Microsoft Secretly Updates Firefox
6-Jun, 2009
From the WTF? department: the Washington Post recently reported that in true “bury-the-details-in-the-EULA-because-nobody-ever-reads-it” form, Microsoft has installed a Firefox add-on during its last update cycle. Not cool. Windows users who don’t want Microsoft’s .NET Framework Assistant running in their beloved Mozilla web browser can hack the registry [always fun] to disable the add-on.
Why is this a big deal? It’s akin to Wells Fargo adding a new feature to the Bank of America website, because Wells Fargo assumed Bank of America members wanted to have that feature…without anyone knowing about it. Oh, and it’s possible that the new feature makes using Bank of America services less secure.
<sarcasm>Microsoft installing software without your knowledge? Is this even possible?</sarcasm> Reason not to use Windows #437.
Then, a few days later, Microsoft responded to all of the pissed-off users by issuing a patch that allows the nasty add-on to be uninstalled. All is right with the world.
