Paul Thurrott has posted another article explaing exactly what he meant when he posted his article calling a boycott of IE7. It now seems he meant IE in general, for now at least..
Here is a snip from the article: It"s amusing but disconcerting to me that what I write can be so widely misunderstood. In an article earlier this week about Microsoft"s plans for improving the Web standards compliance in Internet Explorer (IE) 7, I repeated a recommendation I"ve been making to Windows users for years: Boycott IE.
This recommendation was completely misunderstood by a number of people. Some misread it as "Boycott IE 7." And some were amazed that a Windows advocate like me would take the "bold" step actually calling on Windows users to stop using a Microsoft product. And clearly, describing IE as "a cancer" was a bit strong. But allow me to explain what"s really happening here.
First of all, put out those torches: I"m not leading a charge on Castle Frankenstein. Years ago, when Microsoft added the buggy and unproven IE code to the core of Windows NT 4.0, I felt that it was the worst decision the company had ever made. And since then, I"ve been proven right time and time again: IE has become the number one vector for malware intrusions in Windows, as shown by the vast number of security exploits this product has suffered over the years. As a result, one can make only a very weak argument about the benefits of fusing IE with Windows. But one can make a much better argument about the benefits of leaving the browser code separate from the OS.