Veerle's blog

Remember the Eolas patent an ongoing court struggle between Microsoft and the University of California? After two years Microsoft is now changing the way Internet Explorer handles ActiveX controls like for example the Flash plugin and Java applets. In 2003 the changes proposed were pretty disruptive since you needed to click an OK on a alert window every time a flash movie was loading.

Michael Wallent, general manager of Microsoft’s Windows Client division described the change now as “minor” and explained that the extra mouse click would only be necessary if the user wanted to interact with the ActiveX control. So users cannot directly interact with Microsoft ActiveX controls loaded by the APPLET, EMBED, or OBJECT elements, they have activate their interface first. The white paper about it can be found here

For example when you open a page that uses Windows Media Player to play a movie or music file, the music/movie plays after the page loads but you can not interact with the interface unless you activate it as shown in the picture.

When a page consist of several objects they all can be activated with one click. Instead of non-stop dialog boxes as first proposed, the page will load normally and won’t be as disruptive. It will only require a click to activate if the user wants to interact with it. Wallent also said “the vast majority of sites and users won’t be affected and that it is significantly less intrusive than what we originally planned to do”.

Microsoft is still convinced it will triumph but the changes are being made to shield them from liability. We will have to wait and see just how this outcome will affect us. My motto is I’ll believe it’s less intrusive when I see it. The update is coming in January.