Why is Internet Explorer and Safari so terrible?

[Matt]

We all know that Chrome and Firefox dominate when it comes to personal internet brower choice. Both IE and Safari are slow, buggy and ultimately always behind the times in terms of development and trend. But Why?

Microsoft are a huge multi-national, that has built some of the greatest OS systems in modern PC computing (this is not a debate between Windows, Mac and Linux OS) and though Apple produce better mobile devices they are certainly invested in the netbook.laptop/desktop market. Therefore both companies have both the means and motive to develop a browser that should push the limits and compete this its peers.

Yet both of these goliaths in commercial computing, have ultimately failed to produce an internet browser that doesn't fall flat on it's face when facing up to the competition. I mean how many of us actually use IE and Safari, except when dowloading Firefox and Chrome?

Surely they must see this has a huge problem within they're organisations? And yet, neither company has put forward a product that could be considered a top of the range browser that can addequately compete.

(this is less a question, and more of a debate starter, and like I have previously said it's not about the OS it's about the browser. I'm also not interested on what makes them are substandard, i'm intersted in THE REASONS WHY they are substandard.)

[Say "Plugh"]

I noticed that as well. Safari is terrible.

I have only one possible answer. The first browser was Mosaic, later called Netscape, then later called Firefox. Who has the most experience? Yup!

Chrome is somewhat based on code from Firefox (rumored to be).

IE and Safari are owned 100% by Microsoft and Apple.

Incidentally, Microsoft was a latecomer to the internet. Bill Gates once believed that it was a "passing fad".