What they know . .
We have discovered that Microsoft has a built-in booby-trap
to discourage users from permanently adopting alternative browsers.
It is the imbedded Internet Explorer coding that you cannot shut off.

Sure, you can designate another browser as the default browser.
However, any function that touches on Microsoft's MSN Messenger,
Hotmail account or e-mail clients will only view in Microsoft's IE,
even when it is not the default browser.

There is an added glitch. When you click on a link in a newsletter
or anything else in the IE-must-load-or-die hard wiring, the links
don't access java. Java only works when IE is the default program.
Microsoft says tough! Alternative browser makers say there is nothing
they can do about it. So essentially, you have to share browser use
based on function and need.

What's at Stake...

Ultimately, the issues involving switching browsers -- free or otherwise
-- come down to two factors: advertising dominance and vulnerabilities.
With Microsoft's continued supremacy, sponsor money from Internet
search engines has little competition. And virus and spyware writers
have one major target -- MSIE users.

Security issues are the key factor, as Richard Stiennon,
vice president of threat research for Webroot Software, sees it.

"One browser used by 291 million people means a target rich environment
for spyware writers, Phishers, and virus writers. As in any eco-system
diversity is healthier that monocultures. As Firefox eats away at Microsoft's
market share the spyware writers will have to maintain code
for two different browsers," he said.

"But in the meantime users are better off from a security
and privacy perspective by switching to a non-Microsoft platform.."