The World Browsing Championship, Round 2 - "Come out swinging..."
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Internet Explorer took an early hit when a vulnerability was discovered within two hours of its release. Secunia, a security firm based in Denmark, discovered that IE7 had trouble handling mhtml URL's which could allow malicious users to "access documents served from another website" and "disclose potentially sensitive information". IE7 has also taken a much more recent blow when Secunia released an advisory concerning a vulnerability that allows malicious users to spoof the address bar.
Firefox, however, makes a nice entrance again sporting its strength in the security area. Its well-known security features as well as its newly implemented ones may help to continue pushing Firefox toward gaining a quarter of the market share.
It's not easy competing against an opponent like Internet Explorer. Beating out Netscape was only one of many things that made it a household name. But it hasn't exactly faced competition like this before either. Firefox continues to deliver the frequent updates, and rich features that users are asking for. It may take time, but this battle could become neck-and-neck.
And it's not just home users we're talking about here. While most businesses still use Internet Explorer, Jupiter Research found that as many as 44% percent of companies allowed users to install the browser. Mozilla is already gearing toward this market. Its release of Firefox 3, planned for May of 2007, is boasting better support for corporate deployment.
Let's not forget about the 1800 plus browser add-ons available for Firefox that allow users to customize and add to the functionality of their browsing experience. This forced Microsoft to respond by launching their own set of add-ons. It becomes a battle of corporate versus open development to see which line will attract more users.
So whether you choose to "Get Firefox" or "Download Internet Explorer," outside of security, it probably doesn't matter which one of these web crawling competitors wins. The end result is the same: a better browser for the consumer. A healthy dose of competition never hurt any industry, and this slug-out is just one more way that consumers are keeping developers on their toes and forcing innovation.
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