Mozilla may have problems with its Firefox browser, but they pale in comparison to the specter now haunting Microsoft's Internet Explorer:

A level playing field.

For years, Microsoft has been sheltered from the brunt of browser competition by bundling IE with Windows. As Mozilla executive Mitchell Baker once told me:

[M]ost people think of "the Internet" as the blue "E" (IE's icon). It's always there on the desktop. The muscle memory of the blue E has been a giant problem for us and for competition.

That's about to change, and it likely won't be a positive change for Microsoft.

Starting March 1, Microsoft will be forced, under the terms of a European Commission antitrust agreement, to present both existing and new Windows users with a browser ballot box, as shown below.

(Credit: Microsoft)