Microsoft will begin killing Internet Explorer features in order to
increase the security level delivered by the browser. Just forget about
MSXML4, from now on your first choice should be
MSXML6. Toward the end of 2007, in the October-December
timeframe, the Redmond Company plans to issue a kill-bit for Microsoft
XML 4. In this context, Microsoft informed that MSXML6 will be
supported as a replacement for MSXML4 and that the company will release
downlevel OS Service Packs.
“We are going to kill bit MSXML4 in the October – December timeframe of
this year. Kill Bit applies to Internet Explorer only. After the
kill-bit , applications will not be able to create MSXML4 objects in
the browser. Other Applications like C++ apps which are not kill-bit
aware will continue to work with MSXML4,” informed a member of the
Microsoft XML Team.
Along-with the security motivated kill-bit for MSXML4, Microsoft will
also remove the XSLT processor from the Download Center page in the
next year. MSXML6 is the latest version of XML available to customers
and it has already shipped with Windows Vista.
“This is where all the functionality, performance and security
improvements are going in. In addition MSXML6 provides improved W3C
compliance and increased compatibility with System.XML in .Net. The
recommendation for MSXML customers is to program using MSXML6 and
upgrade apps using older versions to MSXML6,” the Microsoft XML Team
member added.
Currently, MSXML6 has reached the stage of the first Service Pack.
Microsoft revealed that this is the best strategy for the evolution of
MSXML, and that the end-customers will benefit from a safer browsing
experience when using MSXML6.
