"I'm not sure being closed source means inherently less secure." Me neither. There are examples swinging both ways. "I think one of Microsoft's problems is that they wanted to make IE a part of their whole Windows/Office grand vision of scripting/ActiveX everywhere with everything being a seamless environment. " I think so too. "I'm not sure what their answer is but as I said, if the competition begins to get too much market share I expect we'll see something before Longhorn. I'm sure Bill Gates doesn't like losing money, but I know he absolutely hates losing a competition." At current level I believe the newly kindled "browser wars" will eventually get us better browsers - no matter who wins the competition. I also believe that the side(s) competing with Microsofts' products have learned a lesson or two after seeing how MS literally crushed Netscape the last time all those years ago.