Andre Yoskowitz
6 Oct 2007 13:16
In a somewhat surprising move, Microsoft has made their Internet Explorer 7 browser available to anyone running Windows XP or Windows Server 2003, in an update that removes Microsoft's Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) validation software from the browser.
Before the update, only users running genuine Microsoft products could update from the terrible IE6 browser, but now even those with pirated Windows can update.
"Because Microsoft takes its commitment to help protect the entire Windows ecosystem seriously, we’re updating the IE7 installation experience to make it available as broadly as possible to all Windows users," remarked IE7 program manager Steve Reynolds on the IE Blog. "With today’s 'Installation and Availability Update,' Internet Explorer 7 installation will no longer require Windows Genuine Advantage validation and will be available to all Windows XP users."
The move is likely to give some of the browser market back to Microsoft which it has been losing to strong competitors such as Firefox and Opera.
Source:
Dailytech