Posted on 10/18/2006 9:32:00 PM PDT by Eagle9
Microsoft on Wednesday launched the first major update to Internet Explorer in five years, and posted the new browser for Windows XP to a download site.
IE 7, which has was announced in February 2005 by chairman Bill Gates, has been touted by the company as a significant update in the areas of security and usability. The interface has been streamlined and tabs have been added to compete with rivals such as Mozilla's Firefox and Opera's flagship browser. On the security front, IE 7 adds anti-phishing defenses as well as additional features to control ActiveX controls, which historically have been a pain point for Microsoft's browser.
IE 7 for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 can be downloaded from here.
"It's here, it's final, and we're excited," said Margaret Cobb, the group product manager for the browser.
The most controversial aspect of IE 7 has been Microsoft's decision to push the update to all users who have Automatic Updates enabled. Although users can reject IE 7 -- and continue using their current edition of Internet Explorer -- Microsoft will begin rolling out the browser as a "High priority" update next month. In July, when Microsoft offered up a toolkit to indefinitely postpone IE 7's installation, it justified using Automatic Updates, a mechanism for providing patches to Windows, because of the new browser's security implications.
"We've told enterprise customers to be ready [for IE 7] by Nov. 1," said Cobb. "It won't begin Nov. 1, but they should be ready."
The IE 7 update will also not add to the burden of Microsoft's monthly security patch delivery, scheduled for Nov. 14, promised Cobb. "We won't do it on Patch Tuesday."
Microsoft will also throttle back IE 7's delivery to keep the server load under control, she added. "We're starting with English, and then moving to the localized versions as they come available. At first we'll run it very slow, to a low percentage of users." After assessing the impact, Microsoft will increase the amount of traffic from the servers. "I'll have a 10 a.m. call every day to go over the impact on support or services," said Cobb, who can then order downloads to be scaled back or increased.
It will take as long as three months to deliver IE 7 to all users worldwide. "As each localized language comes online, we'll wait a few weeks after posting it for download before delivering it through Automatic Updates."
Microsoft has made one change late in the game. After IE 7 has installed, it will tell the user which search engine is the current default -- grabbed from IE 5 or IE 6 -- and then ask if they want to make a new choice. The process is similar to, but not identical, to the choice that Windows Vista users will face when they upgrade from Windows XP.
"We added this after RC3," said Cobb. "We're letting users know what engine is the default, and asking them if they want to keep it or do they want to switch. We're also going to be supporting IE 7."
Beginning Thursday, Microsoft will open a free, toll-free support line for IE 7. The help desk will be manned Monday through Friday 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. PDT, and on weekends from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. PDT.
Internet Explorer's chief rival, Mozilla Corp.'s Firefox browser, is nearing the final release of version 2.0. Currently on Release Candidate 3 (RC3), Firefox 2.0 should make it out the door before the end of the month.
Users who want to block the download and installation of IE 7 through Automatic Updates, as well as the Windows Update and Microsoft Update sites should steer here, where they can retrieve the Internet Explorer 7 Blocker Toolkit.
Thanks Babu. Yes, there are a tiny number of Freepers who have an incredible hate for me, which has been built up over the countless times they have been proven wrong on the facts, and their love of foreign products over American ones exposed.
As you cans see here, rather than engage in a discussion of facts, which they already know they are certain to lose, they now immediately digress into endless infantile personal attacks.
Which is fine by me, since I am very secure in my knowledge of these issues, and am standing on incredibly firm conservative ground when it comes to my opinion.
I appreciate you setting the record straight. I also assure you that many other posters are already aware of their classic liberal behavior, always running from the facts, talking in circles, and infinitely slinging insults. Which is exactly why I post, so that the world can see exactly how these open source kooks operate. Thanks again and have a great day.
One of my trump cards, that once again left you in ruins.
No, it's not. I just bought a brand new HP laptop over the weekend, and specifically had to accept the offer to receive and install automatic updates. I did of course, and recommend everyone does, but it was not "forced" upon me, as you keep insisting. Get over myself? As usual I'm just setting the facts straight, for some reason some people are so filled with their hate of Microsoft they start making false claims, and a claim that automatic updates are "forced" on anyone is an obviously false claim.
Another one of your lies. I fully support Apple, as my posting history shows, as well as any form of American Unix. International Business Machines and their foreign copy of Unix called Linux? Yes, I do expose their ties to foreign governments and socialists like Richard Stallman.
Could you imagine with all that is going on in the world, that you couldn't find time to comment upon anything else but the above for quite literally years?
I have and do post on other subjects, especially in the past, but someone has to counter all the leftist BS slung on these computer threads these days. You got away with it for a while, because most posters either don't understand the terminology or refuse to suffer the harrassment, but I've shown I can reduce you to a foul mouthed slobbermouth in just a few posts. LOL you should see yourself!
