Posted by kdownie @ 12:02pm GMT
Finally, maybe developers can stop complaining about Internet Explorer's lack of support for accepted standards. Rumors are flying that the next version of IE will address these long-held concerns. Mozilla's Firefox may be the hot browser right now, simply because Microsoft has been biding its time. But just as Internet Explorer stole the show from Netscape five years ago, the same will likely occur with the release of Internet Explorer 7. IE 6 is sorely in need of repair, and the quick gains in market share by Firefox and other alternative browsers were probably just the kick in the pants that Microsoft needed to get its act together. So IE lost a few percentage points of market share -- down to just under 90%, according to the latest figures. Big deal. MS has had the benefit of learning from Firefox and incorporating its features. Sometimes being second to market is best, especially when you have an enormous advantage over the competition in the first place. That said, it is always going to be safer to use a browser that isn't being used by 90 percent of the Internet population. One undeniable reason that Firefox is safer than IE is that so few people use it -- there isn't as much of an incentive to find and exploit security holes. And that's probably the only issue Microsoft won't be able to resolve in the Browser Wars, part II.
