I could totally see somebody in the big companies starting to whine to the press and demand exactly that, if Microsoft picks up the pace to match Googles.
I just hope they only whine about it, and don't go to their lobbyists.
If Microsoft moves to forced automatic updates of IE, I bet somebody would see a business opportunity and grab it: take WebKit and hack in IE (and COM components) compatibility. Such a product could be worth quite a bit to companies with large IE-only sites.
In fact, the release of IE9 may already be enough to create that market. The main problem I see with this is that it may be very hard to make a sufficiently-compatible IE clone.
In fact, the release of IE9 may already be enough to create that market. The main problem I see with this is that it may be very hard to make a sufficiently-compatible IE clone.