Internet Explorer 7 is slowly crawling towards the top of the world wide web, and Windows pirates are its vessels. Microsoft's latest strategy with IE7 is to apply an "all is fair in browser war" tactics. And to get the upper hand in the browser measuring contest that puts IE7 and Firefox 2.0 in the same arena of public audience, back in early October, the Redmond company has made available for download a fresh version of Internet Explorer 7, stripped of the Windows Genuine Advantage anti-piracy mechanism. And it seems that Microsoft's gambit with its anti-piracy mitigations is paying off. Internet Explorer 7 currently accounts for in excess of 300 million users worldwide.

"It's been a little over a year since we released IE7 on Windows XP and for Windows Vista, so I thought it would be worthwhile to talk about where we are after the year. According to internal Microsoft research based on data from Visual Sciences Corporation, there are over 300 million users are experiencing the web with IE7. This makes IE7 the second most popular browser after IE6. IE7 is already #1 in the US and UK, and we expect IE7 to surpass IE6 worldwide shortly," revealed Tony Chor, IE Group Program Manager.

Yes, opening up Internet Explorer 7 to all Windows pirates, as Microsoft itself has put it, was a move that simply revitalized IE7, which by October this year was going fast nowhere. And the fact of the matter is that, although at this point in time Internet Explorer 6 is still the dominant presence on the worldwide browser market, its foundation is shaking. At the current rate of growth, IE7 will take the lead from IE6 by the end of 2007, but no later than the end of January 2008. According to statistics made available by Net Applications, at the end of November, IE6 had still accounted for some 40.24% (down from 43.44% in October) of the browser market while IE7 had grown to 36.84% (up from 34.60%).