Is Internet Explorer really free?

I don’t think it is free anymore. Considering, the latest version (or update I should say) that comes along with Microsoft Windows XP SP2 will of course install only on Windows XP machines. So, this means the users of Windows 98, Windows ME, and Windows 2000 are pretty much left on their own. And the next major version will come in Longhorn most probably which would mean that the users of Windows XP has had their last Internet Explorer update.

So, this means Internet Explorer is no longer a browser that you can just download on your machine and be happy! This means, Internet Explorer has become a component of the main Operating System that you will have to buy to get access to the browser. Does a not sound like a free deal to me. Internet Explorer SP1 was indeed available to as ancient windows machines as Windows 98. That, in my opinion is the latest free version of the monstrous Internet Explorer.

So, what about other browsers in the market. Safari suffers the same fate as it cannot be used on the last major version of Mac OS which would be version 9. Opera is free in the ad-supported version. And most of the other so-called browsers are just browser skins. So, practically the only free browsers in the market at this moment are the browsers from the Mozilla stables: Camino, Mozilla Suite and Firefox.