While msft did abuse their position to solidify an IE centric world, people need to realize that when ie4/5/6 were released they were dramatically better than the competitors. The problem is that post-domination they simply stagnated and so the design shortcomings start being a problem.

It needs to be repeated: at the time IE /was/ a good browser. Just like chrome today. And similar to chrome played fast and loose with web exposed features. Sometimes for the better (XHR was an IE invention), sometimes for worse (so was activeX).