The big news making rounds on the Internet today is that the German government has warned web users to find an alternative browser to Internet Explorer to protect security. This warning comes after Microsoft admitted that it was IE’s vulnerability that enabled the recent attacks on Google’s systems.
The statement issued by the German Federal Office for Security in Information Technology further says users may may resume using Explorer after a fix is issued by Microsoft. But that may take sometime from what I can see. So why should you deliberately expose your PC to security threats when we have other browsers around? The process of installing Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari or Opera will take you just a few minutes.
Although Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (IE) is still the world’s most popular browser, it is important to understand that the dominance that it is used to enjoy some years ago is diminishing little by little. According to Mashable, IE had over 90 percent of the browser market in 2004. By May 2009, IE’s share is closer to 66 percent, while Firefox has broken 20% of the market share.
These security vulnerabilities are not helping IE at all. It will be interesting to see the effect of the announcement by the German government on the browser market share.
Update 1: France and Australia have echoed calls by Germany for web users to find an alternative to Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (IE) to protect security. In light of these developments, Norway-based Opera is reporting that downloads of its rival web browser have doubled in Germany over the weekend.
Meanwhile, it looks like Microsoft, who generally release security updates on the second Tuesday of every month, will will be forced to release an out-of-cycle IE security patch. They have just announced that they will issue an emergency patch.
Update 2: : Mozilla has also reported a huge increase in the number of Firefox downloads from IE users in Germany in the past few days.
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9 users commented in " Find an alternative browser to Internet Explorer, says Germany "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackJust use FireFox..
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Sounds like good advice. Actually, to be honest, I didn’t even realize there were browser alternatives that can be used other than internet explorer. Am I behind the times or does Microsoft just have too much control over me?
.-= Sam´s last blog ..OIL ETF =-.
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I prefer Internet Explorer. From what I have heard the security gap between IE and Firefox has narrowed a lot recently. This seems inevitable. As Firefox gains more market share hackers will pay more attention to it.
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Clement Nyirenda says:
February 2nd, 2010 at 12:54 pm
If you go for IE, you better upgrade to IE8. In my case, IE is history. I like Firefox and recently Google Chrome also seems to be great browser.
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I use google chrome and firefox. They are good enough to fulfill your all your browsing needs.
.-= Visakh´s last blog ..Scheduling SMS for Airtel users =-.
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It’s about time countries started seeing that IE is more than a threat to just the consumer Go Germany! Hopefully someday everyone will use browsers that are standards compliant like those based on WebKit.
.-= Stefan´s last blog ..On web standards =-.
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After using Google chrome, I never turned “back” although Firefox is also a good option. Internet Explorer is really prone to hacks being the dominant browser the majority is using. If you prefer IE, get the latest version.
.-= Veronica´s last blog ..Fix Bad Pool Header =-.
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Keep em coming. IE has been holding the rest of the internet back for decades.
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I guess the best browser today would be google chrome for the reason that is is more reliable and has features that you can’t find in IE or Firefox. It has a user friendly interface.
Veronica´s last [type] ..No Articles Found
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