MSN Bot - and Web Standards

The above screen capture shows a visit from the MSN Bot recorded by ExtremeTracking.

The first thing that struck me is that, according to Microsoft, Microsoft Vista is so wonderful, and we are all urged to upgrade. Why then is Mircrosoft still using XP?

A second perhaps more important thing is the use of Internet Explorer 6. With IE 8 being reasonably standards compliant, and IE 6 having its own unique ways, web designers are having major problems getting their sites to work on both. This is then having a knock on effect on other browsers.

A major site my other half uses suddenly found that Opera was not working, so they adjusted, then Firefox did not work, so they adjusted again and Safari stopped. Hence over several weeks most of the major alternative browsers failed to work. However, IE 6 and IE 8 worked all the time. The problem is clear from the web browser usage figures for the top 5 browsers, according to NetApplications:

Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 25.25%
Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.0 21.10%
Microsoft Internet Explorer 8.0 15.10%
Firefox 3.0 12.48%
Firefox 3.5 8.88%

IE 6 is still the most widely used browser, and so even though it causes problems for the rendering of all the other browsers developers do not feel they can stop making it work a priority. Hence, considering that Microsoft claim to want to work towards web standards compliance, they are happy to cause havoc with other browsers, and make them look problematic, and sometimes make them unusable, when it is Microsofts product which is causing the problem.

Bots have a major influence on browser statistics, being all pervasive they visit almost all sites, and often form a large proportion of site visitors stats. Thus, it is especially poor that Microsoft are bolstering the IE 6 statistic figures with their Bot. It makes me question their commitment to web standards, and if they are actively trying to undermine alternative browsers by protracting the change to web standards?

Microsoft - More Anti-Competitive Practices

Microsoft using its position to stifle competition again?  The MSi u114 netbook has hybrid storage  (HDD and SSD), hence you could have the installed Windows XP on one, and the purchaser could put Linux on the other. Microsoft is demanding that MSi withdraw the machine by the end of June. Microsoft has virtually killed off linux on the netbook, a computer format that only exists because Linux made it possible, yet Microsoft still is not happy that there is still a little potential competition.

Update

Microsoft having to make an effort?

I read the BBC article "Microsoft to launch retail chain".

Quotes:

The stores will also promote new operating system Windows 7 and updates of Windows Live and Windows Mobile.  

The company plans to sell computers installed with Microsoft software....

Buying a computer without Microsoft software is not easy. So why launch these shops?

To me it seams that Microsoft has not had to try for so many years, if you wanted a computer then it would run Microsoft or Microsoft. Now there are viable alternatives developing (especially Apple and Linux / open-source) and Microsoft is starting to feel vulnerable. So at last Microsoft is having to make an effort to sell its products, rather than users just being stuck with them, and their shoddy support.