You’re probably familiar with Google Chrome Frame, Google’s clever workaround to combat Internet Explorer dependency in enterprises. You’re probably also aware that Microsoft is not a fan.

Microsoft desperately needs to implement an equivalent “Internet Explorer 10 Frame” mass deployed as a high-priority Windows Update. Failure to do so all but guarantees that Microsoft will become completely incapable of hiring a sufficient supply of talented graduates.

The key issue is that two of the major vectors for aspiring engineers are no longer dominated by Microsoft technology.

Javascript is the New Basic

Microsoft QBasic was my first experience with programming, but I got started a few years earlier than most of my peers. The students I graduated college with largely had their first foray into text editing via HTML. Browsers are installed on every computer on the market and web development skills are vital for nearly all professional developers (even those not doing full-time web development). This puts Microsoft in a really bad spot: every budding developer’s first impression of Microsoft is “IE SUCKS!!!!11!!one!”.

Microsoft’s Stranglehold on Gaming is Loosening

When I was employed by Microsoft, I took an informal survey of my recently hired peers. I worked in the gaming division, so my view was skewed: they almost all got into programming via PC gaming. If you loved games, you ran Windows. If you wanted to make games, you learned Microsoft Visual C++. However, times are changing. Apple’s iPhone is the biggest gaming platform on the planet. Your family computer is probably a Mac by now and your Xbox doesn’t come with a compiler. Why not learn Objective-C? Furthermore, canvas games are popping up everywhere and it won’t be long before WebGL is common place. Soon enough, a significant subset of aspiring game developers only have to boot Windows to test something in Internet Explorer. sigh.