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MSIE 7 May Beat Longhorn Out The Gate

Quantum Jim writes "InternetNews.com reports that a major upgrade for Microsoft Internet Explorer may be imminent. Apparently in response to the recent mass migration away from MSIE, top Microsoft developers have been soliciting for improvements in the old browser at a web log and at Channel 9, an aggregate journal previously discussed by /.. InternetNews.com speculates that improvements could possibly include support for tabbed browsing, better security, more PNG and CSS compliance, and RSS integration (which Firefox and Opera Mail already support). Go competition!"

141 of 733 comments (clear)

  1. Secret to the fast release revealed! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    It will be based on the Mozilla source!

    1. Re:Secret to the fast release revealed! by jcr · · Score: 2, Funny

      Beating Longhorn is a fast release?

      Ok...

      -jcr

      --
      The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
    2. Re:Secret to the fast release revealed! by atheken · · Score: 2, Interesting

      and somehow IE7 will introduce exploits through malformed CSS, and PNG streams! Can't wait for a "hole" new set of flaws!

      Hey MS, do us all a favor and at least make "100%" mean 100% in the CSS spans.

    3. Re:Secret to the fast release revealed! by hacker_wanabe · · Score: 2, Funny
      ... that improvements could possibly include support for tabbed browsing ...
      Somebody go register a a patent on tabbed browsing! hurry up !
    4. Re:Secret to the fast release revealed! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Considering that he said "CSS spans", it's unlikely he knew what he was talking about at all.

      And IE doesn't support any of that except for block anyway. (It treats inlines like inline-block under special circumstances, but doesn't actually know the property.)

    5. Re:Secret to the fast release revealed! by fuzzix · · Score: 3, Interesting
      From the article:

      "The truth is that consumers aren't going to worry about things like CSS and PNG support," said Robert Iliad, a developer who is participating in the feedback process. "There are still millions of consumers using IE 5.5, so how are you going to get them to use IE 7.0 just because of some obscure thing called CSS?"


      They seem to be under the impression that PNG alpha and CSS support are solely in the interests of web developers.

      I am no professional when it comes to web design - I'm not going to tailor a site for IE, so if they start to support accepted standards it's purely a bonus for the visitor (or "customer")

      Also, if I was a Microsoft customer I would be inclined to find the statement from the article insulting. Back when I was a MS customer I did want things like CSS and PNG support - that's why I used Mozilla. That they assume a zero level of knowledge just because I use their products is probably why I stopped using their products.

      Bottom line: Standards support? Don't bet on it - Microsoft didn't get where they are today by supporting open standards, they prefer to invent them.
    6. Re:Secret to the fast release revealed! by krunk7 · · Score: 2, Insightful
      I am no professional when it comes to web design - I'm not going to tailor a site for IE. . .

      I am a web developer and we DO tailor our sites for IE. When 95% of your viewers are using IE, the last thing your customer wants hear after his mail box fills with complaints about his "crappy website" is: "Well, it's CSS compliant maybe you should tell them to switch to a REAL browser."

      You can spout the mantra that it just supports IE's non-standard ways, but in the real world you don't stay in business as a web developer unless it looks good in IE.

      Case in point: Slashdot's side bar looks fine in IE but in some cases screws up in Mozilla/Firefox. I'd bet on that being because they had to make sure it rendered right in IE.....even on slashdot.

    7. Re:Secret to the fast release revealed! by sfe_software · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I am a web developer and we DO tailor our sites for IE. When 95% of your viewers are using IE...

      It would be stupid not to at least make sure a site works/looks right in IE. But that doesn't mean it can't also be standards-compliant and work in other browsers.

      The motto on one of my sites is: Best viewed in a standards compliant browser, but also works in IE. After making it standards compliant, I then made the necessary tweaks to work around IE rendering quirks... and yes, the motto is there to be funny, but it's funny because it's true.

      I just find it funny that, since IE 4.0, no major features have been added, and many bugs/quirks remain. Having the majority of the market there was no reason to innovate, until now (hell, IE is about the only browser without tabbed browsing and popup blocking). Competition is good...

