Zeldman:

"Microsoft is a W3C member that sits on the XHTML and CSS working groups, and makes web browsers that support those technologies. Microsoft's browser developers include longtime W3C contributors like Chris Wilson and Tantek Celik who help create web standards and are passionate about supporting them. It's too bad their hard work and that of other W3C members was ignored by the site's designers. [...] Mark Pilgrim dives into Microsoft.com’s redesign and finds its accessibility stinks beyond human comprehension."

In indirectly related non-news, is there even any talk about an upcoming Internet Explorer 7.0? Ah, the old days when Netscape extracted the best from Microsoft. Well, I guess if there's nothing to embrace, there's nothing to extend. In pure capitalistic fashion, Microsoft excels only in the face of strong competition. When there's none, enjoy the stagnant mediocrity (still beats the socialist alternative where everything is stagnant mediocrity by design.) Here's a rough scale to rate Microsoft's efforts, based on their competition, from best to worse: Oracle (SQL), IBM (Exchange), SUN (dev tools/platform), Logitech (mouses and keyboards), Apple (OS/UI), AOL/Netscape (web sites, browser).

Now all we get is new releases of the MSN browser. I must ask, who gives a shit at all about MSN? They try so hard to be irrelevant to anyone who uses the Internet more than very casually that their tagline is hilarious. "More useful everyday"? You must mistake yourself with Google. Exclude from that statement their vertical sites such as HomeAdvisor, Money or CarPoint, who might as well spin off as Expedia did. The MSN umbrella brand doesn't mean anything to anyone, and its main usefulness is to fill unsold inventory will irrelevant house cross-advertising. Single sign-on? Big deal, everyone has 50 accounts to 50 different web sites but uses the same password anyway. The only difference with Lycos is that their backers are not pulling out (whereas Bertelsmann has started to come to its senses.)

XP's SP1 didn't even include a browser upgrade. How about IE 6.5 coming with some of the cool stuff found in Mozilla, and an integrated RSS reader? It's not because push sucked in IE 4.0 that they have to give up on the concept. Why not embed a set of bookmarklets with the browser? How about eventually getting toolbar and bookmark management right? Since IE under XP is an operating system component, not a free add-on, I'd expect XP's rather steep price to include more ongoing innovation on the browser.