IE7 RC1 for Download ASAP
Well, maybe not ASAP, but the almost-finished version of
IE7 is out there. And in other browser news, apparently Mozilla is going to take Microsoft up on its offer for help in
developing Firefox for Vista, thereby placing itself in the teeth of the beast.
Matt, though, our serial e-mailer, isn’t too worried that working with Microsoft will pose a threat to Firefox:
"I'm not sure what MS would gain as far as stealing secrets from Firefox developers, considering that it is an OSS project and therefore MS can download and view all the code anytime it wants. The most they might glean is hints as to future directions, etc., but that is pretty much open as well. It probably is mostly a PR ploy. It's like offering to do something for your wife that you know she will do herself anyway. You get all the credit with none of the work! The next time MS gets bashed for its proprietary ways, they can point to their offer and say, ‘See, we offered to help an OSS project that is the greatest threat to IE in our history, so we must be good guys, right?’"
Right. The key word in "open source" is indeed "open."
But Andrew, who writes all the way from Oman, isn’t so sure...: "As far as ‘up to no good,’ all being fair in love and war, I would not trust Microsoft if I were Firefox. Altruism from a monopoly? I somehow don't think so!"
Wise words, I suspect. It pays to be careful when Redmond’s involved.
Posted by Lee Pender on August 24, 2006 at 11:53 AM