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Microsoft plans to push out Internet Explorer 7 as a 'high priority update' when it ships security patches tomorrow, according to Washingtonpost.com's Security Fix blog. That means anyone who has Windows configured to download and install patches automagically from Redmond will be greeted with IE7 next time they boot up their machines. In related news, it appears IE's worldwide market share actually increased a couple of points since July, despite a number of high profile zero-day attacks this year.
The article notes that the IE7 "containment wall" protected mode will not be available on XP, but only to those who purchase Vista. A Microsoft spokesperson declined to say whether IE7 would be released tomorrow, saying only that it would be released sometime this month...
IE 7 includes tabbed browsing, built in RSS feeds, as well as tools to help users spot phishing Web sites that mimic banks and trusted e-commerce companies to steal personal and financial data. The new IE also shores up some weaknesses in ActiveX, a feature designed to help Web sites load interactive content (ActiveX has been abused with such abandon by spyware purveyors to install their junk programs that some security researchers have taken to calling it "HacktiveX").
However, one of IE 7's most useful security features, a protected mode -- billed as a "containment wall" to prevent the browser from installing software or changing computer settings without the user's consent -- will not be available for XP users. That feature will be reserved for users who upgrade to Windows Vista, the next version of the operating system, due in January.
It will be interesting to see whether this upgrade for Windows will further increase Microsoft's market share in the ongoing browser wars. According to numbers released today by Amsterdam-based Web analytics firm OneStat.com, the total global usage share of IE increased 2.8 percent since July 2006, bringing Microsoft's share of the browser market worldwide to nearly 86 percent. The company says Mozilla Firefox's browsers have a total global usage share of 11.49 percent, a decrease of 1.44 percent since July 2006. In the United States, the IE/Firefox ratio is roughly 80 percent to 15 percent, according to OneStat.
The article notes that the IE7 "containment wall" protected mode will not be available on XP, but only to those who purchase Vista. A Microsoft spokesperson declined to say whether IE7 would be released tomorrow, saying only that it would be released sometime this month...
IE 7 includes tabbed browsing, built in RSS feeds, as well as tools to help users spot phishing Web sites that mimic banks and trusted e-commerce companies to steal personal and financial data. The new IE also shores up some weaknesses in ActiveX, a feature designed to help Web sites load interactive content (ActiveX has been abused with such abandon by spyware purveyors to install their junk programs that some security researchers have taken to calling it "HacktiveX").
However, one of IE 7's most useful security features, a protected mode -- billed as a "containment wall" to prevent the browser from installing software or changing computer settings without the user's consent -- will not be available for XP users. That feature will be reserved for users who upgrade to Windows Vista, the next version of the operating system, due in January.
It will be interesting to see whether this upgrade for Windows will further increase Microsoft's market share in the ongoing browser wars. According to numbers released today by Amsterdam-based Web analytics firm OneStat.com, the total global usage share of IE increased 2.8 percent since July 2006, bringing Microsoft's share of the browser market worldwide to nearly 86 percent. The company says Mozilla Firefox's browsers have a total global usage share of 11.49 percent, a decrease of 1.44 percent since July 2006. In the United States, the IE/Firefox ratio is roughly 80 percent to 15 percent, according to OneStat.