Browser Wars - The European Commission Strikes Back

From today, if your a UK or European user of a Windows machine you may be asked if you would like to switch to another browser. Microsoft is to release a software update via its Windows security patches website prompting users to select a default browser for their desktop.

Microsoft has made the update for XP, Vista and Windows 7 users. Users of Firefox, Safari, Chrome Opera and other alternative browsers will apparently not receive the prompt.

Only those users who have IE set as their default browser will get the pop-up window outlining the alternative choices available for installation. The prompt window is the result of a deal Microsoft cut with the European Commission after its antitrust investigation.

Microsoft's Internet Explorer already has a 60% share in the world browser market so it remains to be seen how effective the new patch will be in providing an opportunity to Redmond's growing list of competitors.

Microsoft IE6's days are numbered

Last week we heard news that it was an exploit vulnerability in IE6 that eventually led hackers to find a way to hack into Google. In response the French and German governments made public announcements urging all citizens to upgrade their browsers to newer versions. An increase in new downloads for Mozilla Firefox, Opera and Google Chrome may have been related to this annoucement.

Just a few days ago it was revealed that Google would no longer be supporting IE6 for its Google Docs and Google Sites services, with other features such as Gmail dropping IE6 support later this year. There are even Facebook groups dedicated to IE6's destruction.

More recent news confirms that nearly 5,000 people have signed an online petition urging government departments to dump Internet Explorer 6 (IE6), which is widely used by UK government departments including:

Department for Work and Pensions, the Department of Health and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

(source: v3.co.uk)

Here at Clicknetworks IE6 has caused many a headache for us when developing web applications with advanced client side scripting capabilities using libraries such as jQuery etc.

Every application developer who has been in this game, knows how disheartening it is to develop an app, which works perfectly in all browsers only then to get messed up and develop bugs when displayed in IE6.

We are only to happy to see IE6 relegated to the dustbin of browsing history...and it could not happen soon enough for us.