Microsoft will be issuing an update to Internet Explorer on the 11 April 2006. This update reverses changes made to the way activeX controls are handled in IE. ActiveX controls include Java applets, Macromedia Flash and Adobe PDF files amongst others.
This will change the way you will interact with websites that make use of activeX controls. Currently, if you browsed a site that makes use ofJava applets, that display a graph for example, the graph would display immediately after it was loaded, with no user interaction from you. After this update, you will now have to physically click on the object to get it to load, and probably also tell IE to allow the applet to run.
After a forthcoming update, Microsoft Internet Explorer users will not be able to directly interact with Microsoft ActiveX controls loaded by the APPLET, EMBED, or OBJECT elements. Users will be able to interact with such controls after activating their user interfaces.
The reason for this update was because of a patent infringement brought by the University of California and Eolas Technologies. This potentially exposes Microsoft to $565 million in damages, if they do not issue this update.
More info from these news sources:
- Patent infringment case: Appeals court revisits Eolas decision
- News.com: Web developers get a respite on IE changes
- Microsoft Security Blog: Mike Nash on the IE update
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