Microsoft Responds To IE Security Concerns

infoweek ^ | Jan. 18, 2005 | Microsoft

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Full text of a letter from Microsoft, in response to coverage of companies moving from IE to Firefox and other alternative browsers.

InformationWeek

Editor's note: the following is the full text of Microsoft's response to an InformationWeek.com poll and related story regarding Internet Explorer, and whether companies are switching to the Mozilla browser. It came from Waggener Edstrom, Microsoft's public-relations agency.

You mentioned that many or the respondents in the self-selecting survey recommended against IE and that many people have said Microsoft needs to address security issues more fully.

Regarding the recommendation, we're aware that some people have recommended against IE, but we also know that hundreds of millions of users use Windows because of its broad ecosystem of applications that are constantly being tested and implemented, and this ecosystem demonstrates the rich choice out there for customers.

When we talk to our consumer customers about browsers, they tell us they're interested in ease of use, reliability and compatibility -- does their browser work with the sites they visit? Does it provide an easy user experience? With IE supported by the vast majority of Web sites, consumers can be confident that their browsing experience with IE is supported and optimal. Our enterprise customers ask us to make sure that the browser provides a solid platform for application development and solutions, and therefore, IE is the choice of many thousands of enterprise customers. Of critical importance to these customers is the fact that Microsoft exhaustively tests all new updates to IE (security and otherwise) to ensure that applications and Web sites continue to behave as expected. All of this, combined with Microsoft's enterprise and consumer customer support, continue to make Internet Explorer a compelling choice for consumers and enterprise customers. You also asked about security and IE and said that some respondents don't believe IE has been updated for some time. With the recent security improvements introduced by Windows XP Service Pack 2, IE is a much improved browsing option for customers who want to experience the richness of the Internet. SP2 includes a major upgrade to Internet Explorer focused solely on security enhancements. It is architected to help protect against malicious attacks and reduce unwanted content and downloads, including spyware. We encourage all customers to upgrade to Windows XP SP2 to get the most secure version of IE.

As long as malicious hackers exist, there is always an opportunity for online threats and no browser is immune to this. We will continue to work to improve security for our customers by working on technical innovation, improving updates, and working with law-enforcement agencies worldwide to identify the perpetrators and bring them to justice. The specific vulnerabilities that have been exploited in Internet Explorer in the past may not exist in other browsers, but other browsers have their own vulnerabilities as well. The key question is around the ability to react to such threats--working with authorities and providing updates that, in addition to securing customers, ensure strong compatibility with existing applications.

In addition to the improvements that SP2 brought to IE, a vibrant ecosystem involving hundreds of partners and independent software vendors continues to develop on the IE platform. The applications they are building deliver some of the most popular browser features and add-ons for customers to download and enjoy today.

These range from complete browsers with tabbed browsing built on the Internet Explorer platform, to toolbars, RSS and blogging tools, search functions, parental controls and many others. With over 900 extensions available currently, customers can customize IE to meet their specific needs and interests. We feel that this ecosystem demonstrates that Internet Explorer is an extensible and reliable platform for experimentation. Visit this Web page to learn more about the hundreds of add-ons that this community has created. In addition to these extensions, customers have built thousands of line-of-business applications on IE. Because of IE's extensibility, developers can build applications which provide rich functionality combined with the ease of use of the browser. Finally, you asked about Microsoft's plans for the next version of IE. The IE team is in the process of developing the browser for Longhorn, the next version of Windows. It's too early to provide a list of specific features, but major investments are being made in the areas of end user features, security and privacy, and developer support (for both add-on and Web-site developers).

[7.62 x 51mm]

No thanks. I'll stay with Netscape v7.2 and Firefox v1.0, for now.

[stainlessbanner]

ecosystem of applications

can't make this stuff up

[PetroniusMaximus]

I know one thing...

... Firefox rocks!



I tried Firefox on a lark and now I haven't use IE in weeks.

[apackof2]

Yankee compliment, great home page
Do you use Foxfire?
I am thinking of switching

[fooman]

LAme response by the softies. I am thinking of buying a lindows machine from wally world.

