[walkon]

It does seem too late for them to pull off something like they did with IE6 versus Netscape, but I could see their genuine efforts with IE9 keeping them from getting thrown to the wolves by average users. Many people still using IE regularly probably don't care (or even know) what browser they are using, so if the websites they visit work, they'll probably never think of changing and just take whatever MS puts out. I think IE9 could come in time to at least maintain their total browser share of around 50% over the next five or so years.

[mike-cardwell]

Most people have no idea what a browser is. As long as MS ship IE as the default browser without choice, they will have a massive competitive advantage and keep the majority of users.

In European versions of Windows, you now get a choice between which web browser to use. That's about as fair as it's going to get.