Microsoft unchains IE 7 for XP users

Microsoft is to allow users of Windows XP to download Internet Explorer 7 without having to gain Windows Genuine Advantage authentication.

Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) is part of Microsoft's Genuine Software Initiative. It is intended to help prevent the distribution and use of unauthorised versions of Windows. Previously, to download Internet Explorer 7, users had to authenticate to WGA.

IE 7 programme manager, Steve Reynolds, wrote in a blog post: "With today's 'Installation and Availability Update', Internet Explorer 7 installation will no longer require Windows Genuine Advantage validation and will be available to all Windows XP users."

Microsoft said it had dropped the requirement for WGA for security reasons. A spokesperson said: "Microsoft takes its commitment to help protect the entire Windows ecosystem seriously, and we're taking a step to help make consumers safer online. We feel the security enhancements to Internet Explorer 7 are significant enough that it should be available as broadly as possible, and this means removing WGA validation."

The spokesperson said removing the validation did "not interfere with Microsoft's commitment to fighting software piracy".

However, Tristan Nitot, president of Mozilla Europe, suggested Microsoft may be concerned over the uptake of IE 7. Mozilla develops rival web-browser Firefox.

Nitot said: "I think IE 7 adoption is too low according to Microsoft's tastes, partly because many people are concerned with issues with regards to WGA. I guess Microsoft's not so happy with the numbers."

There are conflicting statistics available on the popularity of the major web browsers. For example, according to web analysis site W3Schools, Firefox has more market share than IE 7, with 34.5 per cent and 20.1 per cent respectively. However, according to Net Applications, Firefox 2.0 has 13.6 per cent of market share, while IE 7 has 34.6 per cent. Both sites indicate that Firefox and IE 7 are gaining market share, while Internet Explorer 6 is losing market share.

Tom Espiner writes for ZDNet UK