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Posted on 01/18/2005 12:48:29 PM PST by stainlessbanner
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).
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Onyx asked how I was doing those pretty tables in my post when I was posting polling data during the election and I said I was using the copy selection source feature in Firefox. LOL
I think that piqued her interest. :)
Microsoft is referring to the client end, your chart is referring to the server end.
Microsoft stopped supporting Windows 9x a long time ago. They don't even have a website for Windows 9x at Microsoft anymore. Windows ME is still supported, but that's going to come to an end soon.
Microsoft doesn't support its six-going-on-seven-year-old operating system any longer. Nobody else supports their OSes that long either, nor is it expected. Except Microsoft that is.
They make a business decision to stop developing for Win 9x users, I make a business decision to go with products that meet my need and switch to Firebird (now Firefox) and install Open Office. Everyone should be happy.
As soon as they get the kinks worked out of their current operating system, I'll probably buy a new computer with that pre-installed. By then they may have even figured out tabbed browsing.
You go ahead and do just that. Choice is good. People like you are in the majority, demanding that your crappy application from 1996 still work on 2004 OSes. They won't get the "kinks" worked out of their OSes until folks like you come to grips with the fact that you have to update your application software occasionally.
Nothing personal, by the way. Backward compatibility means regression testing. Regression testing means that fixes and technology updates end up in the bit bucket.
Yes, I know. My point is with Apache (opensource software) being the market leader it is more compatible with IE than IIS (closed source) is with Firefox...Who's trying harder to be compatible with who?
Yes it is true that no browser is immune from cracker attack. But why does IE have to not only fail to close many doors to attack, but also lay out the welcome mat?
Your position would have more merit if Microsoft put out lean, elegant software instead of the bloated hogs it releases. No reason I should have to buy new hardware because Gates wants to improve his profit margins. My old computers do everything I need. Slapped in a new $12 card and hooked up a DSL line, dropped in a second hard drive for added storage, and I've been set for the last 3 years.
Now Wordstar for CP/M was elegant. It would run on a 64K machine from a floppy.
It's inherent with Windows OS basic architecture. And that's the elephant in the room.
I downloaded today and ran it - it caught a couple that Adaware never found. However, I just ran adaware and it caught 20 that MS missed. Adding to the confusion, Outlook loads MUCH faster after running the MS spyware.
Like CoolWebSearch, New.net and Xupiter, which are very popular IE extension if you count the number of people who have installed them. Too bad the users didn't know they were installing them.
I recently had to use IE on someone else's machine. What a frustrating experience!
bump for later read
LOL!
What's really funny, is when I clicked on the article to lok at it, it says at the top:
Microsoft Responds To IE Security Concerns - Mozilla Firefox
because my response to Microsoft IE Security Concerns was to install Firefox at work and at home, and talk to my boss about how unsafe IE is and that we should switch over the computers in our employ (500+) to Firefox, or ANYTHING else.
Firefox is the one.
I still miss the WordStar keyboard commands, which made the program very efficient to use compared to having to reach for the mouse to do anything.
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Oh good, they've gotten the press release out. That will help solve a lot of these problems with IE.