In an event which can only be described as a long time coming, increased exposure for Mozilla’s Firefox has finally driven it to exceed that of Internet Explorer 6, the decrepit hunk of code venerable old browser released all the way back in 2001.

While IE’s overall market share still hangs around 62%, the portion of that belonging to the reviled IE6 shrunk to (a still abhorrently high) 23.30%. Combining versions 2.0, 3.0, and 3.5 for Firefox yielded a total presence of 23.83%.

Frankly, we don’t care what you switch to–Firefox, IE8, Safari 4, even Opera–but for heaven’s sake, get off of IE6 already. We’re talking to you, too, IT bean counters!

Ed note: In before enterprise risk analysis and legacy code.

Computerworld is reporting that Microsoft has an unlikely ally in the form of Mozilla which yesterday blasted Google for releasing a plugin which replaces Internet Explorer’s renderer with that of Chrome’s.

The former CEO of Mozilla and current Mozilla Foundation chair Mitchell Baker expressed her disagreement in a personal blog update.

“The overall effects of Chrome Frame are undesirable,” she said. “I predict positive results will not be enduring and — and to the extent it is adopted — Chrome Frame will end in growing fragmentation and loss of control for most of us, including Web developers.”

Baker claims that slipping Chrome into Internet Explorer will confuse users by giving them conflicting destinations for browser control.

“Once your browser has fragmented into multiple rendering engines, it’s very hard to manage information across Web sites. Some information will be manageable from the browser you use and some information from Chrome Frame. This defeats one of the most important ways in which a browser can help people manage their [Web] experience.”

Microsoft, meanwhile, complained that adding Chrome to IE would pose an increased security risk. The Redmond firm said that users would now have to patch vulnerabilities for two browsers instead of one. Microsoft also pointed out that the plugin also disabled Internet Explorer features like the private browsing mode which blocks history and cookies from being recorded.

The Mozilla Foundation’s VP of Engineering Mike Shaver also echoed security concerns. “The user’s understanding of the Web’s security model and the behavior of their browser is seriously hindered by delegating the choice of software to the developers of individual sites they visit,” he said.

Google has not yet responded to Mozilla’s criticisms. Users interested in replacing the Internet Explorer rendering engine with the safer, faster, and newer Chrome engine can do so for free.

If you’re a Firefox user running Windows 7, you may have noticed that Java applets do not seem to run correctly. Who’s to blame, and how do you fix it? We’ve got the answers.

The problem lies with the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) installer which places the Firefox Java plugins on the hard drive, but never moves them to Firefox’s plugins directory. How can the browser load Java applets if Java never gave it the plugins to do so? It can’t, according to Java Tester, which couldn’t tell we were running JRE build 1.6.0_15-b03.

Hi, Java! Hello? ...Java?

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The Mozilla Foundation yesterday released its second security update to Firefox 3.5 which launched in June. Firefox 3.5.2 fixes five vulnerabilities — four critical and one moderate — related to flaws in SSL, Javascript and memory management.

Protect your Gibson; patch your browser.

Today’s announcement that Google CEO Eric Schmidt has resigned from Apple’s board of directors may change the very face of competition in a race long alleged to be between Google and Microsoft.

The mutual decision–so far as the friendly PR tells us–to step down from Apple’s board comes just days after the FCC was prompted to investigate Apple’s app store practices after the firm rejected Google’s Voice application.

The timing of the announcement carries the air of conspicuousness, but cannot be construed as definitively damning. The more interesting case to be made from Schmidt’s resignation is the cementing of a rivalry few–if anyone–saw coming amidst the Microsoft v. Google punditry: Apple may just be Google’s biggest rival, not Microsoft.

Consider the market overlap between the trio of tech elites: While Microsoft and Google compete in search, advertising, cloud computing and soon operating systems, Google and Apple compete in phones, browsers, cloud computing and soon operating systems. Google may share the same number of conflicts with both firms, but the numbers tell a vastly more interesting story.

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Firefox 3.5 was only recently brought kicking and screaming into the world, but the Mozilla foundation is already on the move with mockups of the UI for version 4.0.

The author notes that the iteration with tabs above the address bar is contentious and has its own problems including a lack of user familiarity, longer mousing distances, an absent title bar and a break with consistency.

Assuming for a moment that these are final mockups (they’re not), which would you choose?

The Mozilla Foundation has closed a major security hole and improved launch times with yesterday’s release of Firefox version 3.5.1.