      --
      NGWave - Fast Sound Editor for Windows
    8. Re:Secret to the fast release revealed! by Bedouin+X · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The problem with what you're saying is that you seem to assume that the only way that a site can look good in IE is by using IE-only features. This is just not true. I just launched a site using web standards that looks exceedingly good in all major web browsers. I did have to use a proprietary IE feature (If statements) to get around parts of IE's broken ass CSS engine but the design as a whole caters to web standards, not just one browser.

      If you read the feedback on those IE pages you'll see that there is a HUGE demand for the features discussed. Couple that with the fact that IE is losing marketshare and you may find that catering to IE really amounts to painting yourself in a corner.

      --
      Dissolve... Resolve... Evolve...
  2. Yeah by stecoop · · Score: 4, Funny

    MSIE 7 May Beat Longhorn Out The Gate... But I use Mozilla and the bell rang a long time ago.

    1. Re:Yeah by swordboy · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I'm not sure why some enterprising mozilla/firefox nut hasn't made an activex plug-in for IE that causes the browser to render all pages using a "gecko plug-in". For example, if I came to slashdot (using IE like I normally do) and the page prompted me to install the "Gecko HTML rendering engine", I'd do it. Just like all those the masses that install spyware because they don't know any better.

      As a side note, the only reason that I don't use Firefox is that it locks up when I access slashdot (on both home and work PCs, unfortunately). I'd use Mozilla but it just doesn't look/feel like a Windows app. I guess that I'll keep waiting.

      --

      Life is the leading cause of death in America.
    2. Re:Yeah by Rasta+Prefect · · Score: 3, Funny
      I'm not sure why some enterprising mozilla/firefox nut hasn't made an activex plug-in for IE that causes the browser to render all pages using a "gecko plug-in". For example, if I came to slashdot (using IE like I normally do) and the page prompted me to install the "Gecko HTML rendering engine", I'd do it. Just like all those the masses that install spyware because they don't know any better.

      I'm amazed I never thought of this. This would be _far_ less work than messing with CSS2 until it works in IE.

      --
      Why?
    3. Re:Yeah by chregu · · Score: 5, Informative

      Do you mean something like the Mozilla ActiveX control?

      And it works in IE like any other ActiveX (the webpage is not that clear as you can use the control in any Windows application), we did some tests for a project some months ago.

    4. Re:Yeah by thegoldenear · · Score: 2, Interesting

      is Firefox locking up when you use ctrl+shift+tab?

      if so it'll be this: http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=243522

  3. FireFox by Laivincolmo · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Well, firefox was able to grab my interest before IE. Even with the new features, I will stick with firefox because of the community that maintains it.

    1. Re:FireFox by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting
      I'll stick to coding to FireFox since the page'll display the same on all the platforms my company cares about (Windows, Mac, Solaris, Linux).

      If MSIE 7 runs on each of those platforms, I might consider supporting it too.

    2. Re:FireFox by E_elven · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You should code to the Standards, not a browser. Of course, Firefox is compliant :)

      --
      Marxist evolution is just N generations away!
    3. Re:FireFox by danheskett · · Score: 5, Interesting

      To say that "Firefox is compliant" is a joke. Firefox aka Gecko is more compliant, but don't be fooled into thinking that it renders everything right all the time. It certainly doesn't. Not to say IE is better.. it's not.

      Unluckily, the W3C has made a complete mess of web standards. To the point that there are so many barely used, misunderstood, unclear, ambigious, and depreciated standards that figuring anything out at all is an accomplishment of some scale.

    4. Re:FireFox by mldl · · Score: 2, Interesting

      If you can come up with something better than "Uhhh Firefox sucks!" then the Mozilla developers would love it if you could tell them about your problem.

      I'd bet any issue you can come up with is either difficult and being worked on, something which is totally unused and therefore possibly lacking dots on is or not even complete but still implementing 99% of it all

      Unfortunately Slashdot isn't the place to get anything done on Mozilla but a lot of the devs will jump to fix a bug in bugzilla with a simple testcase that explicitly demonstrates the problem. We look forward to your contribution.

    5. Re:FireFox by @madeus · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Unluckily, the W3C has made a complete mess of web standards. To the point that there are so many barely used, misunderstood, unclear, ambigious, and depreciated standards that figuring anything out at all is an accomplishment of some scale.

      I agree, they have totally cocked it up IMO.

