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List:       kde-devel
Subject:    Re: KDE in the Kernel
From:       Martijn Klingens <klingens () kde ! org>
Date:       2002-04-16 19:02:02
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On Tuesday 16 April 2002 15:54, Bernhard Rosenkraenzer wrote:
> On Sun, 14 Apr 2002, Dave Leimbach wrote:
> > Lastly I don't think IE is really that fast...  Fastest browser I have
> > ever used is Opera.  I think it can be proven also that IE is really not
> > in the WinNT/2k/XP kernel too.  MS claims that IE is part of the system
> > but I don't believe removing it would be as crippling as they say.
>
> It certainly isn't - after all, they're even selling a version of Windoze
> XP without IE (known as Windoze XP Embedded).
>
> And if anyone else lies in court, he's fined...

Hmm, "part of the system" in my dictionary != "hardwired into the kernel", 
though. The whole system indeed uses the HTML renderer heavily, like the 
fancy HTML side-widget in the explorer, the help system and other stuff. 
Thus, they had to ship the explorer component anyway. And they also had to 
ship the explorer as file manager.

So not shipping the whole IE would be like shipping KDE _with_ KHTML and 
_with_ Konqueror in file manager mode, but explicitly crippling it to not 
also support KHTML for web pages.

Shipping XP embedded without HTML help system, file manager, and more, indeed 
leaves the option to leave out the HTML renderer as well - the basic desktop 
OS doesn't have that option.

Sounds a bit unfair to state that they could apparently uncouple the browser 
from the system without also limiting the system's capabilities. No matter 
how much I dislike Microsoft for their monopoly and the abuse of it, you'd 
better bash them with decent arguments. And frankly, MS clearly got things 
straight after the Win95 debacle ("the internet will never be succesful") and 
also clearly envisioned that a browser would be an integral part of a user's 
desktop.

One could argue that MS _made_ it an integral part, by stuffing it up one's 
throat in win98 and later, but I don't think that's the case here. I think 
they just perfectly realized the importance of browser technology after their 
initial mistake.

There's enough stuff to bash MS with, give them also the merits they deserve.

Martijn

 
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