Argh, this really irritates me. It's suddenly become mainstream that the next version of IE will be able to block popup ads. As examples, see this ZDNet article, here's one at News.com, another over at Media week, and I'm even hearing it on the radio.

At least this AVN Online article had the decency to mention the fact that this feature has been available in most other web browsers. They understate the fact that it's been available since around the year 2000. Microsoft is 4 years late! I really wish I had the number for the radio station handy when I heard that piece come on there. The morning show hosts were talking about it, as if it were the greatest thing since cheese in cellophane packets. And to them, it was. Most people have no reason to try Netscape or Opera... why bother, IE comes with the computer. Seeing how much people care about features like these, they really need to hear about the alternatives. I would have loved to call in to tell them about other products, but I couldn't find the number before I had to run off to work.

It started as road rage, moved to sidewalk rage. We now have work rage, and recently even spam rage. Soon, there's bound to be a case of FUD rage. Don't worry, it won't be me you read about in the news. I'm happy to take it out on some old computer equipment laying around the house. You'd be surprised how satisfying it can be to smash a keyboard, keys go flying everywhere ;-)