Mommy Mommy That Evil Bill Gates Is At It Again
What The Hell To DoThe following post was found over at http://www.mozillazine.org/.You may not know it, but Microsoft is releasing a new browser and if your 'puter is set for "automatic updates" you will be upgrading whether you like it or not. There is a lot of controversy over this new browser and you best investigate it before it is too late.
The latest issue of InformationWeek has a cover story about how businesses should respond to this month's releases of Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 and Mozilla Firefox 2. The article includes an overview of the new features in the two browser versions and some commentary about the implications for enterprises. Much of the text is taken up by quotations from representatives of Microsoft, the Mozilla Corporation and IT decision-makers. The article notes that Firefox currently lags in the business space but it does report recent progress: the number of companies with more than 200 employees allowing Firefox on their desktops has grown from 26% in 2005 to 44% this year, according to JupiterResearch. The story also looks ahead to future versions of the two browsers. A May release date is cited for Firefox 3 and the report repeats Microsoft's claim that IE will receive an update within eighteen months. The article is accompanied by a screenshot-laden overview of eight major features in IE7 and Firefox 2. It would be impolite to point out that the screenshot highlighting Firefox's Search bar actually calls out the Location bar, so we won't. On Tuesday, the day after the cover story hit the Web, InformationWeek published excerpts from Blake Ross's responses to an email interview for the article (very few direct quotations from Blake made it into the final piece). The commentary notes that "Ross doesn't shy away from speaking his mind and always has something insightful to say." Thanks to roseman for the link. Earlier this week, Blake posted a longer version of his email correspondence with InformationWeek on his BlakeRoss.com weblog, though he has since removed this post. When he originally published the email exchange, Blake said it was because the cover story "misrepresents [his] position". The comments that Blake emailed to InformationWeek but which the magazine did not choose to publish on its website mostly revolve around Blake's criticism of the article's focus on the battle between Microsoft and Mozilla, which Blake sees as relatively unimportant due to the Mozilla Foundation's non-profit status and lack of pressure to meet commercial goals. Update: Blake's removed weblog post has now been restored and can be accessed at http://www.blakeross.com/browser-wars/. |
So What To Do ?
Woody Leonhard of Windows Secrets says you should hold off and he goes on to tell you about a registry fix. I don't recommend the registry fix (see below).Bill Pytlovany who runs Win Patrol writes in his blog:
If you're a regular Bits from Bill reader you probably know I'm not a big fan of automatic updates. The Automatic Updates delivery process will include a welcome screen that offers users choices of Install, Don't Install, and Ask Me Later prior to installation.
This would seem the way to avoid IE7 for the time being, but be aware - you can't put off forever as a time will come that your computer will balk at IE6.
