Browser Wars: Round 1: Internet Explorer 6

Browser Wars: Round 1: Internet Explorer 6

Aalaap Ghag, Sep 30, 2005 1010 hrs IST

To novice PC users, getting on the Internet means connecting and starting Internet Explorer.

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Internet Explorer is the most popular browser of all time. But it isn't popular because it's the best at what it does. It's popular because every computer running Windows has IE in it already. To novice PC users, getting on the Internet means connecting and starting Internet Explorer. It's like being a kid - you grow up with one television set and all you have to know to watch TV is to pick up the remote and press the red button. As a kid, you don't know anything about choices and you don't go to the electronics shop to get a new TV that can show multiple channels at the same time. Your TV is just there for you to use when you need it.



The Story So Far

Internet Explorer was born in 1995, when NCSA's Mosaic browser technology was licensed to Microsoft. Initially it didn't ship with Windows, but was available as an add-on in the Plus! Pack. It was the most vanilla browser you can imagine - and we guarantee that you probably can't imagine a world where there was no support for ActiveX, JavaScript or Flash. Though some may call them "the good old days..."



Over the years, each version added a few new features, but the browser of choice for many real browsers was always Netscape Navigator. It was more standards compliant and supported a lot more features via plugins. Most web pages displayed "Best viewed with Netscape Navigator" buttons and it was uncool to say you're using IE.

Then Microsoft integrated Internet Explorer more closely into Windows, and suddenly the browser percentage shot up. IE was fast catching up. Because it was the default browser now on most systems, developers started introducing product support for IE first, people started making web pages that looked right in IE and Netscape got left behind. Eventually, IE was pretty much the only browser out there.

But with great popularity comes great responsibility. Being the most popular browser made it the target of all hackers and led to an entire wave of cyber attacks through each and every tiny security hole that anyone could find in it. Via exploits in ActiveX and JavaScript implementations, attackers were able to hijack the user's browsers and install trojans and spyware, and other advertising related malware.

