We’ve all heard the anti-trust tirades before, but the EU just doesn’t want to let up on Microsoft. They’re not happy with claims that OEMs are "free to include other web browsers." Nope. That just won’t cut it.
The answer: more bloat for the end user! Yes, the European Commission is considering forcing OEMs to distribute alternative browsers with their systems. As someone who works in the retail computer business, I cringe at this news.
Don’t get me wrong – I load Firefox on every system I build, if for nothing else but backup when a customer overloads IE with toolbars and rogue ActiveX controls. But that doesn’t mean I’d want a government body forcing me to install software that I might not otherwise.
Let’s think about this for a minute, EU guys.
Windows also includes some other things that have competitors: Wordpad, Paint, Media Player, Defender, and Remote Desktop Connection, to name a few. Does that mean that a new PC will have to include Jarte, AbiWord, Gimp, Paint.Net, WinAmp, VLC, GOM Player, Media Monkey, AdAware, SpyBot, MalwareBytes AntiMalware, Kerio, Comodo, ZoneAlarm, PC Anywhere, VNC, TeamViewer, and a slew of other apps whose functionality Microsoft has built in to Windows?

Isn’t  this a little alarming news?

[via Download Squad]

Mozilla’s mobile Firefox browser, Fennec, has hit Alpha 2 and is faster, smoother and the usability of the features have been improved. This new release has also got 1 new add-on besides URL Fixer – AutoAuth which simply adds password memory for sites that require authentication. From the looks of this Alpha built, it seems to be on the way to become the best mobile web browser and if developers start making add-ons for Fennec like Firefox, it’ll be truly unbeatable.

Most of the changes are under the hood. Alpha 2  features a Firefox 3-like “awsome bar” ,  popup blocker, password manager, and option to clear private data. For now it runs on Nokia Internet Tablets. You can also take it for a test spin on Windows, OS X , and Linux computers.

For now it runs on Nokia Internet Tablets. You can also take it for a test spin on Windows, OS X , and Linux computers. You can get it here.

Lunascape is one of a kind of web browser and it very unique because it has not one but three rendering engines. The latest Alpha version of Lunascape supports three of the most popular rendering engines used in other web browsers, including Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, and Google Chrome.
Upon setup, you can select your default rendering engine. Gecko or WebKit are known for their blazing fast performance when loading many web pages and web apps,. Or you can choose Trident if you frequently visit web pages that only work with Internet Explorer.
The browser has a built in screen capture utility, skins, and has a full screen mode. It supports bookmarklets and add-ons, but right now there aren’t a ton of Plugins available. Unfortunately it will not work with Plugins designed for Firefox, Safari, or Internet Explorer.

This browser would be useful for developers who have to test there web pages for compatibility between different browsers. But be warned this is in Alpha stage and has some serious bugs.

You can get Lunascape here.

It’s just a week since Google’s Browser Chrome was launched and it has already snatched Internet Explorer’s market share.

While Chrome accounted for 0.7% of all browsers used last week on average, Microsoft Corp.’s IE lost 1.4 percentage points in market share during the same period, said U.S.-based tracking company Net Applications. Microsoft’s browser ended the week with a 71% share.

All other browser have posted gains at IE’s expense, Firefox’s share climbed by 0.3 points, from 19.5% to 19.8% last week Apple’s Safari from 6.3% to 6.7%, while Opera increased by 0.01 points, ending the week at 0.75%.

Internet Explorer was most affected because of Google Chrome. Chrome’s high point since its Sept. 2 debut was last Friday, when it averaged 1.2% for the day. On Monday, it averaged 0.9%.

Microsoft yesterday announced that some new privacy tools are going to added to the Internet Explorer 8 (beta 2).

The Private Browsing mode when enabled, IE8 will not save browsing and searching history, cookies, form data and passwords; it also will automatically clear the browser cache at the end of the session.

Other new tools will include "InPrivate Blocking" and "InPrivate Subscription," which notifies users of third-party content that can track browsing history and subscribe to lists of sites to block, respectively. Microsoft will also tweak its existing "Delete Browsing History" by adding an option to preserve bookmarked sites’ cookies even when all others are erased.

Apple’s browser Safari already has this feature but is limited to not save browsing and searching history, cookies, form data and passwords and clearing the browser cache at the end of the session. (NO "InPrivate Blocking" and "InPrivate Subscription")

Mozilla were going put this feature in their browser Firefox 3.0 which went final in mid-June, but the feature was pulled as the browser made its run toward completion. Firefox 3.1 most probably will have the "private browsing" which is how they are describing the privacy  tools they are planning on adding to Firefox.

Do you remember the cool add-on IE8 Activities for Firefox or do you know that Internet Explorer has a feature known as Activities ?

These posts will refresh your memory -

Activities and webslice in Firefox

New version of Firefox activities is here

My take on Internet Explorer 8

Got what I’m talking about?

I said at that time this feature would be more useful only if more services are integrated into it. I especially wanted Google services like Blog with Blogger, send with Gmail etc. Google seems to have created activities.

Some of the Google Offerings are -

• Blog with Blogger
• Define With Google Define
• Find with Google
• Lookup in Google News
• Map with Google Maps
• Send with Gmail (and)
• Translate with Google Translate.

Sadly Google activities doesn’t have the preview pane.

You can get the activities here.

Well not really… it’ll happen only if you have kept the security settings on Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 7 to their most paranoid level.

This problem is not with Firefox, Firefox is just honoring your Windows security settings for downloading applications and other potentially unsafe files from the Internet.

According to Mozilla -

Starting in Firefox 3, downloads of executable files (e.g., .exe or .msi) may fail and the Firefox Downloads window will contain this message, under the filename:  This download has been blocked by your Security Zone Policy.

Lot of users won’t be facing this problem if they haven’t played around the security settings. But if you have changed the security settings then — open Internet Options (via Control Panel or from Internet Explorer -> Tools) and click the Security tab. With the Internet zone icon highlighted, click the Custom level… button. (which is default setting) A list of security settings for the Internet zone will appear. Find the “Launching applications and unsafe files” setting (under Miscellaneous) and select “Prompt (recommended)”.