Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

IE To Block Pop-Ups

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the late-to-the-party dept.

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...."

7 of 719 comments (clear)

  1. Patents good or bad? by AnnCoulterTroll · · Score: 5, Insightful
    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.

    1. Re:Patents good or bad? by Spleener12 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      No, he's not saying that it would be good, just that it would be funny. Subtle difference there.

  2. Re:Sue? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

  3. Bad news by Hi_2k · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.
    1. Re:Bad news by RatBastard · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Insightful? How about "bloody obvious"?

      And why was the popup invented? Because we started ignoring banner ads. When they disciovered that banner ads didn't work they moved on to a new model. When popups stop working they'll move to a new model.

      How, exactly, is this even an issue? Sure, they'll come up with some nasty crap that takes over your broswer and most broswers will come up with a fix in very shiort order and MS will take three years to fix it.

      The technology war between the force-feed advertisers and the human race is nothing new. We'll figure out how to deal with it as it comes.

      --
      Boobies never hurt anyone. - Sherry Glaser.
  4. Unnecessary... by SushiFugu · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

  5. This is about Google by easyfrag · · Score: 5, Insightful
    What's the point?

    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.