Plugin Lets Users Turn IE into Firefox

An anonymous reader writes "There is a new plugin available for IE that can make Internet Explorer resemble Firefox by adding tabbed browsing capabilities and an integrated search box. Moreover, the plugin improves IE's privacy and security by integrating a firewall designed to block out Internet exploits, phishing sites, spammers, spyware and worms, with a special HTTP filter that removes private data, and an anti-spyware tool that can identify and remove all pests in less then 10 seconds"

Comments

Wrong Way

[fembots]

What I need is a Firefox-plugin that looks exactly like IE (including the lack of tabs and search box) while still providing the same level of security.

Re:Wrong Way

[DotWarner]

I feel sorry for any of your victims who eventually purchase and want to install software, and the tech support agents who take the call. The software won't install, the customer won't be able to identify the version of Windows, and the agent may never be able to identify the problem.

Perhaps you could identify common locations that are used to identify Windows versions and leave pointers to a text file explaining exactly what you've done. This would allow tech support to determine that the customer has been deceived and has wasted their money, and to point them back toward you for vengeance (and give you the chance to supply an OSS program that does the same thing for free).

Re:Wrong Way

[jacksonj04]

When you find the linux that works without me needing to persistantly edit config files, recompile applications, maintain complex version dependencies, and is generally a bugger to use quickly unless you have time to spare configuring it first, get back to me.

Re:Wrong Way

[Anonymous Coward]

Then they will believe IE is good and secure and will ignore alternatives. Not really that useful.

Re:Wrong Way

[bdeclerc]

I've been using Mandrake / Mandriva linux for years now without having to do any of the things you mention...

Sure, on my own PC I've done all those things, but not because I needed to, but because I wanted to (same reason I've run Gentoo on that machine as well, an urge to learn stuff)

The wife's PC has gone through about 5 Mandrake/Mandriva releases now, and I don't think I've had to edit any config files on it yet, let alone compile stuff or "maintain complex version dependencies", whatever you want that to mean...

And it's not as if nobody *ever* needs to edit the registry on a Windows PC...

Personally, I think you're just repeating what you heard somebody else say, just to sound cool...

Re:Wrong Way

[Anonymous Coward]

Haha! If they can't tell it's not windows, do you really think they'll understand anything tech support says to them?

Re:Wrong Way

[fatcatman]

No, the man has a valid point.

I love Linux. Use it on all of my servers and maintain hundreds of them for a living. I even have a stuffed Tux hanging from my rearview mirror. But Linux is a real pain in the ass on a workstation.

On a server, I expect to recompile my software occasionally. It's a server. It's finicky. It takes time to do right. I don't mind that.

But I won't do that on my workstation. Screwing with dependencies sucks. 9 times out of 10 when I go to install or upgrade some package, it requires a new version of x, which requires a new version of x, y, and z, which each require a new version of h-i-j-k-l-m-n-o-p, and half of the packages refuse to install and only break my system with I try to force them.

Screw that.

Hey, I'm not defending Windows. It sucks in it's own special way.

Hmm. Now I don't know why I posted this, or what my point even was. Nevermind...

Re:Wrong Way

[b17bmbr]

none of the features, all of the problems.

Re:Wrong Way

[suitepotato]

If you service machines for friends and family try this. Don't ask, just do what is good for them. After all they are putting their absolute trust in your computer knowledge, to do anything less is to fail them in.

THAT is a perfect example of the arrogance that relegates Linux to distant third place on the desktop. More of "the geek knows best". It is NOT your job to do what YOU THINK is best for them, but what you KNOW they asked you to do which is to FIX their WINDOWS machine. Doing otherwise is dishonest and if money or other compensation changes hand FRAUDULENT and should be punished at the very least by word being spread that you CANNOT be trusted to do as asked but insist on doing what you egotistically THINK should be done.

I swear, sometimes it amazes me that the common end-users haven't lynched more geeks in anger over the abuse that they suffer at the hands of know-it-all nerds. Assuming you know better than the end-user whose requirements you are there to fulfill is insane grandiose self-importance. THIS is the sort of thing that kicked off Microsoft's ongoing issues over reliability of Windows 95 with the arrogance of assuming user data loss was no big deal and nuke and pave an acceptable regular task. It goes right back to the 640K RAM joke that endlessly pops up. Or any of dozens of systemic flaws in Unix that to this day are being worked around because of the arrogance of assumption by techies that they knew best and that what they wanted to produce superceded what was expected of them.

