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Google Releases Customized IE 7

Posted by Zonk on from the they-were-bored dept.

narramissic writes "Google has released a customized version of Internet Explorer 7 that uses Google as the default search engine and provides users with the Google Toolbar and a Google homepage they can personalize. Perhaps not exactly what Microsoft intended when they released the Internet Explorer Administration Kit, which allows developers to customize IE."

25 of 198 comments (clear)

  1. They're not the first, are they? by JeremyBanks · · Score: 5, Informative

    Isn't this what Yahoo already did?

    1. Re:They're not the first, are they? by Chrismith · · Score: 5, Informative
      Not only did Yahoo do this first, but when Google first released their version, they blatantly ripped off Yahoo's page.

      If you look closely at the pictures, you can even see where they blurred out the "Y!" logo in the IE7 screenshot.

      Don't get me wrong, I'm a big Google supporter, but someone dropped the ball on this. (It's since been fixed.)

    2. Re:They're not the first, are they? by t0tAl_mElTd0wN · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Friend of mine made this image - http://www.notsorandom.com/y-g.png. It shows the color difference between the two pages when overlayed. Note - Black pixels signify the exact same color.

      I'm sorry Google... I love you and all... but this is just low. Not only ripping off the layout, they copied the entire page itself...

      --
      Not So Random
    3. Re:They're not the first, are they? by Simon+Donkers · · Score: 5, Informative

      Google noticed the fuss everywhere and has since then changed the page. A very interesting post about this is made by Matt Cutts (Google employee) on his private blog explaining how annoying it is if somebody steals your layout. Very interesting read.
      http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/ie7-promo-page/

      --
      My freeware games
    4. Re:They're not the first, are they? by Jugalator · · Score: 3, Informative

      Actually, the toolbars in IE 7 can't be moved around, as funny as it may sound.

      You can "unlock" the toolbars to resize one of them, but it seems MS didn't listen to all the complaints that were raised about this during the betas.

      I don't really understand the logic behind radically changing the UI and at the same time remove customization.

      --
      Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
    5. Re:They're not the first, are they? by gbjbaanb · · Score: 4, Informative
      Yes, I was really pissed off that the time-honoured menu bar was removed for the sake of it. MS seems to be moving away from menus. Anyway, the good old menu can be restored - but once you do, you'll see its always underneath the toolbar (sigh). Fortunately, this registry key will put it back init s rightful position: "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar\WebBrowser " set the value "ITBar7Position" to a dwrord 1 and its back as you'd want it.

      To turn the menu bar on in the first place - go to the tools menu/button and select 'menu bar'

      (or put this in notepad, save as a reg file and then click it)

      [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar\WebBrowser]
      "ITBar7Position"=dword:00000001
  2. But... by TubeSteak · · Score: 3, Insightful

    What about http://www.google.com/firefox

    Did Google ever pick a side in the browser wars?

    --
    [Fuck Beta]
    o0t!
    1. Re:But... by NineNine · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Did Google ever pick a side in the browser wars?

      Smart businesspeople would never call it a "war" or choose to pick sides. Just support the big ones, whatever they are. The customers are important. Google could care less what browser their customers use. Only geeks care about "the browser war".

    2. Re:But... by Tetravus · · Score: 5, Insightful
      Only geeks care about "the browser war".

      Well, geeks and people who have to design two or three different implementations of a web page so it will show up correctly for all visitors. Oh, and the people who have to pay those developers who are now putting in overtime... and the content authors whose work is framed by the pages that the developers make (and want to appear equally professional to all visitors)... and maybe the investors in the company that hired the developers who want to get to IPO and get their money out as soon as possible.

      But yeah, mostly just geeks care about that stuff ;-)

    3. Re:But... by Killer+Koala · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Then why is Google running Firefox's Phishing Filter for Firefox 2.0 and greater? Google has already picked a side...they chose Firefox.

  3. Re:Hmm... by Jarjarthejedi · · Score: 3, Funny

    Google seems to be trying to put it's name on anything and everything, FireFox, IE, Dell (far as I've seen all new Dell's come with Google Toolbar and IE Google Toolbar pre-installed...and it freezes the computer if you remove one...).

    I'm just waiting for the Google burger at McDonalds, or the Google Sub, or the Google car...

    --
    There are two kinds of fool One says 'This is old therefore good' Another says 'This is new therefore better'- Dean Ing
  4. Re:Hmm... by bensafrickingenius · · Score: 3, Funny

    "A certain browser named after a certain bushy animal comes to mind"

    I don't think gopher was technically a browser...

    --
    I am not left-handed, either!
  5. Re:just think... by mingot · · Score: 3, Informative

    Doesn't seem like they really want to take them to court.

    From TFA:

    ieblog

  6. Re:Hmm... by dheera · · Score: 3, Interesting

    You ought to be at a university. Students at my school use Google speakers. I have 13 Google T-Shirts myself. There are Google whistles, Google flashlights, Google notebooks. I have a friend with a Google lava lamp, too. All of the above given for free by Google. You'd be surprised what kinds of things they give away in the academic domain to try to recruit people and advertise. Personally I think it's a great company, but Google software certainly isn't the limit :)

  7. This is news? by MeanMF · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Yeah I'm sure the Microsoft folks will be devastated if a lot of people download and use their software....

