Internet Security Systems - AlertCon(TM)

Browser Wars - Part 42?

Posted by Gunter Ollmann on October 19, 2006 at 2:14 PM EDT.

It looks like the latest round in the browser wars have kicked off in earnest again.  With the availability of Microsoft IE 7, the battle for the privilege of catering to your desktop surfing requirements has stepped up a notch or two.

IE7 looks pretty interesting, but I’m going to hold off for a little while before installing it on the machines I use on a daily basis.  Some of the web-based applications I have to use for work are temperamental at the best of times and I’d rather sit back and observe any possible problems happening to someone else’s system first.

The first salvo appears to have come from the Firefox-lovers-association (not a real group, but you get what I mean) with the opening of www.ie7.com – a site that directs viewers to the Firefox browser instead (carefully stating “Neither this site nor Mozilla is connected with Microsoft.”).

The latest return salvo is www.fryfox.com – a site that proudly pronounces “we heard you” in a similar style to the www.ie7.com site (complete with a “Neither this site nor Microsoft is connected with Mozilla”).

This is almost as much fun to watch as those new Apple OSX advertisements.

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