Microsoft's venerable web browser, Internet Explorer, has been derided in the web universe for so long that it makes sense for the competition to have snuck in and stolen away some of the software kingpin's marketshare.

While Microsoft's IE web browser still has the largest marketshare of any web browser in the world, it has lost quite a few points in recent years to Mozilla's Firefox web browser, which many believe has much better security features, as well as an entire universe of developers that make "extensions" to the actual browser -- letting the customer customize their web experience as only they can.

And how about Opera, the stalwart Finnish company that many think is the best web browser on the planet? Opera used to charge for its web browser but then joined the competition (IE and Firefox) in giving it away for free.

Would Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) have been better served by acquiring Opera a few years ago? By doing so, it would have effectively taken a competitor out of the market, and also offered its millions of Windows users a much better web experience than what they already endure using IE. Sure, anti-competitive folks might have had a problem with Microsoft buying a web browser maker with a tiny marketshare percentage, but if serving customers the best possible product was the goal, perhaps Microsoft should have bought Opera.

[Disclosure: I own MSFT shares as of 12-21-06]