OStatic

Microsoft Watch's Joe Wilcox, in solemn observance of Friday the 13th, compiled a list of Microsoft's ten most unlucky breaks. The strokes of misfortune chosen were weighted according to heinousness (with #10 being least signficant, and #1 the most).

Checking in at #7 is the development of the Linux kernel. Putting aside Microsoft's whole Schrodinger's cat sort of approach to Linux over the years (Linux is not a threat. Linux is a threat), it is interesting Wilcox (and the analysts who helped him narrow down the list) focused on the kernel as the bad break.

The Google Operating System blog and The Open Road have noted that Google's open source Chrome browser will get Firefox-like extensions by May. That's when the Google I/O conference takes place in San Francisco, and there is a session there titled Developing extensions for Google Chrome. According to Google officials This talk will cover the basics of the extension system (distribution/packaging, installation, updates), as well as the different APIs to enhance with the browser. As I've written before, this, along with the delivery of Mac and Linux versions of Chrome, will kick the browser into high gear, with Internet Explorer facing many problems.

Recently, we covered benchmarks showing the Release Candidate for Microsoft's Internet Explorer version 8 browser seriously lagging open source browsers Firefox and Google Chrome. We also discussed Microsoft's acknowledgement that the European Commission may force it to see that alternative browsers to IE ship on new computers. Now, representing the latest blow for Internet Explorer, new research shows Microsoft's browser continuing to lose market share.