I should preface this by saying that I have no idea whether this rumor is anything more than that. However, I can see some good reasons why MS might buy Opera, whether they actually do it or not.
> PIE does the job that I need it to do. Well, sure, but the fact that there's a market for alternatives makes it clear that you (and I) aren't necessarily representative of Pocket PC users. People don't buy browsers for their regular computers, but they're willing to plunk down twenty bucks to get a new one for their PDA. > Mobile devices are still a niche... and the browser is a > small niche on them... and Opera's in a niche of that. > It's niche-cubed. Doesn't seem very attractive to me. What you call a niche, others might call an emerging market. That sounds incredibly attractive to me. > Which is exactly why I think you'll see improvements to > PIE... but buying another piece of software to replace > it just isn't something MS would do I think. Why not? They do this all the time. It's not like Internet Explorer was created from scratch - it was based on functionality licensed from Spyglass/Mosaic, if I recall correctly. Microsoft is surprisingly free of "not invented here" syndrome. > MS has shown no interest in producing software for > non-Windows mobile platforms and if they did I doubt > they'd start with a browser (most handheld device users > never use a web browser). Again, if they did purchase Opera, they could discontinue support for other platforms. Considering Opera is a relatively big player in the mobile device browser market, this could provide an advantage for Microsoft. As for handheld device users not using a browser, this is one of those things which is very likely to change. Internet access and related functionality is a big deal for the target market of Windows Mobile phone devices. > I think they'd probably begin with Windows Media Player or > MS Reader - something more broadly applicable. Both of those > products also seem to make more business sense they would > improve sales of related materials (DRM'd music and books). Microsoft, unlike Sony, doesn't have a direct stake in these sales. However, Windows Media Player is already the focus of significant development on all Microsoft platforms, but more on Windows CE (and CE.NET/Windows Mobile/etc) than any other right now. There are plenty of dedicated audio-video players running Windows CE now. As for MS Reader, I'd wager that for every one person who's used it on their Pocket PC, ten use Pocket IE. Dave Watts, CTO, Fig Leaf Software http://www.figleaf.com/ Fig Leaf Software provides the highest caliber vendor-authorized instruction at our training centers in Washington DC, Atlanta, Chicago, Baltimore, Northern Virginia, or on-site at your location. Visit http://training.figleaf.com/ for more information! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Find out how CFTicket can increase your company's customer support efficiency by 100% http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=49 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:4:227666 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/4 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:4 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.4 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
