It looks like the Eolas/Microsoft patent problem has escalated to the point where Microsoft is changing the way that Internet Explorer handles plugins using these tags: applet, object and embed. This change will force users to click on any elements on a page that use those tags before they start to work or play, so no Flash movies will play unless they are clicked.

This will make our lives as developers a little complicated, since we’ll have to go back and make changes to ensure that our projects work as intended. The good thing is that deconcept has a write up on how we can use the FlashObject method to get around the changes to Internet Explorer. We’ve started using this on some of our projects recently and I think it works great!

Since this whole mess only affects Internet Explorer on a Windows machine, can I once again recommend using a better browser, like Firefox if you’re on a PC or Mac and Safari if you’re on a Mac.