"IE has vulnerabilities that cannot be ignored, but with these vulnerabilities come fixes," notes Jupiter Research senior analyst Joe Wilcox. "If you fix the browser enough, it becomes more secure. So whether one is more vulnerable or not we will only see over time."

Even as such open source software developers as Sun Microsystems and OpenOffice.org wax enthusiastic concerning enterprise deployments of their respective Microsoft Office alternatives, industry analysts are urging caution. Open source alternatives only make sense "when workers are doing really simple stuff and don't actually need all the functionality of a complex software suite, such as Microsoft Office, said Gartner research analyst Mark Driver. "But all too often a lot of the more complex documents don't convert, and there are times when 98 percent compatibility is just not good enough -- so you have to be careful," Driver told NewsFactor.