The war is on

Two facts combined in my mind yesterday:

• After installing some Google software on my home machine, I'm experiencing Internet Explorer crashes. I'm aware that time correlation is not causality. Not worth figuring out though, I still have Firefox running.
  
• I've read on slashdot that Google is scrutinizing Microsoft Vista for obstructing fair competition, notably on Google Desktop Search (which is a great tool, IMHO).
  

The war is on. Battleground is right on our desktops. The stake is our attention (better than fighting over oil, probably ?) and the corporate income it generates. A few more lawyers earning a living on the beatiful US West coast.

Technical architecture though: if you support plug-ins from other vendors, how do you prevent them from maliciously crashing your process ? A quick solutions brainstorm:

• Run plug-ins in separate processes or terminatable compartments and communicate via your favourite IPC or cross-compartment mechanism. May get technically complicated (depending on the technology you're using).
  
• Run only thrustworthy plug-ins using authenticated certificates. Will get you in trouble with antitrust authorities. May be not so smart if you want to have maximum accessibility for plug-in developers.
  
• Combine both: use terminatable compartments for thrust-unworthy plug-ins. May complicate the plug-in interface as well, because the actual interface protocol must be transparant to the plug-in developer.
  

Anyone any bright ideas on this ? Or am I providing more bright ideas to Google to help them make Microsoft software crash :-) ? And will any of both sides bother to sue me over that ? Uh oh ?