Member Avatar for John A

Microsoft has now hit 100 million users for Internet Explorer 7. But, says analysts, this isn't an impact on competing web browsers. This is simply internal growth.

Sure, maybe. But it's saying something that people are quickly switching to Microsoft's latest browser. I think that the interface looks very cool; it has quite an Aero influence to it. Although you might hate me for saying this, I love the Aero interface on Windows Vista. And this browser fits in perfectly.

I've read many reports of people that were previously Firefox users until IE 7 was released - and it seems to provide much of the features that Firefox has: pop-up blocking; tabbed browsing; spell checking (although it requires a plugin). Since I currently use a Mac, I don't have a chance to try out IE 7. But if I did use Windows, I most certainly would try it. It seems that Microsoft has taken a lot of good queues from competing web browsers - most noteably tabbed browsing, which I simply can't live without.

I think the real reason for Firefox's growth is the "hating Microsoft" trend that's brewed by community sites such as Digg, Slashdot, Reedit, and others. From my point of view, Microsoft has done a good job on Internet Explorer 7. Although I found IE 6 far too limited, IE 7 looks like it has finally found what users are looking for - at least for a while. A lot of people just think it's "cool" to use a different browser than everyone else.

I haven't seen a huge innovation trend happening in Firefox either. For example, the huge release of Firefox 2.0 wasn't even that great, considering the features that were added. Heck, you can even download Firefox 3.0! (not even beta of course, but still...)

As I continue to use Firefox on my MacBook, here are some things I would like to see implemented in an upcoming version of Internet Explorer:

  • More platform support (Give Linux a chance, Microsoft!)
  • Skinnable support
  • Open sourcing of the IE core (of course that's just wishful thinking)
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Dani AI

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Good historical context and some useful observations from and , plus a quick clarification for about Macs and IE.

IE7 did reach the 100 million‑installation milestone very quickly (announcement dated January 8, 2007), but a large share of that growth came from Microsoft’s distribution channels (Automatic Updates and Vista pre‑installs) rather than a mass, voluntary migration away from competing browsers. (Ars Technica, Jan 2007). (arstechnica.com)

The browser itself shipped in October 2006 and deliberately added features that had become standard in rivals: tabbed browsing, pop‑up blocking, an integrated search box, RSS/web‑feeds support and anti‑phishing measures — plus Vista‑only security improvements (Protected Mode) to limit what a compromised tab could do to the OS. (Microsoft press release, Oct 18, 2006; feature summary). (news.microsoft.com)

On the Firefox vs. IE7 points raised by : extensibility and the add‑on ecosystem were major differentiators for Firefox, and real‑world memory/performance numbers varied widely with page content and installed extensions. Benchmarks from that era were mixed; user experience often came down to workflows and which extensions or sites mattered most.

Important note for anyone landing on this old thread today: IE7 is obsolete and no longer supported under modern Windows lifecycles — relying on it now is insecure. Microsoft documents the product lifecycle and recommends moving to modern browsers; for legacy IE‑only sites, the supported path is Microsoft Edge’s IE mode (configuration and troubleshooting docs available). (Microsoft lifecycle for IE7). (learn.microsoft.com)

Testing tip (Mac or modern PC): replicate IE7 rendering with a Windows VM/image from the appropriate era or use Edge’s IE mode / enterprise site lists for compatibility testing rather than running unsupported browser builds.

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Member Avatar for 'Stein

One quick question out of curiosity:

Why are ya using FF, and not Camino, on youre Mac?

Member Avatar for John A

> Why are ya using FF, and not Camino, on youre Mac?
Tried it. Didn't like it.

For some reason, I don't like Camino's interface. Firefox seems a bit more streamlined, and if I did want to, it has better skin support than Camino. You may also think I'm crazy saying this, but I also find that Camino's a bit slower than Firefox. (For some reason I also find that Opera is slower than Firefox, even though everyone else claims it's faster.) Perhaps it's just my Mac.

I also don't like the fact that I then have to rely on Camino for updates; if a security update is released for Firefox, I want it ASAP. Using the basic Firefox browser allows me to do that.

Member Avatar for Member #117841

hmmm.... I believe firefox is the 'king' of all browsers, even microsoft's IE7. IE7 uses for memory than Firefox even though IE7 had 'adopted' (lol more like stole) the tab idea. There are more extensions for Firefox and it is also open source so people can play around with it, to create even more extensions for Firefox. I don't think IE7 can show you the weather eh?

Only downfall for Firefox, i've noticed, so far is the fact that some pages appear as html coding.

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