scuzzman Posted March 2, 2005 Report Share Posted March 2, 2005 For most companies, 87.3 percent of a global market might seem just fine. But most companies are not Bill Gates' Microsoft. Founded by Earth's richest man, the firm still stands astride the world when it comes to browser usage; but the might of its Internet Explorer is just a little diminished. On Monday, two reports were released -- one American and one Continental -- that show IE's share of the browser market dropping below 90 percent. The culprit? Last year, Mozilla Foundation launched Firefox version 1.0, an open source browser lauded as both faster and more secure against popups and other irritations of online life. Last month, Mozilla said that since the launch of version 1.0, there have been over 25 million Firefox downloads.Original story here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted March 2, 2005 Report Share Posted March 2, 2005 As I have said on many occasions, just watch for more attacks as Firefox increases it's market share. If you were one of the idiots attacking IE, would you bother with attacking such a small percentage of users? I think not. It will be interesting to see, if their market share goes up considerably, whether or not they will have the resources to resist such attacks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scuzzman Posted March 2, 2005 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2005 As I have said on many occasions, just watch for more attacks as Firefox increases it's market share. If you were one of the idiots attacking IE, would you bother with attacking such a small percentage of users? I think not. It will be interesting to see, if their market share goes up considerably, whether or not they will have the resources to resist such attacks.The main problem with Internet Explorer is that is doubles as a Web browser and File Manager, thus allowing full access to the filesystem and registry. This is in conjecture with the blunder known as ActiveX (which most people don't even know exist, let alone what it's capable of), where carefully scripted (or not so) sites can simply install software on your machine just as if you've downloaded and double-clicked a *.exe file.Firefox (and all other non-Microsoft browsers) avoid this, hence this will lessen the possiblity of attack. Attacks on a computer through FF or any other third-party browser will no doubt happen, but they will be far more difficult to implement, as they will need to exploit actual holes in the browser's code (buffer overflows, stack overflows, and the like), and this alone will make them far fewer in number. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted March 2, 2005 Report Share Posted March 2, 2005 I admit that I am not all that deeply into computer technology, but surely SP2 stops active X without permission. I have yet to have any real problems with IE, as I keep everything fully updated. I spend several hours a day on line. I think an awful lot of trouble is caused by people dropping their guard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deuces wild Posted March 2, 2005 Report Share Posted March 2, 2005 Andsome, you don't like change, do you? :P I trust IE and SP2 to make my internet connections safe like I trust a monkey to cook dinner for me. :D Ever notice how many patches and fixes IE comes out with?I switched over the FF and am glad I did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scuzzman Posted March 2, 2005 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2005 I admit that I am not all that deeply into computer technology, but surely SP2 stops active X without permission. I have yet to have any real problems with IE, as I keep everything fully updated. I spend several hours a day on line. I think an awful lot of trouble is caused by people dropping their guard.Actually, no, SP2 didn't help with Internet Explorer much at all... basically just the popup blocker.The security side of things, and this comes from MS, will be looked into when IE7.0 comes out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb Posted March 3, 2005 Report Share Posted March 3, 2005 SP2 especially did nothing to improve ActiveX security. Have you ever noticed MS AntiSpyware slide-ups, informing you that it had just allowed this or that ActiveX to be executed? There are lots of things that can happen behind IE without users ever being aware of it.Firefox on the other hand can run very powerful plug-ins. However, they can never be installed without the user's explicit intent to install them. Even if we go to the plug-in site and click Install, FF will block the install until the user explicitly allows installs from that site.This may seem a bit inconvenient for inexperienced users, but it is exactly these inexperienced users that allow their computers to be compromised, let viruses and spyware on their computer, and possibly end up as spam zombies or worse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted March 3, 2005 Report Share Posted March 3, 2005 Andsome, you don't like change, do you? :P I am ALWAYS happy to consider change, this is why I gave Firefox a try. I just prefer IE, and as I say I have never had trouble with it. I just don't see the point in change for changes sake. If you are so keen on change, why not sell your PC and buy a Mac instead, that would be a change wouldn't it? Macs don't get many attacks do they? As long as I keep my defences up I will carry on with IE, as will the vast majority of people. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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