They certainly tried, and attracted the attention of the Department of Justice in the process. See the Microsoft antitrust trial.
Internet Explorer was a dominant browser for a while. It came bundled with Windows, and Gates thought they'd use it to embrace and extend the Web, like they'd done with everything up to then. Netscape's browser share quickly went to zero.
There were other browsers, though, and the end result of the legal actions was that MS had to allow you a choice. The Internet public was not as compliant with Gates' designs as the PC public had been, and "web standards" became something they had to live with, rather than being able to set them.
Internet Explorer was a dominant browser for a while. It came bundled with Windows, and Gates thought they'd use it to embrace and extend the Web, like they'd done with everything up to then. Netscape's browser share quickly went to zero.
There were other browsers, though, and the end result of the legal actions was that MS had to allow you a choice. The Internet public was not as compliant with Gates' designs as the PC public had been, and "web standards" became something they had to live with, rather than being able to set them.