IE7 beta 2 released
p2p news / p2pnet: Mozilla has just released an upgrade to Firefox. And Bill and the Boyz have also turned loose the second beta for IE7.
But, "Bug reports and security warnings have started pouring in," says VNUNet, listing:
- A vulnerability that causes IE7 to crash or execute arbitrary code when a user visits a specially crafted site (the Internet Explorer Blog says the problem is caused by stricter URL-scheme handling in the browser and that the company is working on a fix)
- Reported issues with McAfee’s antivirus software in which users were unable to launch the McAfee Security Center
- Problems working together with several anti-spyware applications
Of the crash, it was down to a DoS (Denial of Service) and it happened, "just moments" after Tom Ferris’s new IE7 beta install, says PC Magazine.
Ferris said he could, "hardly believe his eyes when the new browser crashed less than 15 minutes after he started using a homemade fuzz testing tool to poke around for potential security issues," says the story.
However, Internet Explorer gained market share in the last two months, says a Dutch Web metrics company, quoted by TechWeb News, going on:
"While other measurement vendors said earlier this month that Internet Explorer (IE) continued its downward trend, Amsterdam-based OneStat’s data had IE climbing by .37 percent since November 2005. According to OneStat, Microsoft’s browser now accounts for 85.8 percent of all browsers used worldwide.
"In the U.S., IE’s rise was half as much – 18 percent – with 80.9 percent of Americans using the browser.
"Mozilla Corp.’s Firefox, meanwhile, slipped .28 percent during the same period, ending up with 11.2 percent of the global market."
Also See:
Firefox – Mozilla releases Firefox 1.5.0.1, February 3, 2006
VNUNet – Microsoft flooded with IE7 bug reports, February 2, 2006
PC Magazine – DoS Flaw Flagged in IE7 Beta 2, January 8, 2006
TechWeb News – Firefox Slides In U.S., IE Gains Ground, Januaryy 31, 2006
February 4th, 2006 at 7:15 am
Ok. So, where is the big surprise that a product ms admits is still in beta has some problems?
Now if ms was claiming ie7 was “done” and was telling everyone to “upgrade” to it, and these problems were occurring, i still wouldn’t be surprised. But it’d be slightly newsworthy at least.
February 4th, 2006 at 6:01 pm
Exactly. A beta version is not a finished product.
As for problems with working with security software, that shouldn’t come as a surprise, either. Is Microsoft, or any other software manufacturer, now responsible for making their software work with other software packages?? Perhaps Microsoft should reverse engineer McAffee and fix it if it turns out that the problem is not IE? When MS released XP service pack 2 all kinds of problems emerged from internet security software as a result of enhanced security and the upgraded firewall. Almost all of those now work properly with SP2.
I ran the IE7 beta 2 for about 12 hours. While installing I had to make sure that Norton Antivirus was completely turned off. My first reaction was: It’s feels like Firefox. Then I found that some of the toolbars couldn’t be moved, turned off. That’s a real turnoff for me. I can’t stand the address bar at the very top, and would just assume turn it off (I use short cut keys pretty exclusively). The final straw, though, is that IE7 beta 2 doesn’t work well yet with Visual Studio 2005.
February 5th, 2006 at 2:18 pm
I think the point is, a browser shouldn’t affect other software on the system, it should be independent. However, M$ being M$, they attach critical system components to their web browser, which results in all sorts of security/software problems.
You seem to be having a problem differentiating between a software application and a patch for the OS. SP2 was an OS patch, IE7 is an application like firefox. Therefore it shouldn’t adversly affect other system components/software. Of course, M$ likes to blur the distinction between the two so it can try and dominate the browser market.
It’s now playing catchup to firefox. So of course it will feel like it, M$’s policy is to copy, copy, then copy some more from other companies.
You should try linux and open source software, it doesn’t suffer from the M$ curse.