We would have been a little more excited if somebody else had leaked their software by mistake and allowed everybody to download for free, nonetheless we are slightly excited to learn that Microsoft Japan mistakenly put Internet Explorer 7 (Japanese version) on Windows Update this afternoon. The above screen cap was taken at 2:57 pm Tokyo time today. Some Japanese users have even managed to install the new browser successfully, keeping in mind that the public release should be in 2008.

The company took the program down and issued an apology afterwards, but we think there’s not much to be sorry about. They even taught people how to uninstall it. Yeah, like we want those extra bugs on your super stable OS. –Sam Chan

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We don’t usually put too much confidence in projected stats, since a lot of the time they turn out to be totally false in everything they stand for. We do, however, would love to see the day where IE is no longer the most popular web browser. According to trends and stats that are too complicated to verify, it’s being projected that by May 22 (yes, random date, we know) Firefox will be the most widely used browser, followed by IE6, and then IE7.

Firefox’s popularity has been increasing at a steady pace for months and months now, and it’s really only a matter of time before it’s number 1. May 22 or not, it will happen eventually. And why is that? Because the performance is just SO much better. The stats look pretty legit and if all goes well and continues on the same path, Firefox will soon control 37% of the web browser population. — Andrew Dobrow

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With Microsoft’s sterling reputation as being bug-free and invincible to vulnerabilities, who would of thought that Vista would show signs of being buggy. We hope you hear the sarcasm in our voices. We’re laying it on pretty thick. One serious error of concern is a mile wide hole in IE7’s coding, which leaves web users vulnerable to malicious software just by visiting infected sites (mostly sites that feature young Cambodian teens). There was no predicting that Microsoft would release their OS with security flaws. Ha! Like they would really release something unstable. *wink…wink* — Andrew Dobrow

Flaws are detected in Microsoft’s Vista [New York Times]