In the past week it's been a tough time for Internet Explorer. It all started when it was revealed that there was a critical vulnerability in the browser which meant applications could be run remotely. This flaw was revealed after Google's were attacked and this was shown to be the likely culprit. Such an announcement from a rival browser manufacturer is never a good announcement to be made, but it's also one which will prove hard for Microsoft to fix due to it's tight integration with the Windows environment. So, ironically it's the same thing Microsoft were originally brought up on for unfair practices that is now causing them further pain. Due to the nature of the flaw it is one which is not present in rival browsers.
Following that announcement came another from the German government (from their Federal Office for Information Security) advising their citizens that they should not use any version of Internet Explorer and should instead use an alternative. I think when this announcement was made it brought a ray of hope to those web designers and developers who shun the browser's quirks which normally causes more development time. Swiftly following this initial announcement was another announcement from the French government department CERTA was a similar sort of message and to also disable JavaScript and ActiveX.
TechRadar have reported that this was then followed by contact from Microsoft UK's Head of Security and Privacy whom stated that users who switch will risk using a less secure browser.
The net effect of switching [from IE] is that you will end up on less secure browser," insisted Evans.
The risk [over this specific] exploit is minimal compared to Firefox or other competing browsers… you will be opening yourself up to security issues.
He then goes on to say he thinks IE8 is a more secure browser than Firefox and that they're only talking about one vulnerability - granted that may be the case at the minute but it is a pretty major vulnerability. If Microsoft are going to start pointing fingers at other browser manufacturers they should back up their accusations with proof and should do something about fixing their own browser.
In light of these recent announcements I don't think it's going to make a major difference - most users who know about other browsers and may want to change most likely have already. If the UK government was to follow suit and issue a recommendation it is likely that although some users may make the switch that the government itself would delay a browser switch themselves due to the logistics of rolling out a browser to all their systems. Fortunately some of the government is ahead of the curve and have already made the jump to an alternative, more secure browser.
