the exact same exploits... But with enough effort (and the incentive of 50% of the people using it), pretty much any software can be hacked.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: Wingznut

Originally posted by: halik
Security wise? Buddy you have no idea what youre talking about. IE has a ton of holes thru active X and theres ie patches just about every month. If you try mozilla you wont need to have" virus dfinitions up to date, spyware up to date, a firewall and a computer unplugged from the internet" to keep it safe.

The ONLY reason that the other browsers don't have the security issues is that nobody is trying to exploit a browser that only like 1% of the population is using. I have no doubt that if Mozilla had a 50% share, you'd see the exact same amount of issues.

nothing wrong with security through obsurity.

and there is such a thing as a more secure platform. some things are just inherently more secure because they're designed that way. i'm not saying phoe... ert firebi... ert firefox is one of those.

 

[n0cmonkey]

They make money off of the package, not necessarily the individual pieces.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: ElFenix

nothing wrong with security through obsurity.

There is plenty wrong with it.