Firefox as default? Think again - Web standards, accessibility and coding techniques by Stephen Tucker

Firefox as default? Think again

12th August 2006

Microsoft - everyone's favourite software company - is making another underhand bid to win back popularity from Firefox. How? They are making it purposely difficult for users to set any browser other than IE7 as default in their upcoming Windows Vista OS. Check this out when you've got a free minute (thanks to Damian for the link).

Now IE7 is a massive advancement over its predecessor whose name I shall not utter here, and I am all for giving credit where it is due - so thank you Microsoft for at last complying with web standards and giving us good CSS support. However over the years I have grown to hate Microsoft, and for them to pull a bloody dirty-ass trick like this is absolutely typical; a totally unprofessional, 'tantruming child' typ'a thing to do.

Grow up Microsoft. If you want the market share back then build better software and stop fucking around...

Comments

1. On Saturday 12th of August 2006 Spencer said:

   Right on! Microsoft suck. Fiirefox will always be a better browser than any of the internet explorers. The new windows looks cool but there is no way im going to change to ie7.

2. On Sunday 13th of August 2006 Elessar said:

   Wow. Thats just low. But perhaps the guys over at Mozilla will program Firefox 2.0 to override Vista's settings without having to go in as the administrator?

3. On Sunday 13th of August 2006 Andy said:

   Just to add a little balance to the issue, it is important to note that Firefox doesn't support Vista yet.
   
   The problem in this case is that because Firefox hasn't been written to run on Vista, it isn't asking for the right permissions, and is just assuming it is running as an administrator.
   
   From version 2 it will recognise that it is running on Vista, ask for permission elevation, and, subject to a prompt to the user, be allowed to change the default.

4. On Sunday 13th of August 2006 Elessar said:

   Ah, so i was right then :) Either way, i wont be running Vista for a long time, if ever.

5. On Sunday 13th of August 2006 Steve Tucker said:

   Im curious to see what it comes out like, and I think I will upgrade. Just little moves like that make me hate Microsoft even more.

6. On Sunday 13th of August 2006 Elessar said:

   I plan on getting an Mac for my next computer purchase...not sure when that will be though.

7. On Monday 14th of August 2006 P.J. Onori said:

   MS is really shooting themselves in the foot by doing things like this. I myself will most likely be using OS X for my next operating system, so this won't be an issue for me.

8. On Monday 14th of August 2006 kitsimons said:

   I'm not surprised - M$ has always used it's OS dominance to leverage it's other products.
   
   Another EU/US investigation will probably ensue with nothing actually being done about it.

9. On Monday 14th of August 2006 Damien said:

   I've just got a dvd for suse linux 10.1, i plan to install and use that... no more of this microsoft bull shit

10. On Monday 14th of August 2006 J Phill said:

    Yeah that's really crappy. Microsoft can be such a let down. They try so hard to be the biggest and best, and forget about what users want/need. Good thing I just got an iMac!! I'm just about done with Windows.

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