But for my non win machines its firefox with IE as a backup for sites that I:

1) must use it for

2) trust

[stainlessbanner]

Many thanks for the gracious compliment.
Firefox is great. I use it daily. Tabbed browsing is great!

http://www.mozilla.org/

[buckrat]

I use Firefox. It is great. No problems at all since I switched from IE.

[PetroniusMaximus]

***can't make this stuff up***

They think "ecosystem" because they believe they are at the top of the foodchain.

[DeFault User]

...use Windows because of its broad ecosystem of applications...

Does that mean that Windows is part of the Permacrud?

[frog_jerk_2004]

Firefox with Adblock, FireFTP, SecurePasswordGenerator, UserAgentSwitcher, SwitchProxy extensions, just to name a few, are simply awesome!

[Question_Assumptions]

Wow, what a wonderful example of verbal slight of hand. "Look at all the nifty stuff we're doing with our right hand and ignore all the security problems in our left hand."

[frog_jerk_2004]

With IE supported by the vast majority of Web sites

But a majority of domains are hosted by Apache not IIS.

http://news.netcraft.com/archives/web_server_survey.html

[frog_jerk_2004]

The open source Firefox web browser has made headlines as it chips away at the dominant market position of Microsoft's Internet Explorer. But Firefox is also grabbing market share as an RSS reader, according to new data from RSS service provider Feedburner, which says the browser is now the third-most popular RSS client in its usage stats.

Feedburner's data, based on an analysis of its 800 most popular feeds, show that web-based feedreader Bloglines is the clear market leader with 32.8 percent of the volume, followed by the NetNewsWire client for Mac OS X with 16.9 percent. Firefox is next with 7.8 percent, placing it ahead of established RSS clients including Pluck (7.2%), NewsGator (4.5%), FeedDemon (3.8%) and the web-based My Yahoo (2.6%).

The Firefox browser autodetects the availablility of an RSS feed for a site, and can integrate feeds using Live Bookmarks feature or extensions such as Sage.

Feedburner provides custom RSS feeds that allow web site publishers to collect statistics on RSS readership and enhance their feeds with photos, affiliate links and eventually ads. While it publishes feeds for thousands of web sites, Feedburner's data represents a small slice of a complex market that has become even more crowded in recent months. Its stats from the first week of January found 719 different RSS clients, compared to 409 in September. That increase is likely tied to growing integration of RSS in applications and web sites, rather than desktop readers.

Firefox has been downloaded more than 14 million times since Version 1.0 was launched Nov. 9 with improved handling of RSS. While most comparisons in the renewed browser wars have focused on security or usability, the Feedburner data suggests that Firefox' RSS features are being used by a significant percentage of its users.

Internet Explorer does not yet have a native newsreader function. In an interview with Gizmodo, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates said he uses RSS and hinted at Microsoft initiatives to address the growth of blogging and RSS. "I have the add-on to Outlook that lets me see (RSS feeds)," Gates said. "I think blogging is super-important and we've got to do a lot more software."

Ughhh...

[PAR35]

exhaustively tests all new updates to IE (security and otherwise) to ensure that applications and Web sites continue to behave as expected.

I understand now. If they improved security, then web sites which exploit security holes would not function properly. So the test to maintain existing security holes from one version to the next. That is mighty thoughtful of them.

some respondents don't believe IE has been updated for some time. With the recent security improvements introduced by Windows XP Service Pack 2, IE is a much improved browsing option for customers who want to experience the richness of the Internet. SP2 includes a major upgrade to Internet Explorer focused solely on security enhancements.

But if you run Win 95/98/ME, etc., Microsoft doesn't think you deserve this kind of security update. So you must switch to Firefox for safer surfing.

[cyborg]

I use firefox on my laptop at home. Now I have safari browser on an apple computer. When I got firefox, I was OVERWHELMED WITH JOY not to get bombared by popups when I visit Matt Drudge's website. I know people have to advertise but him and Newsmax are ridiculous.

[Walkin Man]

Firefox is soooo much better than IE. Unless you enjoy having to do spyware sweeps everyday of course.

[Charlotte Corday]

some of the most popular browser features and add-ons for customers to download

Possibly a couple of which the users actually know they're downloading at the time.......

[Quix]

Think of it as a cowpie full of microbes, worms, beetles etc.

[MarineBrat]