TechCrunch has a nice post about the history and drivers of MS’s browser innovation (or lack thereof). Rather than playing nicely with the exciting development of HTML 5, MS instead is dragging its feet and trying to push people toward its latest trojan horse, which is called SilverLight.
I wonder if, in their strategic planning, MS considers the long term damage to their brand caused by such consistently “evil” behavior. Even amongst non-technical folks, there is a not-so-subtle quiescent level of distaste for all things MS. It feels to me that as technical superiority and/or barriers to switching for the cash cow products erode, MS will find sales of these cash cows increasingly difficult to maintain.