I provide computer technical support for my union’s computers where I work. Recently one of the users complained that they weren’t able to access a website with Microsoft Internet Explorer, the browser they normally used.
I suspected right away that the browser had been updated to Internet Explorer 10, and assumed that either I had unintentionally, or the one other person who had administrator access to that PC had intentionally or unintentionally, installed Microsoft’s latest browser.
Both Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox browsers are also installed on that PC, but I found long ago that it was folly to try and force some people to use one of them instead of Internet Explorer. I installed Firefox for a friend years ago and noticed that out of habit he just kept using Internet Explorer regardless. So I gave up trying to enlighten those kinds of people.
Therefore I went about uninstalling Internet Explorer 10.
(For those who want to do the same, go to Start Button | Control Panel | System and Security | Windows Update and selected “Installed Updates” on the lower left of the window. Then in the upper right, select the “Search Installed Updates” text entry box and type in “explorer”. If Windows Internet Explorer 10 is in the list, you can right click on it and select “uninstall”.)
After you uninstall IE10, you’ll need to check Windows Update and right click on the Internet Explorer 10 update and “hide” the update or it will get installed again later if you’re not paying attention.
Out of curiosity I tried to determine how Internet Explorer 10 had gotten installed to begin with. I hadn’t intentionally installed IE10, and the other person with admin access claimed they hadn’t either.
It didn’t take long to discover that Microsoft, as Microsoft is wont to do, had decided they knew what was best for me and had decided to install Internet Explorer 10 as an “important” update, instead of an “optional” one. That meant that most unsuspecting Windows users (including me) would likely install IE10 through Windows Update automatically if they weren’t paying attention.
Pardon me, but the entire thing stinks to high heaven.
Microsoft claims that they decided to make Internet Explorer 10 an “important update” in order to give its customers “the most up-to-date and safest browsing experience possible”.
But to me, it sounds suspiciously like another Microsoft volley in the browser wars.
For a little history of web browsers, back in the early to mid 1990′s, Netscape dominated the browser market. However, in the mid 1990′s Microsoft entered the browser market with Internet Explorer 1.0, and eventually began bundling Internet Explorer with their Windows Operating System. This led to erosion of market share for the Netscape browser and Microsoft eventually began dominating the browser market.
Many saw the bundling of Internet Explorer with Windows as an unfair advantage that in part eventually led to the antitrust suit United States v. Microsoft Corporation 253 F.3d 34 in the late 1990′s. In the trial, Microsoft disingenuously argued that Internet Explorer was an integral part of Windows and couldn’t be removed.
However, of late Internet Explorer has only seen its market share drop, in large part because it didn’t offer the speed nor features of alternative browsers. I would allege that the fact that it still has market share at all is because it is included with the Windows Operating system and there are still enough ignorant computer users who use it by default because they don’t know there are better (free) alternatives out there.
Is Microsoft’s decision to consider Internet Explorer 10 an “important” update really about security, or is it merely an attempt for them to try and regain lost share of the browser market?
Even definition updates for Microsoft Security Essentials (Microsoft’s free antivirus program) are “optional” updates – you would think Microsoft would consider definition updates for their antivirus program “important” as well; at least more important than an application (browser) update.
In addition there are plenty of secure websites out there that aren’t compatible with IE10 yet. So if you put IE10 on your PC you might not even be able to access some websites. So much for the user experience there…
Ultimately the gambit to gain market share also fails because users unable to access certain websites will be forced to do one of two things – either dig through the Windows Update installed files to figure out how to uninstall IE10, or download and install an alternative browser. I hate to break it to you Microsoft, but many are going to find installing a alternative browser easier.
I’ve got a big problem with any software publisher trying to surreptitiously install applications on my computer, and Internet Explorer is simply an application. Yes, I should know better than to trust Microsoft considering their history, but that doesn’t make them pushing out IE10 as an “important” Windows Update any less shady.
So I throw the bullshit flag on your “important” update, Microsoft. You’re wasting my time, my bandwidth and my drive space to install something I don’t even want. I’ll choose the browser I want to use, thank you very much.