Microsoft Explains Mystery Firefox Extension

Ricky writes with a followup to news we discussed a couple days ago that a Microsoft toolbar update was installing an IE add-on and a Firefox extension without the user's consent. Quoting Ars: "Microsoft has fixed the distribution scope of a toolbar update that, without the user's knowledge, installed an add-on in Internet Explorer and an extension in Firefox called Search Helper Extension. Microsoft told us that the new update is actually the same as the old one; the only difference is the distribution settings. In other words, the update will no longer be distributed to toolbars that it shouldn't be added to. End users won't see the tweak, Microsoft told Ars, and also offered an explanation on what the mystery add-on actually does. 'The Search Enhancement Pack is a shared component used by the Windows Live Toolbar, MSN Toolbar, and Bing Bar. This component enables toolbar search functionality, like the toolbar search suggestions drop down. It is not the toolbar. It is a component used by the toolbars.'"

Comments

Re:Huh?

[erroneus]

Indeed! It is an application independent of the OS. Let it be self-contained as applications independent of the OS should be. Part of Microsoft's problem is their propensity to integrate and tie things together. This is, was and remains a key problem with their dubious activities and what gets them into legal trouble.

They haven't yet learned their lesson and need to be broken up so that their OS division only does OS things and not Internet things.