Originally posted by Brian Rector
This is the last straw for me. I have gone through years of patches after patches for IE and Windows and I have had enough. IMHO, all these patches will make Windows and Internet Explorer more and more unstable and more crash prone everyday.
Personally, the way to get out of this "patch happy" attitude of Microsoft is to use a different browser, like Netscape, Opera, or Mozilla.
http://news.com.com/2100-1001-914805.html?legacy=cnet&tag=lthd
There are two types of Patches. One is the security Patch, the other is the bug fix.
Every Product requires bug fixes. IBM/Lotus, Novell, you name it has bugs not all these bugs can be fixed at once, so they have to put out preiodic bug fixes. And yes sometimes new bugs occur. This is not a Microsoft only problem, take a look at any game, or other piece of software (business or personal) and you will see continual fixes.
And my question is why is this a problem? The Software is in many ways a living entity and I'd rather have to apply a monthly fix that be stuck with software that never is updated. Part of my weekly/monthly mantenance procedure is to apply the patches for the period.
The security fix is a different area, as people find holes in security Microsoft patches up the holes. Many people just say that it is MS only that has the problem. But Netscape had security holes as well. I see the issue is MASS, if you are going to probe for holes in a browser which browser would be most effective with your time, IE wins just by the # of users.
Why get on MS's case when they are legitimately trying to fix the problems they are aware of instead of other companies where they ignore the facts. They make is easy to get the SW (granted a Dialup modem isn't as efficient as DSL/Cable Modem)
What makes you think the other web browsers will be so bug free that they will never need a bug patch or security patch. Just because none exist does not that there is no need. Many small companies don't put out bug patches becasue they don't have the manpower.