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IE8 Update Forces IE As Default Browser

Posted by timothy on from the how-awfullly-polite dept.

We discussed Microsoft making IE8 a critical update a while back; but then the indication was that the update gave users a chance to choose whether or not to install it. Now I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes in with word that the update not only does not ask, but it makes IE the default browser. "Microsoft has a new tactic in the browser wars. They're having the 'critical' IE8 update make IE the default browser without asking. Yes, you can change it back, but it doesn't ask you if you want IE8 or if you want it as the default browser, it makes the decisions for you. Opera might have a few more complaints to make to the EU antitrust board after this, but Microsoft will probably be able to drag out the proceedings for years, only to end up paying a small fine. If you have anyone you've set up with a more secure alternative browser, you might want to help check their settings after this."

12 of 311 comments (clear)

  1. Death to IE6! by mnslinky · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Here's to the end of IE 6 and all the hacks needed for site to render correctly!

    1. Re:Death to IE6! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Nope... Many corporations built their intranet around IE6 and changing browser will break it. Rather than spend buckets of money revamping their intranet, they are just more likely to keep going with IE6...

    2. Re:Death to IE6! by camperdave · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I say go ahead and break the websites. They were all broken the minute they went browser specific.

      Granted, the fact that the HTML protocol could be interpreted two different ways indicates that it's not entirely Microsoft's fault... this time.

      --
      When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
    3. Re:Death to IE6! by ivucica · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Real problem is they're forcing their browser to be default system browser, in place of Opera, Firefox, Chrome - whichever is your default. Y'know how aforementioned browsers (and older IE) ask you if you want them to be the default? The /. summary makes point of forcing IE8 as the default.

    4. Re:Death to IE6! by cgenman · · Score: 4, Insightful

      They also won't remember that you warned them. They'll remember that somewhere along the line, IT oversaw this intranet for them. It worked for a while, then something broke. Even if they're aware that this is related to IE6 (probably not), nobody will remember who made that call, especially not the idiot who said "let's just go with that blue E internet thingie."

      They'll just know that IT made it, and it broke after a few years.

      --
      The ______ Agenda
  2. Nothing changes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    IE remains the biggest security problem in Windows (besides user stupidity).

    If webpages can override the render engine in IE8 then IE8 is only as secure as the worst render engine.

  3. You fucking suck... Slashdot by GF678 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'm yet another person who installed IE 8 via Windows Update and it did NOT forcibly set itself as the default browser.

    Seriously Slashdot, do you even bother to vet your troll articles anymore? Do you realize how embarrassingly pathetic this one significant site in the tech world has become?

  4. Re:More secure alternative browser? by Chrisq · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Is it not a bit early to be deciding which browsers are more secure than IE8?

    No it isn't, unless you believe in miracles. This isn't really Microsoft's fault but for every hacker who says "lets target Firefox and try to capture bank details" there are 100 trying to do it for IE.

  5. Re:SOP for all Microsoft products by JasterBobaMereel · · Score: 4, Insightful

    What do you mean "your" operating environment? Windows is theirs!

    --
    Puteulanus fenestra mortis
  6. Re:More secure alternative browser? by derGoldstein · · Score: 4, Insightful

    How was this modded troll? It's a fact of life, and he even added "This isn't really Microsoft's fault" which most slashdotters wouldn't have bothered with.

    IE is the primary target for browser hacking, and will remain so as long as its market share is anywhere in the vicinity that it is now.

    The best thing you can do at the moment is install Firefox *and* Chrome *and* Opera and try to dedicate types of sites to each browser.
    I usually assign Google properties to Chrome, highly compliant sites to Opera, and everything else to Firefox.
    (This may sound paranoid, or just overkill, but I have to develop/test on multiple browsers anyway so for me it's also a way to get to know them better.)

    I'm not suggesting that everyone should install every browser, but at the very least install Firefox and make it the default, because they patch it early and often, and it's very good at maintaining itself (updating when you restart, checking for plugin updates, etc.)

    --
    Entomologically speaking, the spider is not a bug, it's a feature.
  7. Same here by Xest · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Installed on Vista 64.

    I think what TFA actually means to say is:

    "I got really click happy and just blindly clicked my way through the IE8 install without looking and it made itself my default browser, how dare it!"

  8. You just proved his point! by pavon · · Score: 4, Insightful

    By those numbers, only 6.5% of IE users are running the latest version. Even if you include IE7 you get that only 73.5% of IE users have upgraded to a browser released in the last three years.

    On the otherhand, 91.4% of Firefox users are running the latest stable version or a beta version. And if you include FF2 (released the same month as IE7) 99.5% of firefox users have upgraded to a browser released in the last three years.

    Firefox users are far more likely to upgrade to the newest version than Internet Explorer users are, which is what he was claiming.