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Discussion Board
Yogesh bagga
,New Delhi, on Oct 02, 2005 08:42 PM
Let me ssure ya if U use a genuine Win OS and download all the security patches online U'll have no problem whatsoever with IE.
Manish Singh
,Bangalore, on Oct 03, 2005 09:39 AM
Yeah, right but do you really think that home users have the time and patience to download huge patches from Windows Update every once in a while and that when most of the Indian users are on a dial up connection
Ashok Singh
,Bangalore, on Oct 03, 2005 01:49 PM
no worm or spyware can harm a home user who dosent go internet way. less u r on net, less chances of ur system being buggy.
Liam J H
,Newcastle, on Oct 03, 2005 04:56 PM
I grew up with IE, and have allways been plagued by pop-up's and malware. Hackers will try and hijack any new software, just to say they can. Whateved browser you use, you still need a good firewall in place. Microsoft Antispyware is remarkably good (as loathed as I am to say this) at what it does, and since installing it I have had no problems.
Ashish
,Lucknow, on Oct 07, 2005 08:12 AM
Excuse me! I have my DELL notebook with LICENSED VERSION OF WINDOWS 2K. But using IE means your system is open for all. Use IE on Windows XP without firewall for just one minute(online ofcourse) and you will get RPC errors. And pathces means further dependencies and troubles. Even Cyber cafe' promoting Firefox over IE6.
Karin Kr
,Maastricht, on Feb 05, 2009 01:40 AM
to: Manish Singh, Are you the Manish Singh who is selling log-ins to IDES SAP ECC 6.0 training system? I am trying to contact you for several motnhs now as the login details you provided do not work. So, please recredit the USD 150 I paid to you or provide the correct login details. Can anybody help here? Where to find this Manish Singh?
fahad
,karachi, on May 27, 2008 07:10 PM
hello
fahad
,karachi, on May 27, 2008 07:08 PM
helle
ankit johri
,bareilly, on Oct 19, 2005 04:53 PM
bogus
Muthu.V
,Kuwait, on Oct 01, 2005 11:18 AM
Incompatibilities with Firefox is the main cause of using IE in one or two sites (for me alteast ;) (using Ff 1.5 b1)). IE7 in Vista has undergone some cosmetic changes and added on features (RSS, Tab Browsing etc.) which already exist in Firefox or Opera. Until a novice computer users understands security and care to replace their default browser, IE is going to prevail in the top spot.
Richa
,Pune, on Oct 17, 2005 06:58 AM
Try using Netscape 8, u will love it. It renders itself to Work either as Firefox or IE. If u have problems in websites designed specifically for IE (As all MS Jokers do), switch the Netscape 8 display as IE and enjoy. And for IE, trash it.
Anonymous
,Kolkatta, on Oct 01, 2005 02:37 PM
Whatever you say, IE will still be no. 1 even in years to come. It is true that people are exploiting lots of holes in IE and trying to hack into IE loaded PC's, etc... but hey, IF Opera was a No.1 browser today, it would face the same fate of those hackers who are always out for a challenge... It's only a fact that they have not gone after Opera, Netscape or Firefox... Today, IE may have some shortcomings which Firefox, Netscape & Opera may not have... but does anybody how many security flaws those softwares will be having (which IE does not have)? Ofcourse nobody will know this... and why? because 80% of the world is using IE, so why bother.... ^_~
Shreya
,Bangalore, on Oct 03, 2005 08:36 PM
Exactly, so therefore 80% of the people using the net are plain idiots.
Anonymous
,Kolkatta, on Oct 06, 2005 09:34 AM
Shreya, your coment that the 80% people using IE are idiots is really amazing.... Just imagine, India with it's huge population accounts to worlds largest no. of idiots along with China.... Wake up... stupid... Didn't you see the news??? Firefox is equally vulnerable to attacks and is shutting down its site for 10 days to be reopened on Oct. 15.... Microsoft has till date not yet shutdown it's site for even ONE day........ and you call 80% of world's population stupid....
Richa
,Pune, on Oct 17, 2005 06:50 AM
I think you are being Childish and Stupid, Anonymous or whatever. Dont pick on Shriya for her comments. Your comment that "if 80% of users are using it, why bother" is silly. before Windows came into picture 100% of users were using dos or unix flavours.Soon they shifted to Windows. That is the picture Shriya wanted to put into ur big head. So, in coming days almost all(except some die hard MS romeos sticking to MS as if Bill Gates is sponsering them) NON IDIOTS using IE now, will be shifting to Firefox. Period. For your info, MS was attacked by hackers umpteen times as well and need to remind u that u talked about Browsers and not the Websites run by the Browser companies (Stupid, eh?), read the following news at BBC hAAp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/1137486.stm (replace AA by tt, phew) ---------- Microsoft hit by hacker attack: Friday, 26 January, 2001 Internet surfers were unable to access sites run by software giant Microsoft for the third successive day on Thursday. The company said it had been the subject of a "denial-of-service" attack, in which hackers flood systems with so much data that other efforts to access a site are slowed or fail altogether. Microsoft restored service on Thursday and notified the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the attack, company sources said. Microsoft shares fell during the shutdown, closing at $61.81 after reaching a high of $64 in the morning. Earlier shutdown The attack was unrelated to the human error that had shut down Microsoft sites on Tuesday and Wednesday. A technician was responsible for that failure of the company's websites. In a company press release, Microsoft said that a technician's error "limited communication" between internet servers and the company's own servers. Between Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday surfers across the world were unable to access addresses including the firm's corporate site, and the e-mail system hotmail.com, which has more than 74 million users worldwide. Technical blunder Late on Tuesday, the Microsoft technician made a configuration change to routers on the edge of the company's Domain Name Server (DNS) network. The DNS servers connect domain names with the various servers and networks that form Microsoft's presence on the internet. The mistaken configuration restricted communication between the different servers and prevented a large number of surfers from reaching many Microsoft websites. Access denied Users could not gain access to sites including the Expedia travel service and Encarta encyclopaedia. The sites affected were operational again by about 0130 GMT on Thursday. Microsoft had in October suffered the embarrassment of a hacker stealing part of the code for products in development from its corporate computer network. Other sites that have also crashed this month include the auction site eBay and Amazon.com, the biggest online retailer. Along with Yahoo and CNN, the two sites were also crippled for hours at a time by similar attacks last February.
