Software vs. Media in a Single Company

This week’s Download.com dispatch mentioned how Opera has a “Refuse pop-up windows” option. This popped-up a thought in my head: would Microsoft add such a feature to IE? Would AOL allow such a feature in their software?

It makes for an interesting question, because MS and AOL both get revenue from ads, and in both cases the software is free. My feeling is that Microsoft would add it if other browsers started gaining traction, because IE has more strategic value to MS than MSN’s ads have revenue. AOL, on the other hand, makes a very significant chunk of money from advertisers and would work to ensure that advertisers are happy. If the advertisers want pop-ups, AOL won’t stop ’em.