Microsoft 'Ware Still Needs Work On Playing Well With OthersMicrosoft 'Ware Still Needs Work On Playing Well With Others

Two stories point up the trouble Microsoft is having with its transition to an advertising-driven business model. Deep down in the trenches, its software developers haven't gotten the news that Microsoft software has to play well with others. It seems IE7 is still going for the throat of Firefox -- the latest instance occurs when IE breaks Web links in Outlook if it's not the default browser. And Microsoft's Windows Live Shopping site won't work with Firefox at all. The company says it's working to fix the problem. My guess is it's not a bug, it's a still-pervasive attitude in Redmond.The Windows Live Shopping site sounds kinda neat, but it sounds like Microsoft needs to make a policy decision: does the company want to actually sell stuff on the Web, or is its primary goal to punish users of browsers other than IE?

The Outlook/IE7 problem sounds more like a genuine bug than a policy decision -- or maybe just misplaced enthusiasm in the ranks of Redmond coders.

What happens, apparently, is that if you install IE7 beta 2, but don't set it to be the default browser, you can't follow hyperlinks in e-mail messages in Outlook. Somehow IE7 prevents Outlook from launching any browser but IE7. Clever, yes. Mature, no.