Richa
,Pune, on Oct 17, 2005 06:52 AM
I think you are being Childish and Stupid, Anonymous or whatever. Dont pick on Shriya for her comments. Your comment that "if 80% of users are using it, why bother" is silly. before Windows came into picture 100% of users were using dos or unix flavours.Soon they shifted to Windows. That is the picture Shriya wanted to put into ur big head. So, in coming days almost all(except some die hard MS romeos sticking to MS as if Bill Gates is sponsering them) NON IDIOTS using IE now, will be shifting to Firefox. Period. For your info, MS was attacked by hackers umpteen times as well and need to remind u that u talked about Browsers and not the Websites run by the Browser companies (Stupid, eh?), read the following news at BBC hAAp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/1137486.stm (replace AA by tt, phew) ---------- Microsoft hit by hacker attack: Friday, 26 January, 2001 Internet surfers were unable to access sites run by software giant Microsoft for the third successive day on Thursday.
MACfan
,X, on Oct 07, 2005 06:19 PM
WTF? SAFARI????? HELLOOOOOOO LOL
.....
,....., on Oct 07, 2005 03:40 PM
I ust LOVE the last para on the last page..... its the most true!...;)
Prem Deep Menon
,Manama, Bahrain, on Oct 01, 2005 10:04 AM
I have a suggestion, correct me if Im wrong, you've mentioned "the good old days..." , where you've put the screen shot of msn.com site. OK here'e the thing, did msn exist during those the good old days...when Netscape was at its peak? It would have been still hotmail, wasnt it? MSN site came out when IE had gained popularity.
Ashish
,Lucknow, on Oct 07, 2005 08:17 AM
Very good point. "Actually they are trying to simulate the "Good Old Days" by using "Good Old Browser" in this era.
Karthik Kumar
,New Delhi, on Oct 01, 2005 10:44 AM
How did the reviewer say that the Panasonic site does not work in Firefox??I browsed it with Firefox 1.5 beta 1 after reading this article.It worked fine.All the menus worked identically as they did in IE.
Aalaap
,Techtree Test Labs, on Oct 01, 2005 04:36 PM
The site I'm talking about is www.nationalpanasonicindia.com - It has a main menu on the left side. Mousing over each item launches a menu, which has submenus of its own. The problem is moving from one menu item to a submenu item - the submenus appear detached from the main menu. Hence, when you ry to highlight the submenu item, the main menu triggers a "mouse out" event and collapses the menu before you can select the submenu. Try selecting Products -> Consumer Products -> Washing Machine.
Ajit
,Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Oct 05, 2005 12:27 PM
umm....www.overdriveindia.org (Overdrive car & bike magazine website) doesnt work properly with Mozilla either...the sub menu doesnt show up! I use IE to browse that site..for the rest its Mozilla all the way!
Ajit
,Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Oct 05, 2005 12:31 PM
okay the sit has been changed to: www.overdriveindia.co.in
manolin
,bangalore, on Oct 04, 2005 10:07 AM
some one was saying aomething panasonic site not working in firefox..well i have had great problems forking with manupatra.com with ie...big problems. and its a paid site..so thats saying something. on the other hand firefox/opera were cool with it..
Vikramhere
,Chennai, on Oct 03, 2005 11:21 PM
I think the mail disadv of IE is that its a lot slower than Firefox. with even a Dialup connection you can notice that Firefox is much faster than IE. and Security in Firefox is amazing!!! I also read somewhere that firefox gets lots of input from hackers to make the system more secure,but i cnt authenticate that!!!
andrews
,pune, on Oct 02, 2005 12:37 PM
Internet Explorer has all the problems in the world. Surfing the net is a horrific experience with IE. Browser gets hijacked all the time to link to God forbidden hopeless sites,too many pop ups, and too many viruses to handle. Firefox on the other hand is much safer and faster, it blocks 99.99% of those hopeless popups, and many more features like an inbuilt search, much better user interface.
Goutam
,Kolkata, on Oct 02, 2005 10:34 AM
"IE has been built into the operating system since Windows 98" ? ........... for your information I have a win95 cd with Internet explorer ! Howazzat ?
Aalaap
,Techtree Test Labs, on Oct 02, 2005 11:06 AM
Win98 came with IE4 truly "integrated" into the OS. Till version 3, IE was just an add-on application.
John McDougall
,Brisbane, on Oct 02, 2005 10:36 AM
Who cares?
Firefoxfan
,Firefoxland, on Oct 02, 2005 09:52 AM
I think IE S.U.C.K.S Opera works the best(without the ads) Firefox is also good.
milind
,Mumbai, on Oct 01, 2005 06:21 PM
so far i have experienced badly with IE, instead FFox works very well...
Gagandeep
,Noida, on Oct 01, 2005 12:03 PM
Try the new Opera 8.5 without the ads. For me its fastet browser out there with all the features( I have tried all IE 6,FireFox , Mozilla)
Jith
,Chennai, on Oct 01, 2005 12:50 PM
Its Mozilla Firefox and the two are not different....lol
Oblh
,London, on Oct 01, 2005 05:47 PM
Shut up Jith. He says Firefox (form Mozilla.org, of course), and Mozilla (Mozilla Suite, the predecesor of Firefox).
Oblh
,London, on Oct 01, 2005 05:47 PM
Shut up Jith. He says Firefox (form Mozilla.org, of course), and Mozilla (Mozilla Suite, the predecesor of Firefox).
Mani
,Chennai, on Oct 01, 2005 03:32 AM
...Unless you only browse trusted sites like CNN, BBC and Techtree... :))) its we who have to rate you, not yourself :)

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