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Microsoft Responds to IE Criticism
darthcamaro writes "Looks like there was an online free-for-all on Microsoft's chat servers yesterday with Internet Explorer engineers. Several interesting things come out in the story including the fact that the IE big wig thinks that all of his engineers should have other browsers installed to see what they can do and, catch this...he thinks they're the underdog. 'I've worked at Microsoft for 14 years and I have always felt like the underdog,' said Hachamovitch. 'Maybe the road behind us looks easy, but at the time going it wasn't. I welcome the feedback today. Getting informed is the only way I know to get better. The day we don't get heated feedback I'll be concerned.'" Reader nkodengar notes that "Microsoft has posted an article on MSDN listing everything that will be affected by the the updates to Internet Explorer in Service Pack 2. This will be particularly important to developers who use ActiveX controls, pop-up windows and file download counters in their websites..."
I don't see why so many people bash Internet Explorer (IE). Yes, there are more "secure" browsers out there, such as FireFox, but it's been my experience that IE not only loads pages faster, but has more features and support than FireFox and other browsers do. I have used IE my entire life, and I've never gotten any adware/spyware/viruses on my machine (cookies, of course). Why? Because I implement good browsing habits, like NOT clicking 'Yes' to Gator installations and other programs like it. I think that most users of other browsers criticize IE because it is popular, not because it is a bad browser. SP2 for Windows XP adds pop-up blocking functionality to IE, and from what I can tell so far it works rather well. I'm anxious to see what will happen in the "browser race" in the future.
Two freaks, no foes. It takes absolutely nothing to make some people angry.
My question is this: Are we so anti-Microsoft that we'll settle for clunkier software without complaint, just because it's not made by Microsoft?
Hell, I'm so anti-Microsoft I use superior software without complaint.
It's called a "Macintosh." Try it some time. ;-)
--R.J.
Electric-Escape.net
What he doesn't understand is that he can't be the underdog because he's not competing. To compete you have to have a product to sell. Internet Explorer is not for sale. First person to find a link to a site selling Internet Explorer proves me wrong.
Illegal product dumping is not competition.
If guns kill people, then CmdrTaco's keyboard misspells words.
Please stop using the term "engineer" when discussing software. Unless an "engineer" is actually designing the hardware bits, s/he is a software developer or software designer, programmer or coder.
http://www.cogsci.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/webwn?sta
Sorry, I have to run and see my "Doctor" (a phrenologist).
so... you don't think people are capable of figuring out what they want to buy?
maybe you are right. maybe someone should decide for us. that way when we go to walmart we can find just one brand for each product. that way no one will ever have to make any decisions. why not just centrally plan the whole economy? it worked so well for the soviet union.
The Mozilla Foundation doesn't sell product, and therefore falls outside of capitalistic competition. Internet Explorer is being dumped for free into the market, and only Opera is actually competing in the marketplace.
Moz & i.e. may compete for mindshare, but when there's no product to sell, marketshare doesn't exist. The only people competing for browser marketshare are Opera, because only Opera takes money for browser software.
If guns kill people, then CmdrTaco's keyboard misspells words.
I'm glad to see that Mozilla is striving to mimic IE in every way: http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20040709-0 25323-6615r.htm
If I bought an IBM laptop that had problems like that, my next one would be a Sony!
Best Buy can have you arrested