The new Netscape 8 Internet browser really does disable Microsoft Internet Explorer, at least where XML files like blog feeds are concerned, Microsoft has confirmed.
In an entry on his Microsoft Internet Explorer blog, Microsoft Senior Program Manager David Massy said computer users who install Netscape 8 and use IE to visit XML files or XML with XSLT transformations get blank pages instead of the content they wanted.
"We’ve just confirmed an issue that has started to be reported on newsgroups and forums that after installing Netscape 8, the XML-rendering capabilities of Internet Explorer no longer work," Massy wrote in the May 25 entry. "That means that if you navigate in IE to an XML file such as an RSS feed or an XML file with an XSLT transformation applied, then rather than seeing the data you are presented with a blank page."
Perhaps needless to say, Massy's post engendered just a little sarcasm. "I really don't want to sound cynical, sarcastic, or satirical," said a poster calling himself only Tony, "but that is one hell of a way to prevent users from switching to another browser."
On the other hand, according to a poster calling herself Chloe, "Shows once again that it was Netscape incompetence that led to IE's dominance, not monopoly 'abuse'."
