Microsoft's reversal

In March I discussed the mistake Microsoft was making in its dismissal of Firefox's threat:

Microsoft also dismisses tabbed browsing--which is by far the most useful feature about Firefox (to me)--because they are "not important to IE users."My guess is that's because Firefox only commands 6% of the browser market--not many people know about tabbed browsing. I find it absolutely invaluable. Once the world sees the possibilities of they can do with a browser (a la Firefox)--besides what IE offers--plus the security and speed this new kid on the block offers, Microsoft will eventually have to "open mouth, insert foot."

Turns out I was right. According to the IEBlog, the yet-to-be-released IE7 will have tabs.

Some people have asked why we didn’t put tabs in IE sooner. Initially, we had some concerns around complexity and consistency… will it confuse users more than it benefits them? Is it confusing if IE has tabs, but other core parts of the Windows experience, like Windows Media Player or the shell, don’t have tabs? I think we made the wrong decision here initially, and we’re making the right one now.

Too bad I've already switched...