Eolas changes to go widespread with next IE update

IDG News Service - Web surfers may notice some unusual behavior from the Internet Explorer browser after installing Microsoft Corp.'s next round of security patches, which is expected April 11. That's because Microsoft is planning to make required changes to the way its browser handles dynamic content like Flash or QuickTime files in the wake of the company's highly publicized patent dispute with Eolas Technologies Inc.

Microsoft has already made the changes available in an optional IE patch, but now the changes are being rolled into IE's next security update, which will make them effectively mandatory for most users.

"Currently, that update is in the testing phase and could be released as early as April," said Stephen Toulouse, security program manager with Microsoft's security response center. "But of course, that isn't final," he added.

There has been some confusion over the date of this next release. Earlier this week, Microsoft's customer support services group published a note saying that the changes were expected on April 11, but that announcement was pulled, because that date is "not finalized," Toulouse said.

In August 2003, an Illinois court awarded Eolas $521 million in damages for Microsoft's patent violations. Microsoft is appealing the ruling and challenging the validity of the Eolas patent with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, but the court ruling forced Microsoft to make the changes or risk being found in contempt of court (see "Supreme Court rejects Microsoft appeal in Eolas case").

The ActiveX changes will gum up the way some Web surfers interact with dynamic content by forcing them to click on a pop-up "tool tip" dialog box before being able to run some multimedia content.

Microsoft, Apple Computer Inc. and Adobe Systems Inc. have published work-arounds for the changes, which mean that Web sites that have coded these work-arounds will appear as normal to IE users.

But the IE changes will probably take some by surprise, according to Jon Galloway, a Web developer at VelocIT Corp. in San Francisco. "A lot of Web sites are not going to update their Flash right away," he said.

The changes will certainly be an annoyance, but they will not prevent users from running Flash or QuickTime files, he said. "It's the kind of thing that's going to upset a marketing department that wants everything to look perfect," Galloway said.

Most of the pain from the IE update will be felt by Web developers who may find themselves scrambling to implement the work-arounds.

"Once this rolls out to everybody, suddenly things that used to work automatically will have to be manually done," said Richard Smith, an Internet security consultant in Boston. "The bottom line is Web sites are going to have a lot of work to do here."