German and French governments warn against using MS Explorer

[Kingcarcas]

This is news? I use IE Tab in FF if i have any problems, never really tried chrome but FF is fast for me after switching DNS.

[Sam_oslo]

I don't think this got too much to do with IE. Any other browser with such a big marked share would get the same hit. No connects computer is secure these days, independent of the browser!

The only secure computer is a disconnected one, believe me kids, I've been in this branch for a long time.

I believe this got much to the with EU attitude, and tired IT-advisors on government pay role, advising some tired politicians which most of them needs help from the grandchildren to turn on their computers, against M$ monopoly. I hope those tired people consider the effect on the business side too.

[Behemot]

I use Opera since 8 version and have no problems last 2 years+. If something suddenly don't work properly (it happens once a year quarter), there is still IE on every computer. It don't hurt to use IE for one page from time to time, really.

But I personally have not so good experiences running today browsers on very old machines (PII and older), usually due to memory. Maxthon or K-Meleon is good for 'em.

[naokaji]

I don't think this got too much to do with IE. Any other browser with such a big marked share would get the same hit.

QFT, its the same thing as with the whole Macs are safer argument, noone bothers hacking them due to their low marketshare and not due to their supposed security.

[Chrono Detector]

Who cares? Internet Explorer is a POS browser, nobody should use it. After IE6 I just lost all hope for Internet Explorer. IE7 sucked balls and IE8 isn't any better.

[clayton]

IE is too slow.

[GoldenTiger]

Who cares? Internet Explorer is a POS browser, nobody should use it. After IE6 I just lost all hope for Internet Explorer. IE7 sucked balls and IE8 isn't any better.

LOL ... it is the best browser for pc's actually. Fast + secure.

To people saying it's slow to load are you joking? It loads instantly, literally. How can you even complain about that!

[Cuthalu]

Yes hes right. I use Opera as my primary browser and some stuff just doesn't work correctly. Go to http://revision3.com/ and try to watch anything. Also Hulu has been messing up big time lately while IE8 works.

I just tested and Revision3 works with Opera 9 and 10, so what's the problem? Maybe there's something wrong with your flashplayer? Hulu seems to be working aswell, but I can't watch the actual videos because I don't live in the States.

I haven't encountered any significant problems for a long time.

[s1nykuL]

Wait. This makes no sense, why would google waste their time with IE? They already have chrome, which is significantly faster and lighter, not to mention safer.

The reason has been mentioned, legacy applications which wouldn't work on a standards compliant browser, prior to IE 8 MS didn't have one. During the time of IE 5 and 6 MS really dominated the browser market so web applications were written for IE 5 and 6 using proprietary methods.

I have used Firefox for around 4 years and with AdBlock/NoScript/CSLite a Javascript debugger and a few other useful plug-ins it is very fast. What's more one doesn't have to wait months for a critical flaw to be fixed.

What maybe even more worrying to those that use 16bit applications on any Windows 32 bit platform is this:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/01...scalation_bug/

Although the article does not say exploit code is in the wild

[strange|ife]

firefox is like 0.001 slower than chrome loading a page, really people.

[Zaskar]

Wait. This makes no sense, why would google waste their time with IE? They already have chrome, which is significantly faster and lighter, not to mention safer.

Group Policy

[Gig4moller]

QFT, its the same thing as with the whole Macs are safer argument, noone bothers hacking them due to their low marketshare and not due to their supposed security.

No, it's not the same. Unix (on which Mac OS is based) IS more secure. That's a well-proven fact.

LOL ... it is the best browser for pc's actually. Fast + secure.

To people saying it's slow to load are you joking? It loads instantly, literally. How can you even complain about that!

Speed or security isn't IE's biggest issue. Web standards support however is, and although they've come far since IE6, it's still nowhere close to where it should be. Nobody should be using that crap.

[kgk]

Don't lump the German government report in with the French one. If you actually read the German posting, they are just recommending people use an alternative browser until Microsoft issues a fix for the recently publicized security flaw.

They are not advocating everyone stop using IE altogether permanently.

Not that I like IE over Firefox, but the English speaking media is reporting it a little wrong.

https://www.bsi.bund.de/cln_183/Cont...IE_150110.html

[zalbard]

Don't lump the German government report in with the French one.

My bad. Want me to edit the OP and the title?

[kgk]

My bad. Want me to edit the OP and the title?

Doesn't really bother me personally, just didn't want you to give the pro-IE people any ammunition.

The text on the BSI's site says basically "Due to [the aforementioned facts], the BSI recommends users switch to an alternative browser until Microsoft releases a patch."

Not your fault. The English media is translating it as "Government sanctioned abandonment of Internet Explorer, ZOMGWTFBBQ!!!!1one!!"

[Mungri]

I use opera and didnt really like the UI for chrome as much.

Speeddial is too useful, I dont know if Chrome has it yet, but I prefer the 12 clickies on my homepage.

[gumballguy]

Firefox bites on laptops though

It has bugs that tend to run a core at full speed when you've got a few tabs open. Which kills battery life of course.

Also it doesnt like resuming from sleep, memory usage grows and responsiveness drops noticeably.

If it weren't for the extensions, FF would be a waste of time.

Of course these issues won't faze people using desktops or with their laptops plugged in all the time.

Really gotta switch to opera one of these days. Probably find something a bit sucky there too, but my browsing experience will still probably be better for it.

[[XC] gomeler]

Firefox is good enough for me, I've got enough cores and memory that I don't care how much it eats. Prism makes FF even better

[XSAlliN]

On Friday, Germany's Federal Office for Information Security issued a warning against all versions of Internet Explorer and recommended that users switch to an alternative such as Firefox or Google's Chrome.

Get out of here, they recommend to switch from usual thief's to a corporate thief like Google. If you like Google Chrome engine, you could use the alternatives made on it, alternatives that don't share your personal information with google like: ChromePlus or SRWare Iron... and yes, I know Google pretty much owns the internet and all the information will eventually pass on their servers, but at least those are general showing only the sites address, can't show the extra details...