[wvenable]

> microsoft began creating plugins for utilities that did not follow web standards such as activex that would integrate the browser with the operating system.

It should be noted that the technology behind ActiveX actually started as a Netscape plugin developed by a 3rd party. I remember trying it out way before ActiveX became a thing in IE. It was a crazy idea but back then everything was a crazy idea. There were hundreds of different plugins for all the browsers. Nobody knew what was going to stick. ActiveX stuck because it was Microsoft and because COM was a well established technology.