Did you really think that Microsoft would just roll over and take Google’s ‘effort’ to make Internet Explorer adopt to the changing web technology by releasing the Google Chrome Frame? Well, clearly Microsoft will not let this pass and allow Google to play with IE for the advancement Google’s own agenda. So Microsoft is discouraging IE users not to install Chrome Frame arguing that it will make Internet Explorer less secure.
A Microsoft representative who spoke with Ars Technica said:
“With Internet Explorer 8, we made significant advancements and updates to make the browser safer for our customers. Given the security issues with plugins in general and Google Chrome in particular, Google Chrome Frame running as a plugin has doubled the attach area for malware and malicious scripts. This is not a risk we would recommend our friends and families take.”
While this statement might somehow be true, especially if you will just take it as coming from the IE owner, Microsoft is however missing some fine details about Chrome security and raises several questions.
How can Microsoft be so sure that there actually is a significant number of malware and bots targeting Google Chrome? We might have seen some vulnerabilities of Chrome during its early stages but the Google Chrome engineers worked doubly hard to make Google Chrome as stable as it is right now. And don’t most hackers target IE?
Of course, one thing that Microsoft did not notice in the Google announcement of the Chrome Frame is the fact that it is not really geared so much for IE8 but more so for earlier versions of the Microsoft browser. But apparently, in their objection to the Chrome Frame, Microsoft was singling out IE8 as secure browser which does not need the Chrome Frame.
