travis brings up a good point. 50% of the web is NOT controlled by the four horsemen. that is also significant. i guess i would say that it's analogous to attitudes about the glass being half empty or half full. in most cases, i lean toward the former. but for this issue i am a glass half full kinda girl. maybe, if we all try really hard and support the part of the web that isn't controlled by the big four, we can have some influence on usability and cut into the other 50%.

i would estimate that i spend about .01% of my time at the big four sites. i'm sure that there are a lot of us, mostly web savants, who do the same. let's unite and fight!!

p.s. john, i would qualify your statement about microsoft owning 92% of the os market by specifying that you're talking about pc's or desktops. most large companies still use mainframes or sun machines for which microsoft doesn't have a product.