Why Internet Explorer 7 Could Fail
By the end of this year, Microsoft will be pushing Internet Explorer 7 out of its beta-testing nest and into the real world. It is not a voluntary upgrade,
IE 7 will be automatically installed using the Automatic Update feature of Windows XP. Herein is the problem: some people in the tech community will block the download
or not use IE 7, however, most of the 300 million Windows XP users will install IE 7 without a second thought. IE 7 has been beta tested for a while, so it's not completely unprepared, but as soon
as IE 7 is adopted by most of those 300 million users, the malicious multi-headed monster that has been exploiting IE 6 will turn instantly on IE 7.
My prediction is as follows: within a week of the IE 7 rollout, a major security flaw will be exploited and cause widespread problems for millions of users. (Firefox, Opera, and other alternative browsers throw a party.)
I'm not hoping for those problems, but Microsoft is putting so many new features and so much new code in IE 7 it's almost inevitable. When most programs are updated, it's usually small changes released in small, but often, upgrades. In the case of most programs, a few new exploits will be found with each new version, but usually the programming team can handle that small influx quickly and effectively. Microsoft already has trouble keeping IE 6 updated against security threats, I doubt they'll be able to cope with them when IE 7 comes out.
Microsoft has foreseen this; IE 7 has been beta tested by thousands of people and Microsoft has already fixed some security problems.
Unfortunately, the malicious multi-headed monster that I talked about earlier doesn't/didn't pay much attention to those beta releases. Microsoft is probably feeling good about IE 7, but it is a false sense of security. When the majority of people are using IE 7 it's feeding time.
Another thing, that's not talked about much, a good number of websites will have to be redesigned to work properly with IE 7. Over the years web developers have used many coding tricks to make IE 6 behave; these may backfire in IE 7.
It's not all bad though, IE 7 has a good feature set. Tabs are the most notable (and belated) advancement. (Now I wish Microsoft would put tabs in Windows Explorer... ) From my investigations almost all websites show up fine in IE 7, and, thankfully, IE 7 renders HTML and CSS in a way similiar to how Firefox/Opera etc. have been doing for years.
Conclusion
My suggestion is to not install IE 7 when Automatic Update asks you. Watch and wait to see what happens for the first week/month or so, then download IE 7 if it hasn't exploded in Microsoft's face.
Kevin C. July 29th 2006 kcas88@gmail.com
Sources
Microsoft Defends WGA
Security experts voice IE7 push concerns
『Study without desire spoils the memory, and it retains nothing that it takes in.』 - Leonardo DaVinci