Though Firefox 3.5 is still hot from the oven, security researchers quickly uncovered a critical flaw in the browser’s JavaScript compiler that could be used to transparently execute malicious code on client PCs.

The Foundation also resolved an issue in the browser’s launch sequence that could make for significant delays. Bug hunters identified a flaw in a mechanism that creates security keys from the contents of the system’s temporary files. As Firefox 3.5 must complete a scan of these directories prior to application availability, a large temp file made for protracted launch times.

Users looking to avoid having their shit wrecked are advised to download the update from Mozilla or click check for updates in Firefox’s help menu.

The goal was to have a single video codec present in every major browser. This would allow web developers to include <video> elements without worrying about plugins or browser compatability. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like that will happen, with browser makers split between H.264 and Ogg Theora.

The quick version: Apple won’t use Ogg Theora because of hardware comparability and patent exposure, Opera won’t use H.264 because of cost, and Mozilla won’t use H.264 because of licensing restrictions. Microsoft won’t use H.264 for the same reason as Mozilla, but also hasn’t commented on supporting <video> at all. Google will support both Theora and H.264 in Chrome, but Chromium won’t have the latter because of licensing. Also, Theora isn’t up to snuff for YouTube’s volume.

Ian Hickson, reasonably, says that forcing Theora into the HTML5 spec won’t convince Apple to get on board, and all the others will do it anyway. Therefore, no codec will be officially specified in HTML5. The hope is that over time, one of the two formats will become the de facto standard.

Sigh.

The Mozilla Foundation has announced today that the next major iteration of Firefox, version 3.5, has publicly launched.

Firefox 3.5 has grown from the humble 3.1 update, codenamed Shiretoko, into the vastly more ambitious project released today. Though Shiretoko was compelling for its time, the subsequent introduction of Google’s Chrome and development in other browsers prompted a deadline setback and heightened aspirations.

The new version of the increasingly popular browser carries a clearinghouse of features, some 5,000 in all according to Mozilla. Headlining for the raft of changes includes: HTML5 streaming video, vastly improved JavaScript speed, IP geolocation for location-sensitive websites (think restaurant searches), a knockoff of IE8’s InPrivate browsing mode, and a dupe of Chrome’s webpages-as-apps feature.

Users interested in getting their hands on Mozilla’s newest kits can grab a copy right now.

If you can’t win by providing a legitimately superior product, apparently it’s perfectly okay to bribe consumers into supporting you.

Pleeeeeease recruit your friends so more people use IE8! Please?

In other news, the Organization of Desperation Exporting Companies (ODEC) has recently announced that the price of its commodity will be pegged at $10,000 AUD.

The Mozilla Foundation has announced today that the next major iteration of Firefox, version 3.5, is due by month’s end.

Firefox 3.5 has risen from humble origins as the minor 3.1 update, codenamed Shiretoko, into the vastly more ambitious project seen today. Though Shiretoko looked compelling when it was first announced, the subsequent introduction of Google’s Chrome and development in other browsers prompted a deadline setback and heightened aspirations.

The new version of the increasingly popular browser carries a clearinghouse of features, some 5,000 in all according to Mozilla. Headlining for the raft of changes includes: HTML5 streaming video, IP geolocation for location-sensitive websites (think restaurant searches), a knockoff of IE8’s InPrivate browsing mode and a dupe of Chrome’s webpages-as-apps feature.

A release candidate is expected forthwith, and the final version will be cleared for takeoff in the early days of July.

FOSS faithful are having a six month-delayed hissy after realizing that February’s Microsoft .NET 3.5 SP1 surreptitiously installed a Firefox addon that cannot easily be removed.

Microsoft’s .NET 3.5 SP1 included a Firefox addon which makes it easier for developers to create one-click web applications that run on the .NET engine. Rather than installing the addon on a per-user basis, which gives users the option to uninstall the addon as normal, the globally-installed addon would fore a user to go spelunking in the registry to remove it. A subsequent May update from Microsoft rectified this acrimonious install procedure by switching the addon to a per-user model, just like every other addon.

From February launch to May patch, this entire process went unnoticed until sites like Slashdot and the Washington Post started running the story over the weekend. Cue mass hysteria, calls of monopoly, the usual rabbles from the “IE sux!” crowd and we arrive here on Monday to ask the question: If Microsoft installs a bunk addon and nobody notices, is it really a problem?

Mmmhmm.