system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Why do Microsoft and other software companies care which internet browser people use if the software is free?

After reading that in Windows 8 non-IE browsers will be intentionally slowed down, it made me think - why does anyone care what software we are using if we use it for free anyway?  I am sure I am missing something.
gpt
There are several important reasons, but it mostly comes down to peoples browser having a potentially large impact on what they do online, which *does* have money involved. In particular, it affects what money-making online applications they might use, such as the search engine, with IE defaulting to Microsoft's Bing and google being popular elsewhere. Since many people never change their browser's default settings, that's a lot of indirect money tied up in browser choice.

There are also deeper reasons along the same vein. For instance, google's Chrome originally had a superb javascript engine, which its competitors have now raced to catch up with. This all benefits google, as their business is tied up with complex web applications, but these applications need fast, optimised browsers to be usable.