If I was busy and farmed such repair work to someone who did this, and I paid so much as one penny compensation, there would be a lawsuit immediately for fraud if only to send a clear message. If plumbers did this, your toilet could end up in the kitchen; if electricians, you might get 312VDC service when you asked for 120VAC; and if general contractors did this, you might end up with your house being built facing another direction and on the wrong lot. All because someone thought they knew better than the customer. It is FIRST AND FOREMOST the job of the geek/nerd/techie to serve the end-users needs and desires and expectations, not defraud them out of pure unadulterated ego.

Re:Wrong Way

[Jozer99]

I have a solution, download "Firefox Setup 1.0.6.exe" from www.mozilla.org and install it. Then launch the default browser from the start menu, and voila, IE looks and acts just like firefox, with all the features and even the bugs!

Mod me -1, I dare you!

Re:Wrong Way

[Shaper_pmp]

So you're deliberately deleting a working, legitimate Windows install, replacing it with Linux against the wishes of the user, then (when they complain) trying to charge then £120 for another version of Windows, because you deleted the one they already own?

You, sir, are a fucking disgrace. You embody everything the public finds repellent about the "arrogant techie" stereotype, and are unethical, deceitful and (if any money or reward changes hands as a result of your "service") likely comitting fraud to boot.

"All these users are older people who use their computers for web browsing and printing mostly, and I take my experiences so far as a kind of scientific 'evidence' that this class of users can't tell the difference."

So that makes it alright? Supposing one of them goes and buys a new family-tree plotting app, or garden-design program (to choose two examples my aunty recently bought) - what happens then? They're faced with a long, expensive call to tech support, which likely still won't the problem that you caused them. Eventually they (stupidly) turn to you again, and what do you tell them?

"Oh, right, yeah, that won't work - get your money back from the shop, if you can get them to believe that a version of 'Windows' won't run this certified 'Windows' application. Oh, and (if you're exceptionally lucky) here's a barely-maintained buggy-as-fuck butt-ugly hobby OSS version of something so pathetically niche that it'll never attract any kind of decent development community, to replace the version you just spent half your pension buying."

"If you service machines for friends and family try this. Don't ask, just do what is good for them. After all they are putting their absolute trust in your computer knowledge, to do anything less is to fail them in."

More like: "After all, they are putting their absolute trust in your computer knowledge, so to do this is to utterly and arrogantly violate that trust in the worst way possible."

Look, if you're sick of fixing computers for family, friends or others, just fucking tell them. Give them a choice of either switching to (your special version of) Linux or compensating you for the time you waste fixing their Windows boxes.

Alternatively, they can stop coming to you altogether and instead pay to have a computer shop fix it.

Under no circumstances is it ever ethical to violate their trust, especially not because you think you've got away with it so far.

For comparison, suppose you went to the doctor, and he told you you had gangrene. You'd expect some explanation of the options and some (pretty strong) recommendations, but ultimately it's your decision what happens.

You wouldn't expect the doctor to simply club you unconscious, chainsaw off your leg and bandage the stump.

"So what?" he might say - I've prevented it spreading to the rest of your system and killing you! You'll retain the use of your other limbs, and for anything you can't do with them, here's a half-arsed prosthetic replacement for your missing limb. Sure it might look a bit nasty, and doesn't always work too well, and sometimes breaks, but look - you can take the cover off and mess about with how it works inside! Ok, you're not a prosthetics expert, and so probably never will, but this clearly makes up for my complete lack of consultation before my arbitrarily rearranging your entire physiology!"

Jesus. Whatever happened to professional ethics?

You're the kind of person that gives us geeks a bad name.

right...

[silverkniveshotmail.]

or they could just use firefox.

Re:right...

[linguae]

Yeah, but there are certain occasions where Firefox is of no help (e.g., IE-only web pages, ActiveX stuff, etc.). An IE plugin with these security features would tremendously cut down on some of the major malware problems that many people are currently facing. All without having to switch browsers, too.

Don't get me wrong, I love Firefox as much as the next Slashdotter, but don't we all want a more secure Internet Explorer for our Windows-using friends as well?

