I think there has been a shift in recognition of what a browser is: at the time Microsoft added IE into Windows, Netscape was still a relatively large company with a vested interest and browsers were seen as commercial products. Microsoft argued that the future of the browser was not a standalone product but an operating system component that would be a requirement for an operating system moving forward.<p>I do believe that Microsoft was ahead of the curve in that forethought, and that in retrospect Microsoft was right and the world was changing out from under Netscape&#x27;s feet. But I also don&#x27;t blame people for questioning that at the time, the internet was young and nascent then and we were still feeling out which &quot;apps&quot; on it, such as the web, would be ubiquitous services that everyone would need access to.<p>(I&#x27;m much more angry about the similar XP-era decision that anti-virus was not a core operating system component, to appease some greedy companies, and I&#x27;m glad the statute of limitations on that mistake has passed. Go, go, Windows Defender.)