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IE To Block Pop-Ups
smd4985 writes "Next year MS will release a XP service pack that enables IE to block pop-up ads. Only a few years late. Maybe Mozilla.org/Opera should patent the technology to make it hard for Bill 'embrace and extend' Gates to kill those XCam ads...."
If Microsoft was patenting this technology, most /. users would call it evil, right? But, you claim Mozilla/Opera should patent it, and that would be good, right? Somehow I don't quite follow the logic here.
I never have a problem shopping online while blocking pop-ups.
Anyway, the companies that use shopping carts relying on pop-ups will just have to adapt or die. They need our money, right? Not the otehr way around.
Mozilla should sue Microsoft for theft of intellectual property.
Right. Sue them for the idea they took from Opera.
Why would an intellectual property suit against Microsoft be OK? Just because Microsoft is loathesome doesn't make intellectual property suits right.
Stand up for what you believe in and don't make exceptions.
Now it they could only stop spyware and crap that integrated with aps in nasty ways you can't remove.
Bloody registry entries..
-
ping -f 255.255.255.255 # if only
This is REALLY bad news for the rest of the world. This means that since most people will be able to block popups, the popup companies will resort to new methods of spawing, such as java windows, automaticaly executed ActiveX controls, and hijacking the browser window through their ads. While the middle wouldnt be a problem for anyone other than IE users, the other two could pose a serious threat to my abiltiy to use the web.
When life gives you crap, Make Crapade.
Sluggy Freelance.
*sigh*
You people just don't get it, do you?? You could have a massive button on IE's toolbar labelled "DISABLE POPUPS," and I would bet half of IE's users would never think to click it. Unless a feature is turned on, by default, and works without thinking about it, most users won't use it.
A Minesweeper clone that doesn't suck
Maybe Mozilla.org/Opera should patent the technology to make it hard for Bill 'embrace and extend' Gates to kill those XCam ads....
I mean really, why is it necessary to make such an unproductive comment? The only thing that sort of comment accomplishes is making Open Source advocates look bad.
No, the ad companies will just go on to more intrusive advertising, like full page click-through ads like on some sites. This is actually a bad thing since IE's idiot customer base was actually still generating some decent revenue for the popup spammers. Now once that dwindles off they'll need to find new and more annoying ways of advertising. Full screen Java commercials anyone? Yes, I know, shut off Java/Javascript/Flash/animation, etc. We can all go back to HTML 1.0 and Lynx right?
I think the point is that MS sees that pop-up killing is quickly become a killer app. I don't think that they are worried about third party apps like Proxomitron because only a small subset of users can/will install them anyway. You could argue that this is being done partly to prevent a drift towards alternate browsers, especially Mozilla, but again only a relatively small audience have the knowhow or desire to change from IE.
Personally I think this is more about reigning in the power of Google, specifically the Google Toolbar which can block popups. Joe User knows Google (they do not know Proxomitron) and the Toolbar is easy to install and it is very popular. I bet the Google Toolbar is installed all over Microsoft's campus.
Google used to be just a search engine, now it does much more, including supplying software to Microsoft's end users. Have any of you checked out the new Google Deskbar. Think about it: this is an application which bypasses the browser.
I think Microsoft is very afraid of Google and thats why they made an offer to buy them. They were turned down, so now watch what happens, on Longhorn there will already be a "MSN Search Deskbar" on bootup. This is an opening salvo in a Microsoft war on Google.
I wish I could remember the link to this interview. But a while back I read an article dealing with the upcoming new version of IE for longhorn, and the person doing the interview asked if they were going to fix the problem with png transparency. The microsoft representive replied with "No comment". How hard can it possibly be to fix this issue that they're spending years on the new release and once again are likley to not finish png support. You'd think the bad press alone would be cause to fix it.
Everything will be taken away from you.
This isn't going to solve anything, it'll just force pop-up vendors to move to DHTML for their popups. If you've never seen one in action, the once at tek-tips.com comes to mind. It's a pretty reasonable "please sign up" type popup that occurs once per visit, until you register and let the cookie do it's thing. Mozilla doesn't block this, and it might be a long time before it ever does. I doubt that it's as easy to recognize these as advertising algorithmically as it is with JavaScript popups.