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Mozilla: Sometimes govt. is answer to Microsoft

Mozilla Foundation's Mitchell Baker describes Firefox, the open-source Web browser, as "an anomaly."

While most Microsoft competitors lay down and die when Microsoft claims 90 percent or more of a market, Mozilla has fought back to earn more than 20 percent of the browser market.

Despite this success, Baker believes that government, and in the European Commission in particular, has a role to play in further leveling the playing field. As she notes in a recent blog post, government entities would perhaps have less relevance but for the antitrust activity that resulted in Microsoft's dominant market … Read more

New exploit targets IE 7 hole patched last week

Cybercriminals are exploiting a critical hole in Internet Explorer 7 that was patched a week ago by Microsoft, security firm Trend Micro warned on Tuesday.

The malicious code, which Trend Micro named "XML_DLOADR.A," is hidden in a Word document. On unpatched systems, when the file is opened an ActiveX object automatically accesses a Web site to open a backdoor that installs a .DLL (dynamic link library) file that can steal information, according to a Trend Micro blog entry. The code sends stolen data to another Web address via port 443, Trend Micro said.

As a result of … Read more

IE version falls short

Quickly and easily grab screenshots and edit them with this handy Internet Explorer add-on. Although it's lacking a few of the niceties included with the version for Firefox, this freeware is still impressive.

FireShot for Internet Explorer places a nondescript button on your toolbar. The button contains a drop-down menu with options for editing and capturing screenshots, and accessing your preferences. But unlike the Firefox version, it does not include a status bar shortcut icon, which was nice for one-click access to buttons for editing, uploading, copying, and e-mailing captured screenshots. During our first go-around, we clicked the toolbar … Read more

Mozilla doesn't need an EU bailout

As reported by CNET, Mozilla has been granted "third-party status" in the European Commission's antitrust case against Microsoft. This gives Mozilla a bird's-eye view of the proceedings, with the ability to raise objections.

Mozilla, however, will be unlikely to raise its objections any louder than Mozilla chair Mitchell Baker already did on her blog:

I've been involved in building and shipping Web browsers continuously since before Microsoft started developing (Internet Explorer), and the damage Microsoft has done to competition, innovation, and the pace of the Web development itself is both glaring and ongoing.

There are … Read more

Microsoft patches four critical IE, Exchange holes

Updated at 12:30 p.m. PST with nCircle comment.

Microsoft on Tuesday released security updates that fix four critical vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer and Exchange Server that could allow an attacker to take control of an affected computer remotely.

Microsoft Security Bulletin MS09-002 plugs two critical holes in IE that could allow remote code execution if an IE user views a Web page that has malicious code, according to Microsoft's notification.

"Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights," … Read more

Mozilla to weigh in on EU's Microsoft case

Mozilla has been granted a seat at the table in the European Commission's antitrust case against Microsoft, an EC source said Tuesday.

Mozilla requested and was granted "third-party status," which entitles the organization behind the popular Firefox browser to receive access to confidential documents in the case and the ability to voice objections, the source said.

The Commission, which is the European Union's executive arm, in mid-January formally put Microsoft on notice, objecting to the bundling of the Internet Explorer browser with the Windows operating system.

The Commission's decision, which initially stemmed from a complaint … Read more

Microsoft to release four security patches on Tuesday

Microsoft will be releasing four security updates on Tuesday, including two that are critical affecting Windows, Internet Explorer, and Microsoft Exchange Server, the company said on Thursday.

The critical updates affect Windows Internet Explorer 7, Windows XP Professional Edition, Windows Vista, Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server, Exchange Server 2003 and Exchange Server 2007, according to the alert.

Two other updates rated important affect SQL Server 2000, SQL Server 2005 and Office. The vulnerabilities could allow for an attacker to remotely execute code on an unpatched system.

Microsoft will release the security updates on Patch Tuesday, the second Tuesday of the month. … Read more

Chrome could get Firefox-like extensions by May

As noted on the Google Operating System blog, an upcoming session at the Google I/O conference highlights an imminent improvement to Google's open-source Chrome browser: extensions.

Google has recently been making Firefox a bit more like its Chrome browser, with improvements to its toolbar for the Mozilla browser that give it a Chrome appearance, but by adding an easy way to develop extensions for Chrome, Google is going the opposite direction: making Chrome more like Firefox, which has arguably been successful largely because of its extensibility.

So when will Chrome follow Firefox's suit? Almost certainly by the … Read more

This toolbar brings it all together

Combine Web browsing with finding shopping deals and collecting coupons for bargains. This toolbar brings it all together.

The AAfter Toolbar installs quickly and easily. Its not the best design we've seen for a toolbar, and it takes up more viewing real estate than seems necessary, but its not as cluttered with buttons as many other toolbars. We like that it doesn't try to be all things to all surfers. Instead, it focuses on its search engine and shopping deals.

The toolbar performed well in all our tests, quickly returning search results and responding quickly when we clicked … Read more

Firefox, Google's Chrome speed past IE, Opera

ZDNet Australia on Tuesday released updated browser speeds, as measured by the industry-standard SunSpider JavaScript test, and the results should give pause to proprietary-browser makers Microsoft and Opera Software:

Every open-source browser completely obliterated the proprietary browsers in terms of performance, and by a huge margin.

The test compared Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8 Release Candidate 1, Opera 10.00 Alpha, Firefox 3.1b1, Chrome 2.0.158.0, and the WebKit r40220 developer project included in Chrome and Apple's Safari.

Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox (along with WebKit) left the proprietary competition in the dust:

Maybe there's … Read more