      They have gone from TBL's origional HyperCard inspired idea for the WWW (which he admits didn't live up to his vision of an easy to edit & publish system) to promoting an overly complicated XML driven inteface which acts as a high barrier to entry.

      Certainly, in 1995 it was a lot easier to learn how create a web page. You can still use the same HTML of course, but few places teach that - they all want to try and teach new users about CSS, XHTML, DHTML, JavaScript and other buzzwords which only serve to overwhelm people.

      While that's fine for some people (like me), gone is the notion of a simple to grasp mark up language and editing system. I think that's why blogs are so popular - people can use a third party service that effectively creates their own website for them and allows them to update it easily and the whole process is just so simple (unlike with the the hundreds of naff, user-hostile applications that *claim* to make web design easy).

      A very easy to use but powerful scripting language (something not unlike HyperTalk itself springs to mind), the ability to easily use other native interface widgets - like tabs and menus -, as well as some basic drawing tools (line, rectangle, circle and a basic fill tool spring to mind) together with an easy publishing system should have been the goals for HTML & HTTP IMO.

      They seem to have no ability to focus clearly on the most important issues and then communicate those thoughts unambigously. Instead they create multiple broken 'transitional' implimentations which confuse people and lead to apathy as far as compliance goes.

      IMO we should have a system where - say you are browsing your web site and you spot a spelling mistake on it at http://www.i-like-kibble.org/about.html you should just be able to click an edit button in your browser, be asked to supply a username and password and then have it open webdav://www.i-like-kibble.org/about.html either in a built in editor or it should ask you to select an editor (such as notepad, gedit or even MS Word). When the page is 'saved' in the editor, the changes should be uploaded to the site automatically by the browser. If they had been even remotely competant and argued for this from day one (and hacked up a couple of functional implimentations) we could all have that functionality today.

      Instead we have an overcomplicated system focused squarely at technical users that is seeing little 'real world' use, because the vast majority of people just find using systems like Tables with a little CSS far easier and more practicle to manage.

      And what really annoys me? CSS wasn't even that well designed. It's got huge gaping holes in functionality. You should be able to align anything by top left, top right, bottom left and bottom right of an object (such as a div) both as an absolute and a percentage. You should also be able to specify on what layer within that said container the object you are positioning should be drawn. Of course that doesn't work in any recent browser, because the developers have been too busy trying to impliment the mixed messages coming out of the W3C, and ensuring backwards compliance, along with supporting 'real world' hacks due to the dominance of IE.

      Bit of rant - probably too long and ranty for most people to want to read - but I'm just annoyed that something as influencial as the WWW wasn't better steered by the W3C.

      Of course I'm also annoyed at MS for how little they have done in this area (and how much they could have done given their dominance). Full kudos to the Mozilla contributers for giving them some competiton though. Even Windows users deseve features like tabs and autofill[1] *hugs Safari* (even though it's filthy KHTML ;).

      [1] Though the first time I saw AutoFill was in Internet Explorer for Mac OS Classic.

    6. Re:FireFox by Jorkapp · · Score: 2, Informative

      When slashbots say "Code to Standards!" they really mean "Code to Standards that Mozilla supports." (Some of us can recall when CSS was unpopular in this crowd because it was "IE-only".) Anyway, it's perfectly possible to build a "standards-compliant" site that doesn't show a pixel in Mozilla.

      I concur entirely. I wrote a website that rendered well in IE, and even passed the W3C validator. When complaints arose over poor rendering in Moz, I had to go out of my way to haxor the code so that it would render in Moz. When it rendered fine in Moz, IE rendering was haxored apart.

      Long story short, I spent 4 hours tweaking the site to a happy medium between IE and Moz, while still maintaining W3C Compliance.

      --
      Frink: Nice try floyd, but you were designed for scrubbing, and scrubbing is what you shall do.
    7. Re:FireFox by whereiswaldo · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Full kudos to the Mozilla contributers for giving them some competiton though.

      [sarcasm]
      Yeah, isn't it amazing what a bunch of grubby basement weirdos can cobble together?
      [/sarcasm]

      Microsoft is getting their ass kicked big time. Linux on the desktop may not be as friendly to configure as Windows, but the architecture is totally sound.
      If it wasn't for Microsoft buying laws, for the screwed up USA patent system, and other things along these lines, there would be little ammo to use to defend against open source developers except TRUE innovation and commitment to the customer.