Sheep in Fox clothing

[Colonel Panic]

Why would I want to use this plugin to mimick FF, when I could just use the real thing?

Re:Sheep in Fox clothing

[rob_squared]

Because people LOVE their software. Actually, some of them are afraid of using new software. I've seen people use DeadAIM instead of Gaim and other such modified programs instead of using the program its trying to mimic.

Not that I need for firefox to "take over the browser market," but it'd be nice if people would just take a chance.

Or you could use Firefox!

[hattig]

But maybe this would be more acceptable for traditionally wary and skittish corporations?

10 seconds? I doubt it.

[notdanielp]

The article's claims of "and an anti-spyware tool that can identify and remove all pests in less then 10 seconds" are exceedingly hard to swallow.

What heuristics are they using that can find and zap all unmentionables in 10 seconds? Has "anonymous reader" ever run a virus/spyware scan before?

Misleading title.

[RealisticCanadian]

Mods be damned, Scuttlemonkey's submissions are getting more and more similar to mass-media headlines. This title has the express purpose of starting a flamewar on the world's most popular anti-ms site.

It makes IE look somewhat like firefox, and adds some lacking functionality that makes it work somewhat like firefox. The two are neither identical nor interchangable.

Or you could just use Firefox...

[badmammajamma]

What's the point? There's numerous add-ons for IE that have been around for a long time now that give this kind of functionality. The only difference is that they don't try to emulate the look of firefox

Returning to IE

[QuantumPion]

I used FireFox for a while, but I recently returned to using IE. The reason is that there were too many websites that displayed incorrectly or used plug-ins that weren't supported by FireFox. Also there were a lot of minor annoyances that weren't fixable with plug-ins alone.

As a tech-savvy net browser, I am able to avoid/repair any spam or malware I might pick up with IE, so displaying pages correctly and avoiding the various small bugs of FireFox was what led me back to Microsoft. I'm sure there are many people out there who think like I do, and this plug-in will certainly bring more people back to IE from FireFox. Adding tabbed browsing and security fixes to IE will be the deciding factor in slowing the migration to third-party browsers. Why compromise surfing if plug-ins like this give all the functionality of FireFox to the correct** rendering capabilities and ease of use of IE?

**I know that many web pages are indeed programmed "incorrectly" and suffer from many programming errors, which is probably the cause of Firefox's rendering issues. However, as the end user in no position to fix such problems on the web site's end, I have little alternative then to use IE's sloppy but visually correct rendering.

Why bother?

[FireFlie]

I don't see the point. If you want it to look, feel, and act like firefox, why not get firefox. Yes that is the redundant part. As for the office (scuttlemonkey's idea for a place where this can be useful): if you're equipment is being held so tightly that you can't install firefox, don't you think installing this will get you fired? Many companies keep really tight control over such equipment. Seriously, this is interesting for any ie fanboys, but I don't see any practical application for such an extension (nor do I envision a market for such a thing).

What about fixing IE's broken rendering engine?

[Anonymous Coward]

A big part of what makes Firefox good is its Gecko rendering engine, which happens to be much better at rendering web content according to w3c specifications than IE does.

Does this plugin address any of that? I'm guessing not, since it wouldn't likely be possible to do that with IE through a simple plugin. At any rate, that makes this thing much less interesting IMO.

Can it...

[SharpFang]

Can it replace the broken rendering engine with Gecko too? Simple PNG transparency support, unbroken absolute positioning, this kind of stuff?
Does it support popup blocking? Find-as-you-type?
well...

Enough!!

[seriesrover]

of the "just use Firefox" comments. I pressume using this train on thought we should scrap WINE, OpenOffice and other "Linux emulating Windows" software.

Just for one second PLEASE realize that there are legitimate reasons for this plugin. They might not be reasons you would choose, or it could be that are forced on you (businesses), but they are valid nonetheless.

IE-only web pages...

[Draconix]

Encouragement to use IE is the last thing we want to give Windows users. If IE weren't the dominant browser, web designers couldn't get away with making pages that only work in IE. If a web page uses ActiveX, and you're not using IE and Windows, you're out of luck.

Re:Maxthon ain't half bad...

[jez9999]

Please explain to a luddite like me why you would want a bloaty browser that contains two other browsers' engines (one of which is guaranteed to be installed with the OS) when you could much more easily install those 2 browsers side-by-side?