Originally Posted by Picard102 Thats flat out bull****. Maybe they should just give averything away becuase some people can't afford it. I know you children today think communism is cool and all, but it aint going to happen anytime soon.

I'm with you on this one, Picard. Young Spark, what have you given to Microsoft in order for them to hand you over a free piece of software above-and-beyond what they're already giving you? (I've got free hardware from them, but that's another storey)

I for one will be happy if the only changes made to IE are in the realm of security. Sure, additional extras (like closer following of the W3C's standards, tabbed browsing, and so on) would be nice but far from essential.

In the end, if you don't like the changes being made to IE (or changes not being made...) then there is a very simple solution. Don't use IE.

On to the comments about AV protection, sure it might be nice to have it 100% integrated with a browser. But what if you have multiple browsers? What if you're using an email client? What about other programs accessing the 'net? Should they also be protected?.. I think so. A standalone AV application (whether free, or not) is IMO worth its weight in gold. If (for example) Firefox came with a built-in AV application, would people be satisfied with that and ignore the other ways of receiving viruses (virii)?

Food for thought.