  8. Isnt this exactly what Microsoft intended.... by slashnar · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Is everyone here this dumb?? This is exactly what was intended when the Administration kit was made. Microsoft would want everyone out there(Amazon, eBay, Apple for gods sakes) to be pushing out a customized version of IE7. Dont u get it??

  9. Not really news... by compupc1 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    How is this news? The IE has been around for years and years. I remember using it to customize IE 5.5. It may have been around even earlier than that. And as to Microsoft somehow being upset, please look past the knee-jerk reaction and notice that the IE Blog, from Microsoft, actually praises the Google release, and links to their download page. This is what people are SUPPOSED to do with the IEAK. The article is really trying to make a big deal about something that's not...

    --
    -James
  10. Re:#1 thing that is good about Google by diskofish · · Score: 3, Informative

    Correction: Google maps is NOT Flash based. Yahoo! Maps is Flash based and Google maps uses Ajax.

  11. you missed it by kahrytan · · Score: 3, Insightful


      You people missed the point of Google doing this. I am sure Google still fully supports Firefox movement.

    Google released a customized IE7 for the sake of brand recognition. And it really doesn't help Microsoft either. It just gives MS bragging rights and no profit. This customized version of IE7 will get people using Google homepage and search engine. Which in return will boost revenue for Google. And with that boost, it will support Google's efforts in the Google Foundation and open source applications with the higher revenue.

    In the end, It is a win-win for the open source community. And a loosing situation for Microsoft. No one uses their precious Windows Live or MSN search. A small loss in revenue for Microsoft.

    --
    \
  12. Re:Activation? by Arctic+Dragon · · Score: 5, Informative

    My IE7 Program File directory is 2.57MB, but since installing it required two reboots, I imagine that additional files are scattered all over the place.

    A couple of months ago, I did some quick testing to see which browser uses the most RAM. I checked the RAM usage right after starting the browser with a blank page, and again after opening a total of 3 tabs (of course, YMMV):

    Mozilla Firefox 2.0 (default theme, no extensions)
    blank page: 20MB
    3 open tabs: 31MB

    Mozilla Firefox trunk build (default theme, no extensions)
    blank page: 20MB
    3 open tabs: 30MB

    Mozilla SeaMonkey 1.1A
    blank page: 17MB
    3 open tabs: 28MB

    K-Meleon 1.02
    blank page: 15MB
    3 open tabs: 24MB

    Internet Explorer 6.0SP2
    blank page: 11MB

    Internet Explorer 7.0
    blank page: 17MB
    3 open tabs: 35MB

    Opera 9.02
    blank page: 14MB
    3 open tabs: 24MB

  13. Yahoo = Evil, Google = Good? by TooManyNames · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Why is it that when this same story came out for Yahoo, everyone declared that Yahoo was "pushing IE7 on Firefox users?" People were even claiming that Yahoo was trying to leverage monopolistic practices. Now that Google has done exactly the same thing, people are claiming that this somehow diminishes Microsoft's original intentions (though I don't understand how having a popular search engine endorse your web browser would be a bad thing). How is Google's decision to use this strategy any different from Yahoo's? I'm just curious to know what sort of BS /. will provide in order to prove how Google's plan is so different and ethically superior to Yahoo's.

    --
    "Is not a sentence" is not a sentence. Well damn.
  14. Just to clarify... by cyberwench · · Score: 3, Informative

    Mute = myoot. As in unable to speak.

    Moot = moot. Little practical value or meaning.

    It's one of those things like "another words" / "in other words".

    --
    ~ Leilah
  15. Actually, it's EXACTLY what was intended. by PixieDust · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Must be a really slow news day.

    From Microsoft's Page regarding Advantages for Content Providers .

    To customize Internet Explorer, you can add your organization's name or other wording to the title bar. For example, the phrase "Windows Internet Explorer Provided by Proseware, Inc." could appear on your title bar.
    You can preset the following Web pages and links:
    Customer support page
    Users' home page
    Users' search providers

    So no, it's EXACTLY what Microsoft intended. And the very fact that it's being offered by Google is actually a boon to Microsoft. They may be competitors in some areas, but this has obvious benefits for both.

  16. Missing option by quakehead3 · · Score: 3, Funny

    "Optimized for Slashdot"

  17. Re:Activation? by SnprBoB86 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This is an extremely unscientific measurement.

    1) The order in which you perform this test could influence which DLLs are loaded in which processes
    2) Some applications may allocate memory in chunks or do other funky memory management
    3) Which pages were used? Was it the same for each browser?
    4) Do these pages include Flash, Java, or similar content which may indicate fault of plug-in rather than browser
    5) prob a million more, it's late, I'm tired

    --
    http://brandonbloom.name