Microsoft has allowed web surfers to watch the Beijing 2008 Olympics online for free but to do so, web surfers are required to download the new Microsoft flash player called Silverlight. While I have yet to read complaints from web users regarding this requirement, I guess mainly because we all want to watch the Olympics online for free no matter what, and what is yet another software on our computer, right?

People in the industry, though, have been saying that this is an anti-trust move, an aim at stifling their competitors, especially Adobe whose flash player is on the computers of most internet connected computers.

We have seen how the growth of Netscape Communications became stunted with Microsoft’s move of bundling Internet Explorer with Windows OS but as a web user, I know that if an application is good, I would continue to have it on my computer, even if I may be required to download Silverlight just to watch the Olympics live on the web for free.

What are your thoughts?