IE9 Relased

[viking60]

Microsoft has launched IE9 and they have been loosing market shares so rapidly that they started bothering about what people want again. In terms of privacy IE seems to take it seriously. That is a good thing. There is no reason to have illusions about MS idealism here. It is more of a kick on Google's leg for being a disaster in respecting privacy.
Credit due to IE9 for that. A big no no is that you are depending on a very exotic and old fashioned OS to use it . No Linux version yet.
I am told IE9 is fast and snappy and finally respects standards (not some moody techs opinion in Redmond). That is a big improvement too.
So I guess IE is better than ever!

The Tracking Protection feature now covers ActiveX controls—the most popular of which is Adobe Flash. In the final version of Internet Explorer 9, requests from ActiveX controls go through the same Tracking Protection Lists that govern websites. If you’ve blocked a third-party site, it will be blocked for access in Flash and other ActiveX controls as well. I’ll need to test this feature to see if it has an impact on local shared objects–aka “Flash cookies.”

Sadly it still is not good enough:
Should you switch?
No - still no Linux version and still too dangerous

[dedanna1029]

No matter what they do, they will never be good enough for me.

[viking60]

Well I have serious trouble testing it because I only use Linux. That the MS product IE would be the fastest on the MS operative system Windows is no big surprise. Anything else would be. That IE in fact has been beaten on Windows by a number of other browsers only shows that MS has been to occupied fighting good program makers in court. Hopefully this is a new area where MS delivers software that can compete. Stealing it from others in court or FUDing extortion money out of them is no good longterm solution, really. MS already has the reputation of being the major break system for development of software. If they do not get paid they will drag you too court. This has nothing to do with rights. For most developers this mere fact is enough to break them. There is no creative software developer that starts out with a billion Dollars and a legal department before they start developing and earning money. And MS knows it.

They also get major enemies because of it. They have done a good job of pissing of the EU, and Russia is throwing out Windows as we speak. The willingness to compete on fair terms with good products will be the only way to win back goodwill for MS in those markets. Sure they have their lobby and they employ politicians and let us not forget the "charities". But those are getting rather transparent. In the end they will need a good product. Because software patents do not fly in Europe. But they fly well elsewhere so MS just might go on and ignore Europe. In the end very much is up to the US courts. That patent chaos is impossible to handle because the laws were made for another time (it is possible that even MS is tired of it). And they will be so every fifth year. So it is time to set a clean limit to where the patent rights should apply. Preferably a limit that allows other OS's to exist without MS control. And a limit that even I can understand