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I’m a Firefox user. I’m proud to say that. I’m enlightened enough in my internet experience that I’ve migrated from the seventh circle of hell to a little slice of heaven. I made the change a while back and I haven’t missed the torture for even a second. My life is better because of Firefox.

There are still web sites, however, that require the Internet Explorer browser. It’s unfortunate, but it’s true. Tonight I was trying to use one of these sites for the first time since I got my new Vista laptop.

Since it’s Windows Vista, there’s no choice on keeping IE6. (Version 6, though completely evil in all its ways, is still not as much of a burden as the 7.0 version.) You’re given IE7 at the start, and you just have to deal with it.

So I go to this site that needs to install an Active X control. Granted, installing Active X controls is usually about as wise as letting your children play with rattlesnakes, but this is an internal server at the office that I administer, so it’s not such a big deal.

IE determines that the control is from an “Unknown Publisher” and won’t install. That makes sense.

Let’s see…security settings….where are they?…oh…there…

So I turned off protected mode, and I set the security on IE to “medium” (there’s not a “low” now…it’s medium, medium-high, or high…they don’t admit to low security on anything, which just cracks me up.)

I tried to add the site to the trusted sites list, but you can only trust https sites, because (apparently) there is no unencrypted content on the internet (or any intranet) worth trusting. I’m glad to know that…

The Active X control wouldn’t install.

So I decide I’ll try Firefox, which has a nifty extension installed called “IE Tab.” It lets me view any web page with IE’s engine but within the awesomeness of Firefox. It, however, still won’t let this control install.

I understand Microsoft’s approach to protecting users from themselves. It makes sense. But come on. There has to be a check box somewhere that reads “I know what I’m doing, and I really am not just saying that, and I know that if I mess up my computer by doing something stupid, I’m not allowed to blame Microsoft for their poor product development.” I’m so sick of dealing with these products.

At this point, I’m ready to stop using web sites that require IE. I’m ready to ditch the whole operating system. I’d even drop Office (which I actually like) and pick up something like Open Office. I’d even refrain from doing business with Redmond-based companies simply on a matter of principal.

There wasn’t much of a world of computing before Microsoft, but I’m willing to bet that a world without Microsoft would be a more secure, less stressful, and more user-friendly world.