What will they think of next?

Some sources are saying that Windows XP will be ready to ship this fall. Although there are lots of little details yet to be worked out, one feature directly effects web designers.

It seems that IE6 has "Smart Tags" built in - the browser scans the web page you are viewing and spots words and phrases that might be related to a Microsoft product or service. It then creates a hyperlink to the appropriate MS site where you can make a purchase. Not a very good thing if you happen to have a web page about a service/product that competes with Microsoft, now is it?

The good news is that the web coder can disable smarts tags:

The Register - Banish those WinXP, IE6 smart tag blues!

Even better news is that MS has decided now to leave Smart Tags turned off when it releases XP:

Microsoft shuts off smart tags - 2001-07-02 - The Business Journal of Portland

Still, you might want to include the meta tag that disables them if you have a commercial site and definately don't want competitive links cropping up on your web pages. After all, there are all those beta versions of IE6 and XP floating around.