User Agent String Utility version 2Brief Description
A utility that opens an Internet Explorer 7.0 window that is configured to report its identity to websites as being Internet Explorer 6.0.Overview
Whenever Internet Explorer releases a new major version, Microsoft makes every attempt to coordinate the change with major web site owners so that users who upgrade to the latest version can take advantage of new features available on the upgraded browsing platform. A character string called the “User Agent String” identifies the major version of the browser to web sites so that the sites can offer certain functionality on particular browser versions. In some cases, websites might misidentify a new version of IE as an outdated version, with results ranging from rendering and behavior issues to total rejection of the user. This utility changes certain registry keys on an IE 7.0 installation to allow a user to emulate an IE 6.0 installation as a simple workaround until problematic sites update their code. It also offers users the option to report these problematic sites to Microsoft.Microsoft download uasutility-v2-x86.msi for E 7 here.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=9517db9c-3c0d-47fe-bd04-fad82a9aac9f&DisplayLang=en
.
I didn't have any problems with IE 7, but I only tested it on a few websites. I'll just stick with Firefox.
yep, thats why i have supported AMD for so long..
but having said that the Core2Quad(Kentsfield) will be my next chip :)
Important This article contains information about how to modify the registry. Make sure to back up the registry before you modify it. Make sure that you know how to restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up, restore, and modify the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
256986 Description of the Microsoft Windows registry
Link to full explanation of Error message, Symptoms, Cause, and Workaround by Microsoft
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/917925
I quit using IE a long time ago & see no reason to go back. I have everything working in FF just the way I like it.
There is, no doubt, some jealousy surrounding Microsoft. However, there are a great many people who hate them because they turn out garbage and they use their monopoly status to edge people out in anti-competitive ways.
Personally, I loathe Microsoft's products (with the exception of VS, which is the best IDE on the market) and find some of their methodologies questionable, but I don't really give a flip about Microsoft itself.
But no venom, eh?
It looks like he was right. See my #205 and #207 on this thread. The guy in IT might be interested in seeing the MS web page links in those two posts.
then dont buy it. people buy it then complain. then buy it again and again.
I don't (it came bundled with my laptop, but it's been wiped off in favor of a real OS). You can build your own desktop, but with a laptop you're pretty much stuck paying the MS Tax, which a great many people find irksome (consider how much the hardware would cost if OEMs sold pure hardware). Furthermore, not buying the software does not change MS's anti-competitive tactics.
Not really. I bought this laptop abot 3 years ago without paying for Windows. The vendor was very good about allowing me to order it without any OS pre-installed.
It has never had MS on in (except in a VM), and it never will. And it'll be good for a while yet as it has a 3.2Ghz Desktop HT CPU, 1G RAM, a full-sized keyboard, and (at the moment) 80G HDD. I'm looking at adding a 120G HDD in the near future.
The point is that if you really don't want MS, you just need to shop around a little, and vendors who will work with you are fairly easy to find.
Indeed. I wasn't speaking directly to hardware, but the same thing applies there. I remember many moons ago. I had 2 386's in my office. They were identical in all respects except one thing. One had a Cyrix coprocessor, and the other was Intels. At the time Cyrix was advertizing them as being 30% faster than intel's offering. I used a program that was almost nothing but floating point math (fractint - a fractal generator) to benchmark them. Amazingly enough, the Cyrix was almost exactly 30% faster on deep zooms into the mandelbrot set.
The companies will push each other along. I really like that as a consumer.
Come on ziggy, be honest. You've admitted on here before your preferred operating system is a foreign piece of freeware called Knoppix. That's not a company, that's a free foreign knockoff of American products, designed to steal business from American companies who are obviously leading and will continue to lead the world in software.
Get real, and cut the BS and the insults. There's plenty of US companies you could choose to use, but you don't choose a single one. A real man is judged by his actions, not his words, and yours speak volumes.
I have tried Knoppix but didn't like it very much...
***PCLinuxOS its from Texas*** (a knockoff of Mandriva[French] is much better IMHO)
you can get any computer without windows preinstalled, if not then sue them..
Look I have no hate for Microsoft, but I set up portables, too. After setting the time zone, the Automatic Updates screen comes up with the recommended option in the Automatic radio button.
This is never a problem with a stand security update or a bug fix that doesn't change how things work. The update happens and all the use may have to do is reboot at some future point.
However, this is a totally different matter with a program that has different functionality and has problems once installed.
If a person buys the system from a store, they can have a store technician set it up with them. Guess what? Circuit City and Best Buy chooses "Automatic" by default.
If people are not expecting a dang program change, they will be surprised to find this forced down on them at next reboot.
It's that simple. Get over yourself.
That's the info I was looking for...thanks.
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