Preview patch returns ActiveX to the way it was

Mak 2.0

Mod...WAFFLES!?!?
Staff member
work with one click from inside Web pages, the company is testing a patch that restores that functionality in the wake of a settlement with the idea's creator.

Last August, rather than prolong its ongoing IP infringement battle with rights holder Eolas Technologies over the embedding of binary functionality into Web pages, Microsoft agreed to settle that dispute. The settlement apparently consisted of a one-time payment, whose amount is still undisclosed, in exchange for a perpetual license for the notion that clicking on something in a Web page can trigger an embedded binary control.

This was the original basis of Microsoft's ActiveX technology, its first major attempt at making the Web its own. That attempt largely failed, and as a result, Internet Explorer today must provide some kind of opt-out warning that a Web page-driven event may trigger the execution of a binary program, such as an on-screen control.

Now, well in advance of its April milestone date, Microsoft released this morning a preview of a patch that removes that warning from Internet Explorer 6 and IE7, for both Windows XP and Windows Vista, for 32- and 64-bit editions, and for x86 and Itanium processors. BetaNews FileForum has posted links this morning to all 12 preview editions, so make certain you download the version that applies to you.

A Microsoft Knowledgebase document released this afternoon says the patch will only work on IE6 and IE7 versions with the latest security patches already installed.

>> Source: BetaNews


So what i am gathering from this is now you wont be prompted to allow for downlaods of the ActiveX controls. I know previously we had to allow them. But if you have a fresh install on a system and you have never had to allow for the ActiveX controls before it seems this act will not prompt you to download them but have them download automatically. Which will be really scary.
 
Scary indeed :|

If Microsoft is banking on the fact that it can't hurt users running in non-admin or UAC mode - well, what about people that do?
 
The thing that gets me is that AcitveX is the most exploited. It has been used for malicious things in the past when they didnt have the prompt. What makes them think that IE will be anywhere near safe if they go back to unprompted acitveX controls?
 
I've given up trying to reason how the IE team thinks :smile:
During the Vista beta I knew a lot of the IE team, and they all assured me that IE development would continue beyond Vista RTM - at one point I even had confirmation that the team was already working on IE8..... but it's been a long time since!
 
It just baffles my mind. IE was the most insecure browser out there when things like this happened. It was cause of this ActiveX thing that Firefox was born which is now taking up around 17% of their market share. This will only drive people to other browsers and make IE lose even more.

I know this, when that patch hits. I will NOT use IE anymore. If i need something from a M$ site i will use Firefox with the IE extension. IE will just scare me way to much to try and do something stupid like use it. :lol:
 
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