Mozilla and Google accuse Microsoft of unfair browser competition
Summary: Microsoft will restrict third-party browsers like Firefox and Chrome to the Metro sandbox in Windows 8 for ARM devices, while treating Internet Explorer 10 as an “intrinsic feature” of Windows. Mozilla and its primary backer, Google, say that’s not fair.
With Windows 8, is Microsoft returning to its monopolistic roots?
Both Mozilla and Google have announced plans to create “Metro style enabled desktop browsers” for Windows 8 on x86 and x64 platforms. Like Internet Explorer 10
But modern browsers rely on much more than the GPU for performance. Dotzler’s fear is that third-party Metro style browsers like Firefox will be hobbled, performance-wise, because they’ll be unable to use the same performance-enhancing techniques they use currently.
Dotzler accuses Microsoft of deliberately violating “the promises they made to developers, users, and OEMs about browser choice in documents which mysteriously disappeared from Microsoft’s site.”