Can we STOP with the sensational browser flaw reporting? Please!
The amount of attention given by web publications to minor flaws in Internet Explorer 7 and Firefox 2 has reached the level of insanity. It all started with last week's sensationalized reports on a minor IE7 flaw and there was some retaliation on Firefox 2 for a crash condition over the weekend though the attacks on Firefox aren't as widespread. Now the press is going crazy over an IE7 popup and when the next minor flaw appears in Firefox 2 there will be some more retaliation. When will this insanity end? I would like to ask all of my fellow bloggers and members of the media to please stop reporting minor warts like they were malignant tumors because it is doing a public disservice.
There were 10 critical flaws this April for IE6 and 9 critical flaws in August for IE6 all of which were remotely exploitable with zero user interaction and we're going crazy over a minor popup flaw and a minor address bar spoofing weaknesses in IE7? What is wrong with this picture? There were 23 critical flaws this April for Firefox 1.x and 7 critical exploits for Firefox 1.x last month all of which were remotely exploitable with zero user interaction yet we're going crazy about a relatively minor crash condition in Firefox 2.0. What is wrong with this picture?
Most of the people going nuts over these minor Firefox 2 and IE7 issues probably never even heard of the tens of critical issues in IE6 and Firefox 1.x and that is truly sad. If the end result of all this FUD (Fear Uncertainty and Doubt) is that people stick with the status quo and refuse to upgrade to the newer more secure browsers because of their manipulated perceptions, would this be a good thing? I even read one article that said that the new minor IE7 flaw was a "major slap in the face" to consumers but is that kind of attitude really fair or necessary? I propose we all step back and take a deep breath and start returning to our senses.
People need to realize that the newest browsers from Microsoft and Mozilla have undergone considerable amount of security auditing and are substantially stronger than their predecessors. Both teams are very proud of their work and Microsoft's IE team even sent a birthday cake to the Mozilla Firefox team on their launch date. If the developers of IE7 and FF2 can be so civil and mutually respectful, there is no reason for users to be fighting over a choice in the browser. If one person likes Firefox while another likes IE, more power to them. Software will have flaws and vendors should fix them, but let's try and keep things in perspective and keep a calm and fair approach to reporting.