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On the Opera Software website, the company addresses the question, "Why isn't Opera free like Netscape and Internet Explorer." As part of their response, Opera said that Explorer was not really free. It is subsidized by other products.
This statement is true. Internet Explorer is not free. The Microsoft programmers who developed it did not work for free. MSFT paid them. The money came from somewhere
The money to finance Internet Explorer came from the profits from Microsoft's many other products, including Office, DOS and Windows. Instead of lowering prices for products like Office, MSFT maintained the same retail price so MSFT would make enough profit to afford the production of Internet Explorer.
If you have ever bought a Microsoft product, you have paid for Internet Explorer.
Some of those products we have paid for, such as MS-DOS, were forced on us to begin with.
If you bought a computer, MS-DOS came with it whether you requested or wanted it or not. And DOS was hidden in the cost of the computer. MSFT did not give DOS to computer makers for free. MSFT charged them for it. And they in turn charged you. If you bought a computer, you paid for DOS and, in part, for Explorer.
This is also true for Netscape. Navigator, though apparently free, is subsized by advertising revenue from their NetCenter website and by the sale of Netscape's webserver software to businesses. Netscape's programmers didn't work for free either.
Explorer also is paid for by the cost of Windows 98. Windows 98 is, basically, a ton of bug fixes, a few minor optimizations, and Internet Explorer. That's all.
The bug fixes for Windows 95 have been available for free from Microsoft for years. And they should be. Microsoft does not deserve any credit for that. It is standard practice for software companies to provide free bug fixes.
So, basically, when you plunk down $80 dollars for the Windows 98 upgrade, you are paying $80 for Internet Explorer 4.
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