Major Web Browsers Getting Facelifts

Huh?

“It takes a lot of energy to switch technology,” Johnston said.

A lot of what now? To switch browsers you basically need to what, click the mouse a few times? Maybe type a URL? Open up IE, go to Mozilla.org, download, double click to install, and… that’s it. I really wouldn’t call that a lot of energy. Especially since browsers make it easy to import bookmarks and the like.

It takes a lot of energy to switch operating systems, build a computer from scratch, reformat using a different file system. It takes nothing to switch to a different browser.

As for the “if it ain’t broke” mentality: Internet Explorer is broken.

Re:Huh?

Mozilla? As opposed to Firefox? Or does using the organization’s name show that you know more about the industry than us mere Firefox users?

Wow, that sounded kind of snide. Reminds me why I don’t post on here more often.

I use Mozilla’s name because that’s the organization responsible for Firefox. Would I be strutting my knowledge of the industry if I referred to Microsoft when I spoke of Internet Explorer? I’m a geek, and I call things by their names and I sometimes refer to who makes these things. I think you’ll find similar behavior amongst mechanics referring to autos by make and model along with pilots who refer to planes by their full names with manufacturer and model numbers. They’re really not showing that they know more than anyone else. Rather they are demonstrating a certain knowledge of their field through the expression of vocabulary directly related to that field. Much like you probably wouldn’t want a doctor calling a painful growth on your leg a “thingy.”

Meanwhile, if IE7 does in fact fix two-thirds of the problems found in IE6, that only leaves one-third of the exploits, zero days, workarounds, overruns, and other gaping security holes on which crackers may work their special kind of magic. I’ll be extremely surprised if IE7 is all that secure compared to 6. There are several well known security holes in Outlook and Outlook Express. Microsoft has yet to fix those and they’ve been around for years. Besides, how secure can a browser be when it’s tied directly to your operating system? Have you ever noticed that almost all the hacks and cracks Microsoft patches on IE and other products aren’t the kind where someone can just give you a virus? No, they usually allow the cracker full access to your computer. Also, Microsoft’s policy of security through obscurity is well known. Heck, it wasn’t all that ago when news broke that a cracker could take over your computer because you accessed a page with a compromised image.

References here.

And here.

Isn’t that great? View an image on a website with a simple img src= tag, and an attacker could, let’s say it together, “take complete control of an affected system.” Microsoft’s words, not mine.

And then it turns out that Microsoft knew about this bug for ages. So let’s be generous and say that IE6 has only 100 security flaws. We all know it probably has far more than that, but let’s just go with that number. So IE7 does one better. It fixes not only two-thirds, but four-fifths of the flaws. That only leaves 20 holes for a cracker to exploit. Oh and let’s not forget about the promise of IE7 bringing a whole new hive of bugs on its own.

I don’t claim to know more about anything than anyone. Not even the “mere Firefox users.” But I do keep my ear to the ground and understand that at least 90% of the PC users out there don’t know that IE6 is broken, was broken, and remains broken. All I know is that I get a call every so often from a non-techie friend who has no idea why their computer stopped working after visiting a website. IE will continue to be broken as long as it’s tied to the operating system. Sure Firefox has flaws, but they are usually nowhere near as dangerous simply because Firefox doesn’t have direct and insecure access to the OS.