The Next IE in June will block Pop-Ups

Are we finally going to see an end to these ads?

[grelmar]

Just read through an article in Wired that was about M$'s plan to battle spyware, and it includes blocking unrequested Pop-Ups in the next version of IE, slated to be released sometime this summer.

Given that (according to the article) 50% of the world's PCs are running XP, and are eligable for this upgrade, is this going to radically alter the nature of internet advertising?

I know that a lot of people here disdain pop-ups, but there are many, MANY webmasters out there reliant on pop-ups for revenue?

I'm curious to know what people here think, especially those who currently rely on pop-ups for a significant part of their revenue stream.

Personally, I think the net will be a better place without them. Bad "adult-oriented" spammy sites rely on them extensively, and this might push them under, profit wise.

There's really a whole raft of issues that go along with this. Is M$ just trying to respond to the growing popularity of other browsers like Mozilla, Opera, and FireFox? How is this move going to affect those competing browsers?

Lets face it, when the Elephant moves, everyone watches.

[txbakers]

Is M$ just trying to respond to the growing popularity of other browsers like Mozilla, Opera, and FireFox?

In my opinion only, I don't MS cares one whit about Mozilla, Opera and FireFox. They know they have 95% of the market and will dominate for years. Remember, the geek community knows about these browsers, not the people buying computers at Radio Shack or WalMart.

But I think it will dent the ad market for these. But, they do have their purpose and I hope the browser doesn't block all "window.open" commands.

[vkaryl]

Y'know, grel, I don't care at ALL about the popup/window.open thing. That's why I have a blocker. It's an eeny meeny pitsa teeny applet - can live there and prosper forever, for all of me....

What I CARE about is mountains of email spam....

[Macguru]

>>mountains of email spam....

I bet my shirt it will block all pop ups from sites that didn't cought up 20k $ to M$ in July.

Only "Bonded Sender Programme" pop ups will show. :)

[grelmar]

Yah, pop-ups are a non issue for me too, I don't use IE for surfing.

And I'd wager 90+% of people here have some way of dealing with pop-ups. But that's not the norm for the internet.

Most users take what they get out of the box from Radio Shack, and don't intentionally tinker with their browser.

(Mind, a lot of people don't bother going to M$ for updates either).

But it IS a definite shot across the bow for people who use pop-ups.

And I'm still curious if its going to affect anyone here, in sites they maintain.

_{p.s. vkaryl: speaking of spam e-mail, I puposely left you of my update list, but I could change that :P}

[vkaryl]

Well, actually, I'm not going back to IE in any case. Firefox already blocks popups. However, I have a not even quasi-machine-literate cousin, and she drives me NUTS with the problems she has! If she was just around the corner, it wouldn't be so bad (um - well, thank GODDESS she's not, but anyway....) but she's 2000 miles away.... so it's either on the phone *sigh* or email....

[wavebird23]

If this new pop up blocker tool is true, google and other toolbar providers will have a fit. I saw in a recent survey that 70% of people download the google toolbar because of it's pop-up blocker.

[bill]

Even if the newer IE has the pop-up blocker it won't be turned on by default. The less sophisticated users will still get pop-ups.