Earth to Bill: Please return immediately.
The
Linux/Mozilla/Firefox people couldn't dream up a better scenario.
Microsoft recently decided to stop issuing security updates for
Internet Explorer on anything other than Windows XP or Windows 2003
Server.
Every Windows 98 and Windows 2000 system out there now becomes a
giant security hole! For many of these systems upgrading is not an
option. Companies will have no choice but to disable IE as much as they
can, which will be very tricky and problematic by itself, and
standardize on a different browser
In smaller companies and homes, older systems that are left alone
will become giant targets for hackers and perpetuate the legend that
Windows is an insecure operating system that cannot be trusted.
This is definitely the worst policy decision ever made at Microsoft.
Sure there might be a short term revenue spike from XP upgrades. But
even in the best case scenario, history will view this as a catastrophic success. [Live @ Sax.net]