1. It's Inclusive, Not Exclusive

Microsoft's reasons for excluding the millions of Windows XP users from its latest Internet Explorer release must have been very compelling indeed. They focused, I suspect, on a desire to force those users to upgrade to Windows 7 -- to the tune of considerable upgrade fees for Redmond. This, as I've noted before, is one of the joys of life on the .

I can't imagine, though, that time will prove that decision to have been a good one. For a vendor to exclude such a huge portion of its own installed base just doesn't look good, and that's not to mention all the many Linux and Mac users out there.

Hello? Microsoft: It's no longer a single-platform world out there, no matter how much you wish it were. Mozilla: Thank you for seeing things the way they really are.

2. It's Faster