(FORTUNE Magazine) – Goodbye, Netscape Navigator. I've just uninstalled the program, and I'll now use Microsoft's Internet Explorer. It's like saying goodbye to an old friend--I've used Netscape since 1995.

It's more than that, though; it's really the end of an era: the end of the freewheeling, Internet wow! era when everything was new, exciting, and promising. This simple act--telling Windows to remove the Netscape software from my PC--feels more like the end of the first Internet era than the tech stock crash, the loss of confidence in Yahoo and Amazon.com, or any other single event. And it feels like the beginning of a different era, one in which Microsoft really does control what happens on the Internet.

I uninstalled Netscape Navigator because I didn't believe that I could upgrade it reliably. My old Navigator, version 4.7, was beginning to act frail, crashing frequently and behaving unpredictably as old software tends to do. Netscape has, in fact, introduced a new edition of its browser software, version 6.0. But Netscape's own advertising, as well as the published reviews I've read, makes 6.0 seem very different from the browser I'm used to. According to the reviews, Netscape 6.0 seems a totally new program--with all the bugs of a new program--and requires that I replace some of my existing plug-ins. So in order to upgrade I have to risk a new user interface, new bugs, and new plug-ins. That's too big a price to pay. If I have to make a radical change in my browser habits, I might as well switch to Internet Explorer, which is what most of the rest of the world is using.

The problem is that I didn't want to change to Microsoft's browser. Let's start with the fact that it irritates me in small ways. When I wait for it to open a Web page, it doesn't tell me what it is doing, as Navigator did. It's harder for me to get IE to tell me what sites I've visited recently. And it seems fussier about displaying Web pages that have been programmed incorrectly.

Sure, some of these are the problems of a new user. But right now I'm not inclined to do a whole lot of learning, because I feel as if I've been forced to change. This brings me to the second reason I resent my switch: I've stuck with Netscape for the past four years because I already use too much Microsoft software.

I really don't want to use more Microsoft programs. Even after all these years, Microsoft applications are agonizing to use. Trying to figure them out makes me feel so stupid and frustrated. But the sad reality is that the ninnies at Netscape screwed up their software. (Boy, how many times does it take before the tech weenies of Silicon Valley figure out that redesigning popular software from the ground up is the easiest way to alienate existing, loyal, and heretofore loving customers!) Microsoft didn't.

In fact, despite its little flaws, Microsoft's browser will probably make my life easier. Its browser software works well with the Windows operating system and integrates neatly with my e-mail program, Microsoft Outlook. Netscape never integrated well with Outlook, and it doesn't work well with the way Windows downloads and installs software.

So I'm letting myself be seduced by the anaconda. Microsoft is slowly wrapping me in its software embrace and squeezing. Now I use Windows, Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint--and very little software made by other companies. I still use Intuit's Quicken, but I'm going to dump it as soon as I can, since it's become a memory pig of the first order. Most of the software I do get from other companies is free, like Acrobat, Gator, Scout, Flash, Visto (which is one of my portfolio companies), Guru, and RealPlayer.

The more I fall into Microsoft's embrace, the more I miss Netscape, the more I rue the fact that the fun is over. Microsoft is a bad, arrogant winner. Having capitulated, I figured that I should get the latest version of Internet Explorer, so I asked the program to upgrade itself from version 5.0 to version 5.5. When it was finished updating, it restarted my computer without asking if I wanted to. (Every other program always asks!) When the computer rebooted, Internet Explorer popped up right away, with an option already checked to make MSN my home page. If I hadn't paid attention, I would have reset my home page! (My home page is my.yahoo.com--maybe Yahoo could save us by suing Microsoft for anticompetitive behavior. What a nice fantasy.)

Oh, sure, Microsoft could have asked, "Do you want to make MSN your home page?" But that's not the way they do it at Microsoft--oh, no. I now use Microsoft software every day, in every way, in spite of myself. At least they could be polite about their absolute and total victory, instead of just acting like a big bully.

STEWART ALSOP is a partner with New Enterprise Associates, a venture capital firm. Except as noted, neither he nor his partnership has a financial interest in the companies mentioned. He can be reached at alsop_infotech@fortunemail.com. His column may be bookmarked online at www.fortune.com/technology/alsop.