Microsoft's own "Slate" online
magazine is now recommending that people abandon Microsoft
Internet Explorer for Mozilla Firefox, a competing free Web
browser. Never before in the history of Microsoft have I seen
anything quite like this. In Slate's "Webhead" column for June
30, 2004, author Paul Boutin describes Firefox glowingly and
tells readers how to install it for secure Web
access. It appears that Microsoft has thrown up its
hands in the wake of recent diabolical browser exploits like
Scob, which captures keystrokes sent to online banks.
Preventing such exploits can't be done in an
afternoon. Microsoft will need months to fix IE, and
the fixing may require a fundamental redesign. Microsoft can
now only recommend that users turn IE's security level up to
its maximum setting, which can prevent certain Web sites from
working completely.