Mossberg Warns of Insidious New Feature in IE Version to Ship with Windows XP
Walter S. Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal does not like the Smart Tags feature of the new version of Microsoft Internet Explorer that is expected to ship with Windows XP in October. In his Personal Technology Column published today, he rebukes Microsoft for what amounts to editing other people's Web Sites without permission:
Microsoft's Internet Explorer Smart Tags are something new and dangerous.
They mean that the company that controls the Web browser is using that
power to actually alter others' Web sites to its own advantage. Microsoft
has a perfect right to sell services. But by using its dominant software to do
so, it will be tilting the playing field and threatening editorial integrity.
CTDATA opposes this technology, as Mossberg has described it. We recommend that everyone in the Web Publishing industry read this column and decide for themselves if this is an additional threat to the independence and economic viability of Web Sites that are not affilated with Microsoft.