Vunerabilities in browsers for 2006 - apparently IE6 was bad

[dangel]

Shocking - well maybe not.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,13...y/article.html

And is it security through obscurity for Apple/Opera users? Probably - we'll never really know. I use Opera but only because I like it (and like being marginalised obviously) rather than a feeling of security (although it's almost certainly better than IE).

[stytagm]

To add insult to injury to IE, Mozilla developers patched Firefox five times faster than did Microsoft's. On average, Firefox had an attack exposure window -- the amount of time between the disclosure of a bug and when it was patched -- of just two days based on a sample set of 26 flaws. By comparison, Microsoft took an average of 10 days to patch the sample 15 vulnerabilities.

I think Microsoft's "Patches on Tuesday" mentality lets them down, Mozilla can release the patch the moment it's ready, which has to be a good thing.

[BEANFro Elite]

And I wonder if Firefox fanboys and the like are still happy to use an internet browser that was once touted as being a secure surfing experience, when according to this article is not that much safer than Micrsoft's browser.

However theyre just flaws theres no mentioning of how many were actually critical for example.

Either way, I use Internet Explorer 7 now, having gotten fed-up of Opera's lack of functionality as much I like the browser, its just not good enough, Ill probably come back to Opera later on in the year.

Seeing as Opera is so "secure" compared to both Firefox and Internet Explorer, I guess everyone will be leaving them and going to the Opera browser instead in their droves

[dave87]

Whilst Firefox being touted as secure was one of the reasons I started using it, the other was functionality, and the fact it was more configurable that IE. So saying that just because Opera is 'secure' people will adopt it in droves is certainly not true.

[dangel]

I think Microsoft's "Patches on Tuesday" mentality lets them down, Mozilla can release the patch the moment it's ready, which has to be a good thing.

I wonder if it's a result of having to cater for different markets - IE is part of the OS and IT support wouldn't be so happy with testing/rolling out patches every day each month versus once. Just thinking out loud!

Either way, I use Internet Explorer 7 now, having gotten fed-up of Opera's lack of functionality as much I like the browser, its just not good enough, Ill probably come back to Opera later on in the year.

Out of interest what was lacking for you? (just as a current Opera user).

Seeing as Opera is so "secure" compared to both Firefox and Internet Explorer, I guess everyone will be leaving them and going to the Opera browser instead in their droves

Well, as I said, it's probably through obscurity (look at it's market share) as much as design. It's a very nicely written browser to my mind - lighter and tighter than firefox. Not that I have anything against firefox, it's just my personal opinion/experience

Whilst Firefox being touted as secure was one of the reasons I started using it, the other was functionality, and the fact it was more configurable that IE. So saying that just because Opera is 'secure' people will adopt it in droves is certainly not true.

For me firefox is more configurable via it's plugins (and not in other ways but..) so it wins on that front. I actually use Opera@USB 9.10 which is portable and has some extras bundled in. I think firefox took off because of marketing as much as anything else - the media picked up on it and the rest is history. Browsers are about personal preference though - and one man's perfection may be another's annoyance. It's good we have choice and we have firefox to thank for making Opera free (of ad's) too and Opera to thank for a lot of the innovations in browsers in recent years (which have been adopted). It's all good, we're all happy, no?

[BEANFro Elite]

I was being sarcastic, I'm not expecting Opera to suddenly get a market anywhere near Microsoft's or even Mozilla's but merely playing on the what the story itself is implying.

Most people still only use Internet Explorer because its there from the start, it works with EVERY website I can think of.

I myself got tired with a growing number of websites misidentifying it as Netscape 4 even though I had set it to identify itself as Internet Explorer meaning somewebsites wouldn't work.

There was also the issue of it not loading webpages at all, meaning I had to press the refresh button sometimes up to eight times.

Needless to say, I DO miss its customisability a lot since I went back to Internet Explorer, I'd been using Opera since 6.xx along side Internet Explorer and stopped using it at version 9.10.

Hate Microsoft if you will, but you can't take away the fact that Internet Explorer just...works

[BUFF]

I myself got tired with a growing number of websites misidentifying it as Netscape 4 even though I had set it to identify itself as Internet Explorer meaning somewebsites wouldn't work.

There was also the issue of it not loading webpages at all, meaning I had to press the refresh button sometimes up to eight times.)

You can't blame Opera if the websites are broken rather than the browser ...

& I've never had the refresh problems that you had so apparently I don't visit the same sites or it's a system thing.

[directhex]

Hate Microsoft if you will, but you can't take away the fact that Internet Explorer just...works

every web developer who has to damage their sites to get them working in IE hates you

IE has helped to hold back the internet

if the 3d accelerator market were like the browser market, people would still consider voodoo2 to be current

[KBeee]

"Remove IE from your Operating System install - it's unfair competition"
"We can't" (prevaricates for 6 months) "It's part of the Operating System" (phew! it is now in Win95 OSR2 and Win 98....)
"So now IE's vulnerabilities are built into the operating system?"
"YES! Get Outta That!!!!"
(MicroSoft grins all the way to Hell)
Hehehehe

[Dorza]

Hate Microsoft if you will, but you can't take away the fact that Internet Explorer just...works

Struggle* to to get it to render CSS properly while all the other major browsers more or less do and your option of it "just working" will change . Even konqueror has better CSS support than IE7 and the interface is hideously awkward in it's design. Off the top of my head IE is the only major browser that doesn't pass or have plans to pass the ACID 2 test. Admittedly Firefox 2 doesn't pass it but version 3 will. The fact is the minnows are prepared to work hard and get their products to meet standards while MS the biggest software company in the world with all the resources and money they have continue to ignore them and be slow to adopt them. If MS didn't have such a huge market share their disposition in this matter might be a little different.


*As an example I spent 2 hours getting my uni project website to render properly in IE6 yesterday. Version 7 render's as it should but does weird things like remove css box model background images when you scroll down the page - there is no logical reason for it to do this. I laugh quite a bit when I see things like this happening on a software product developed by the worlds leading software manufacturer.

every web developer who has to damage their sites to get them working in IE hates you

IE has helped to hold back the internet

if the 3d accelerator market were like the browser market, people would still consider voodoo2 to be current

I agree with it all.

[Butcher]

I use firefox becuase it has nice plugins not for security reasons.

[THCi]

I use opera, But mainly because when I use any other browser (including Opera before I've set it up as I like it) I just get frustrated with it.

Obviously increased security through obscurity is nice.