Microsoft to Bundle Vista with Alternative Web Browser by W3C Advice

We, the undersigned, petition Microsoft to engage in discussion with the W3C Web Standards Organization regarding the shipping of the new operating system Windows Vista with a copy of another web browser according to the advice of the Web Standards Organization.

It is the belief of those who have signed this petition that shipping the newest edition of the most widely used operating system with a web browser that is incapable of rendering web standards and falls short in many ways to a free alternative is detrimental to the growth of the internet. While it is true that users have the ability to change their preferred web browser, many casual users of the internet are unaware of the difference between them. In the end, this only ends up hurting the developers of the websites that populate the internet, and thus the internetfs development as a whole.

Statistics that show Internet Explorer as the most widely used web browser are largely skewed by the fact that Internet Explorer is shipped with Microsoft Windows. We also believe that the casual web user may not have the knowledge to understand why another browser is more capable than the one he or she is currently using. Clearly shipping onefs own product with onefs own platform is a wise business move; however it is creating an injustice to the community of developers and web users alike.

We feel that Microsoftfs continuing development of the web browser Internet Explorer is harmful to the general community only when it is presented as the default option. We encourage Microsoft to request advice of the W3C, the group responsible for web standards, regarding a possible alternative web browser developed by a third party organization, such as Mozilla, to be shipped with their new operating system in order to improve the growth and development of the internet as a whole.