Microsoft has just released the IE Cumulative Security Update for December 2008.
The security update is rated critical and fixes four privately reported vulnerabilities. These vulnerabilities could allow remote code execution when users view web pages with malicious code.
The security patch fixes IE 5.01, IE6 and IE7 on all versions of Windows, and the update is available on Windows Update.
It has been a good month for the ‘underdogs’ in the browser wars this month, with Firefox, Safari and Chrome all gaining ground.
Firefox has hit a fantastic milestone, now with over 20% of the web browser market, up 4% from last month. Apple’s Safari has climbed to just over 7%, up 8.5% from last month.
Even Google’s Chrome has crawled back some ground, after a steady drop off rate from the browsers first month. Chrome gained around 12% during the month, taking it’s total share to just under 1%.
The losers this month were both Opera and Internet Explorer. Opera lost 5% of it’s market, and is now 5th in the race, behind Google Chrome. November also saw Internet Explorer’s market share plummet below 70% for the first time since 1999.
You can view the full report at the Market Share website. Historical data can be sourced from Wikipedia. The browser wars are really firing up.
Microsoft has confirmed that IE8 will now be delayed to 2009. On the IEBlog, Dean Hachamovitch, General Manager of Internet Explorer has stated that Microsoft “will release one more public update of IE8 in the first quarter of 2009, and then follow that up with the final release”.
The reason for the delay according to Hachamovitch is so the IE team can “make any changes they feel are necessary for the best possible customer experience using IE8, and report any critical issues. Our plan is to deliver the final product after listening for feedback about critical issues”.
Despite the delay, this should be good news for users of IE, as the current beta 2 is still quite buggy. The extra time should let Microsoft fix all outstanding issues to deliver a stable and complete product.
Those of you still using Internet Explorer may notice that you can only download a maximum of two files at once. With a quick registry fix you can increase this number up to 10. The steps you need to follow are found below:
You should now be able to download up to 10 files at once. Much better for today’s broadband connection. This trick works for all versions of Internet Explorer from version 4 onwards. Happy downloading!
Microsoft’s CEO, Steve Ballmer, has considered moving Internet Explorer’s core over to the open source WebKit rendering engine.
It appers the move is being considered as a way to stem the bleeding of users to other web browsers, who are looking for more complete and compliant web browsers.
Market Share by Net Applications shows that for October, IE’s market share has dropped to 71%.
With IE8 set for release in early 2009, changes of this magnitude would likely not be seen for another 2 years, in what could possible be IE9.
This move, if true, would be fantastic news for users and web developers everywhere.
Computerworld has posted an article comparing Firefox’s 3.1 beta to the latest Chrome beta.
Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols put both of these browser through the SunSpider JavaScript benchmark test. Not surprising the results were very stunning with Firefox 3.1 beta taking it out.
Of interesting note is that Firefox 3.1 beta is almost 25 times faster when rendering JavaScript compared to Internet Explorer 7.
Mashable has posted a great article with 25 resources on how to customise your favorite browser.
Included are resources for Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Opera and Google Chrome.
You can read the full article on the Mashable website.
Happy customising!
With all the news that Google Chrome’s market share has droped since it’s release, I thought it was only fitting to add some more statistics to the fire.
On another technology site that I run, browser stats were as follows for the month of September:
Browser Market Share for September
Through the month of September, Chrome’s usage has dropped around 30% from its release. Usage seems to have stabalised since then.
Of interesting note, is that Google Chrome has still gained a larger market share than Opera. It should also be noted that Chrome is still only available on Windows. Perhaps it’s market share will again increase when offical Mac and Linux versions are released.
Perhaps Google Chrome hasn’t shaken up the market as much as everyone predicted. Did you try Google Chrome and are you still using it?
ExitReality has today released a plugin that allows users to surf the web in 3D. This will allow surfers the chance to walk through their favourite websites as if they were playing a computer game.
The 3.5MB plugin will turn any normal website into a compelling virtual room.
The idea from ExitReality’s founder Danny Stefanic has been in development for 13 years.
Mr Stefanic says “It is the entire web in 3D – making 40 billion virtual worlds – and it will instantly transform 2D content into 3D“.
Flickr can be turned into a virtual art gallery, while YouTube can be turned into a virtual cinema. It’s second life for every day people.
Currently, the browser plugin only works on Windows and is compatible with both Internet Explorer and Firefox. The plugin can be downloaded from the ExitReality website.
With the release of Google Chrome, John Resig has performed JavaScript benchmark tests on a wide variety of browsers on both Windows Vista and XP. These browsers include:
Testing, using three benchmarking tools; SunSpider, V8 Benchmark, and Dromaeo, has produced some interesting results. Results show that Google Chrome is ahead in all but one benchmark test – very impressive for a browser that is still in its early beta stages. It shows the performance of the new V8 JavaScript engine and the power of the WebKit rendering engine found in both Chrome and Safari.
You can read the full JavaScript Performance Rundown article to see the other (not-so)surprissing results.