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Microsoft now thirstily injects a poll when you download Google Chrome (www.theverge.com)

submitted 1 year ago by DannyMac@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

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[–] merc@sh.itjust.works 24 points 1 year ago (14 children)

Hmm, strange that none of the options is:

Microsoft is an evil company that tried to destroy the open World Wide Web. They abused their monopoly to drive Netscape out of business, and were convicted of doing that in court. Their famous "Embrace, Extend, Extinguish" strategy broke standard HTML, broke Javascript, broke Java applets, and so-on. They also attempted to destroy Linux, spreading Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt to make people afraid to use it. The reason I don't use Edge isn't about Edge, but about Microsoft. Whenever I have a chance to avoid using a Microsoft product, I take it.

[–] meliaesc@lemmy.world 16 points 1 year ago (7 children)

That's completely invalid if you're switching over to Google products, who had to remove their motto "don't be evil".

[+] merc@sh.itjust.works -8 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Wow, where to start with this.

Google didn't "have" to "remove" their motto. As part of the restructuring to have Alphabet as a holding company that includes Google, Alphabet's motto was "Do the right thing". They argued at the time that "evil" is hard to define, and that the goal shouldn't just be to avoid evil, but to do good. There's nothing that made them "have" to do that. But, maybe you could argue that it generated a lot of negative press for them, so they felt pressure to change.
The "Don't be evil" motto is, itself, a reference to Microsoft. It came about sometime between 1999 and 2001, when Microsoft was on trial for their evil acts. Abusing their monopoly to drive Netscape out of business, in particular. Some might argue that Google has also abused their monopoly, but it would be hard to argue that they did it in the same evil way as Microsoft, who used Internet Explorer to destroy standard HTML, fractured Javascript by creating JScript, destroyed Java applets by using ActiveX controls, lied about it being impossible to remove Internet Explorer from Windows, falsified evidence at their federal antitrust trial, etc.

Basically, while you might find Google's surveillance-capitalism model distasteful, they're nothing like Microsoft's true evil.

[–] yoshipunk123456@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_Environment_Integrity?wprov=sfla1

[–] merc@sh.itjust.works -5 points 1 year ago

That just proves my point. A proposal made in public that many people oppose, vs. Microsoft simply releasing browsers that ignored existing standards and forcing people to deal with their shit.

You may think that this web environment integrity idea is terrible, I do, but it's not actually in any browser yet. There's time to push back on it. There are other browsers which are not going to implement it.

Compare that to IE where suddenly websites would break because Microsoft released a new browser and just stomped all over existing standards, forcing people to rewrite their websites.

There's just no comparison in the level of evil between the two companies.

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