Microsoft will release a security update on Tuesday to change
the way users interact with IE.
Sites that rely on popular ActiveX controls, such as Apple's
QuickTime, RealNetworks' RealPlayer, and Adobe's Flash and Acrobat,
are likely to give users problems.
The reason for the change: Microsoft lost a lawsuit to University
of California and its startup, Eolas Technologies Inc.
After this update, there are some changes which users need to get
used to:
1) Embedded ActiveX content will be inactive. Thus on unmodified
sites, ActiveX content will not run. In other words, music won't
play or a Flash component won't launch.
2) To activate an interactive ActiveX control, move the mouse over
the content -- which now will be boxed -- and click on the pop-up
tool tip dialog.
3) Each control on each page must be manually activated in this
way.
Very troublesome, but I think IE now will be safer to use. Adobe
has posted a short Flash-based demo that shows the activation
process. (Ironic note: If you're using IE after the Tuesday update
has been applied, you must active the Flash demo manually.)
Microsoft has acknowledged that not all Web site developers will
have modified their pages to account for IE's new behavior -- the
easiest way for developers to sidestep user activation is to call
the ActiveX controls via JavaScript -- and so will also release a
patch on Tuesday to delay the changes.
"We will create a “compatibility patch” (deployed like a hotfix)
that allows customers to turn off the change for a limited period
of time through the June update cycle (2nd Tuesday in June)," wrote
Mike Nash, Microsoft's head of security, in a blog posting last
month.
The patch will put off the activation requirements until June
13.
"[This is] to provide time for enterprise customers to resolve
compatibility issues," added Nash.
