Re: DOJ asked to stop MS monopolization of browser market

There has been a lot of talk about how IE is "integrated" into Win95 and thus it is part of the operating system. What does it mean to be integrated into the operating system? it seems to me that components that are integrated into the operating system would either be functions that are necessary for the essential chores of operating a PC such as file manipulation and system configuration. How is IE either? (considering all the other apps that come with Win95 like the File Manager's replacement Windows Explorer)

Granted, you can use IE to replace Windows Explorer and even launch programs. But, Netscape Navigator can do the same thing. It seems to me that neither one is integrated into the operating system. I would be more comfortable if they gave Windows Explorer web browsing (HTML) capabilities instead, but I still don't consider Windows Explorer integrated into Win95. Its just a utility for file browsing. There have always been third party file managing utilities: In the DOS world we had DOSSHELL, PC TOOLS, Norton Commander (my personal favorite) to name a few; In Win3X we had File Manager, Norton Desktop and others;

In my view, the operating system is invisible to the user. It is the user interface that gives the user access to the operating system and then there are applications (utilities) that are bundled with the user interface that provide additional functionality. So how are these 'bundled" utilities part of the operating system?

Regards,
David F. Crosby
dcrosby[_at_]lappinkusmer.com
dfcrosby[_at_]earthlink.net Received on Thu Oct 30 1997 - 14:54:27 GMT