Today's blogs posts researched using Netscape
Yes, probably trivial, but there's a reason. IE7 came out a few weeks ago, and this week WinXP automatic update started attempting to install it. I used IE7 just long enough to find out it's crap. I uninstalled it and installed the blocker that prevents it form being automatically installed.
Then yesterday, to my surprise, Windows One Care (the anti-virus/firewall I use) turned yellow. The reason is that my security is "compromised" by not using IE7. I posted a message at the OneCare forum complaining, and found several others were disturbed by the same problem. Here's some of the conversation...
OneCareBear: Internet Explorer 7 is a critical security update, not optional, so Windows Live OneCare is performing exactly as designed. IE 7 is as critical to the security of a Windows XP system as was Service Pack 2, since it's an integral part of the operating system.
Even patching Internet Explorer 6 will not protect from all of the vulnerabilities it contained, the only way to apply this protection is to install IE 7, though that still doesn't mean you're forced to use it.kn5owa: If you "apply protection" by installing IE7, how does one then jump to the conclusion that you are not forced to use it? IE6 and IE7 do not run side-by-side as far as I can discern.
OneCareBear: I was referring to alternative browsers, not IE 6, since Microsoft obviously wants you to replace that due to the fact that it can't be effectively secured. The only question to be answered here is whether WLOC should display a yellow icon for IE 7, which it obviously should since it's a critical security update. IE 7 itself should be discussed in its own forums or newsgroups.
I didn't discuss the Phishing filter since that's a completely separate issue and lumping them together benefits no one. Though they were delivered together in IE 7, the risks and questions relating to this new feature are less understood, so they should be addressed separately to avoid confusing them. There is a separate thread here already relating to this so I'd recommend discussing it there.
Note: the forum moderator (OneCareBear) presumably a Microsoft employee is recommending using a different browser than Internet Explorer. I bet that'll go over well at corporate. The conversations continues...
Danny Carlton: Then you guys should have had the courtesy to offer the same updates with the option to stay with the "classic" IE look and feel. IE7 is a bad FireFox clone, form-wise. Functionality has always been IE's strong suit. Using WOC to force IE7 is a bad marketing strategy. Especially since IE7 is still so buggy. I'm constantly telling my website users to use FireFox when I discover they have problems and are using IE7. So far this has solved the problems every single time. I still use IE6, and don't experience the problems.
C'mon, admit that you should have thought it out better, offer a way for us to not have to put up with the yellow icon, and stop trying to copy competitors that have only a fraction of the market share you do.RaymondLuxuryYacht: ...With the number of bugs in IE7 and the fact that it breaks a host of applications, I cannot use it myself currently. There needs to be an option in OneCare to turn off the IE7 warning after it is acknowlegded.
kn5owa: ...Both programs have apparently been released without some bonafide critical beta testing. And, it is obvious, at least for the time being, that if you continue to use WLOC, you will be coerced to use the new browser under the guise of a security update.
IE7 has such a poorly executed human interface that it is hard to believe that it was released - much less being forced on people who continue to use WLOC. Personally, I am currently looking at other virus programs right now....I'm going to look into other browsers like Firefox and also other virus software. The IE7/Onecare issue is wasting too much of my time
OneCareBear: Raymond,
Since I've experienced absolutely no difficulties with Internet Explorer 7 itself since installing the Beta 2 version months ago, I'd be interested in where you've seen this list of bugs and broken applications. Though it's absolutely possible that both web sites and IE dependent applications who's developers ignored the Microsoft warnings to test for the last year might have issues, I've only experienced one web site myself and it was fixed in 24 hours. In that case it was sloppy HTML coding of an SSL secure site that had been generating errors in IE 6 for months, so it deserved to break and now even works properly with IE 6 as well.
If you actually have some applications that don't work with IE 7 I understand your concern, but if you're simply concerned you might experience a problem the probability is very low. Any installation problems I've seen to this point have been existing problems on the PC involved, not bugs in IE 7 itself.
That's laughable. I've come across literally dozens upon dozens of problems with IE7 in both the short time I used as well as fielding support questions from the web sites I manage.
RaymondLuxuryYacht: ...A quick scan of the newsgroups show quite a few unhappy people having problems for whom the only real solution offered is to uninstall IE7.
Ultimately Microsoft will need to lose their arrogance or they'll be running even more customers off into the waiting arms of their competitors.
Stay tuned...
Posted by Danny Carlton at November 16, 2006 7:17 AM