Firefox threat to IE?

Microsoft believes that Internet Explorer is no less safe than open-source alternatives like Mozilla and Firefox. This, of course, most users of non-IE browsers will attest to as being entirely false.

In a recent article on C|Net News, there were a few nice tidbits.

A Microsoft spokesperson recently said:

At a security round-table discussion in Sydney on Thursday, Ben English, Microsoft’s security and management product manager, told attendees that IE undergoes “rigorous code reviews” and is no less secure than any other browser.

As a software engineer I can tell you that if any product I was responsible for and conducted such “rigorous” code reviews on and still got sent out for public consumption, I would be out of a job very quickly. But then it would seem that being a company as large as
Microsoft surely doesn’t hurt from a few disgruntled user who abandon them for more secure alternatives.

The article went on to say that Microsoft believes that the features that are already present in IE are ones that customers have asked for and nothing that they haven’t’ asked for exists in IE.

Microsoft’s English reiterated that features such as tabbed browsing are not important to IE users.

Having been introduced to the tabbed browsing feature in Mozilla and continuing to use it in Firefox, I personally believe this is one the most important features of these two browsers. The ease in which I can maneuver the web without having to open new windows for any link that I want to visit is of great convenience.

I also have seen people unfamiliar with this feature in Firefox get hooked onto it when they start using it. So who are these IE users, I ask you, that want a million windows open for each website they visit??

The biggest downfall of IE is that Microsoft has decided to add features that indeed no user would ever want, but having them on makes their computer vulnerable. Having such a flawed software out in the market for so long and hearing the critics point out all the mistakes, one would imagine that Microsoft would finally learn it’s lessons and fix things.

But, it would seem that they are more interested in trying to claim they are something that most people surely know they are not and that is secure.

So, is Firefox or other open-source alternative a threat to IE? Firefox has already garnered a 6% stake in the browser market, how long before M$ starts to worry?

Cheers

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