Since I was weaned on Netscape, I have a hard time getting into IE.
Mostly, I'm just used to where everything is with Netscape.  I understand
the hesitance to go with what might be a fly-by-night company (as MS once
was when Macs were going to rule the world - that was eons ago, in 1984!).
It's extremely disconcerting to try to get support from a company only to
discover they went out of business shortly before the warantee expired.

The problem I have with MS in general is the stranglehold it has on my PC
and those of most everyone I know.  The reason Bill got as far as he has is
because of taking technologies he has seen elsewhere and then expounding on
them (not always improving them) - IE vs. Netscape is a perfect example.
MS didn't take the internet seriously until this little startup company
began to make some big bucks offering its software to browse the internet
for free over the internet.  It's quite likely that MS was working on a
browser package before this explosion, but they didn't introduce theirs
until Win95.  However, the 2 products are virtually the same.

Since I use Netscape, I'd prefer not to clutter up my desktop with all this
IE stuff I couldn't give 2 hoots about.  However, when I try to move the
icon into a folder (or worse yet, THE RECYCLE BIN), there's this forbidding
warning message that says there might be parts to other programs in there
and I'd best not fool with Father Windows.  So, alas, I'm stuck with these
extra icons that I'll never use (mostly due to my stubborness) cluttering
up my machine and wasting precious disk space - being a programmer, I've
always tried to be frugal with disk space, even in the age of gigabyte
machines.

What amazes me most is how tolerant the world is becoming to products that
don't work quite right
     <snip>
     (there are some problems with the Real
     Audio if I leave computer for to long just playing radio - I can still
     run
     the computer but I have to reboot to get back to the net if it
     disconnects
     by itself)
    <end snip>
Microsoft does this, Oracle (the business database giant) does it.
Everyone has come to expect patches need to be applied.  The companies call
them releases, but unless you get an x.0 version, it generally is nothing
but patches to fix problems that went out with the original software.  The
x.0 versions are the ones where new features are introduced - but the adage
is, "Don't ever get x.0 of any software because it'll be full of bugs!"

As for default home pages, I find the Dilbert one to be of particular
interest.  Of course, I do have to toe the corporate line once in a while
and tell people I absolutely love zdnet.com ;-)

- Pam