Microsoft launches IE-only treasure hunt

There was us talking about how Microsoft is nowhere to be seen in the browser market, and up pops word of an Australian competition that the software giant is running.

The company says that it's hidden AU$10,000 "somewhere on the internet", but that the page is only accessible from Internet Explorer 8. If you visit the site in another browser, you get a message along the lines of "But you'll never find it using old Firefox/tarnished Chrome/boring Safari".

It doesn't even recognise Opera, referring to it (and presumably other browsers, though we didn't test any more) as "that browser". It doesn't even work in IE7, pointing users to upgrade to IE8.

Meanwhile, Firefox is about to release 5000 new features in version 3.5 of the browser, Opera is including a web server with its software, and Chrome is plotting add-on functionality to go alongside its blazing speed. All of which gives consumers plenty of choice in the browser market.