    8. Re:FireFox by dolphinling · · Score: 2, Funny
      it's perfectly possible to build a "standards-compliant" site that doesn't show a pixel in Mozilla.

      You mean like:

      <html><title> </title><p></p>

      ?

      --
      There are 11 types of people in the world: those who can count in binary, and those who can't.
    9. Re:FireFox by dolphinling · · Score: 2, Insightful
      As for CSS I'd tend to agree its a headache. Its time to move off to full fledged DTDs and have nice programs that help in their creation.

      WHAT??? A DTD defines (in a machine parseable way) what the legal syntax for a language is. CSS defines how stuff's displayed on the screen. They are for completely different purposes.

      --
      There are 11 types of people in the world: those who can count in binary, and those who can't.
    10. Re:FireFox by jabberwocky_rt · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Yeah, I've been dealing with cross browser compliancy for the past month and have spent an equal amount of time slamming my head against my monitor for firefox and IE. Granted, Firefox was a lot more compliant than IE, there were still several things that bugged the ever-living crap out of me, namely funky rendering of padding on div's that have a width of 100%.
      To add another degree of fun, I then decided to test my site in opera... and safari... and IE for the Mac... and KDE...

      Everything renders fine now... but my code is so fubar that I'm glad I'm using a template engine to output data :(

      I sure do wish people would stick to at least some standard... :( even if its crappy rendering all around the house

  4. On the one hand this is good news by multiplexo · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Consumers benefit from competition, in this case superior browsers from groups such as Opera and Mozilla and integrated browsers such as Konquerer or Safari offer features and security that Microsoft doesn't provide.

    On the other hand it's depressing that MIcrosoft is a big enough monopolist to let the status and security of what they maintain is an integral part of the operating system, namely the browser, to go almost completely to shit before they bestir themselves to even think about fixing it.

    --
    cheap labor conservatives - they want to keep you hungry enough to be thankful for minimum wage.
    1. Re:On the one hand this is good news by Detritus · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It's nothing new for Microsoft. From my experiences with them, any investment of time/money in producing patches or updates requires a business case. How is it going to generate more profits or advance the strategic goals of Microsoft? Broken software is not a sufficient justification.

      --
      Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
    2. Re:On the one hand this is good news by phwiffo · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Did you consider for a moment that researching, developing and quality testing within a single organization that makes this code while keeping real financial responsibilities might be a little more difficult than filing bugzilla reports and CVS patches from the safety of your dorm room or geek cave?

      But yeah, Microsoft is a monopolist and everything is a grand orchestrated plot to undermine security, linux and.. and freedom! Tinfoil hats man.

      --


      Trolls, it must be cool to be that bored.
  5. A quote: by Sebby · · Score: 4, Insightful
    "The truth is that consumers aren't going to worry about things like CSS and PNG support," said Robert Iliad, a developer who is participating in the feedback process. "There are still millions of consumers using IE 5.5, so how are you going to get them to use IE 7.0 just because of some obscure thing called CSS?"

    Now this is what I call truely clueless. Typical MS thinking that is the cause of IE's sercurity vulnerabilities and lack of established standards.

    --

    AC comments get piped to /dev/null
    1. Re:A quote: by six11 · · Score: 5, Informative

      (MS guy) "The truth is that consumers aren't going to worry about things like CSS and PNG support," said Robert Iliad, a developer who is participating in the feedback process. "There are still millions of consumers using IE 5.5, so how are you going to get them to use IE 7.0 just because of some obscure thing called CSS?"

      (Sebby) Now this is what I call truely clueless. Typical MS thinking that is the cause of IE's sercurity vulnerabilities and lack of established standards.


      I think what Iliad is saying here is that consumers really don't care if their browser supports de facto fringe standards. I wish CSS and PNG support (as well as some stable ECMAScript, etc.) were supported, but that's not the name of the game. As long as MSN and Google and ESPN and Craigslist and Slashdot (insert longer list of highly traffiked web sites here) work in IE as-is, there is no reason for IE to change. And there is no reason for those sites to change unless IE changes. (Here I open myself up to charges that increased usage of other browsers like FireFox and Safari could force those sites to change... that's another discussion)

      Until recently, security really wasn't an issue for typical web users. I've had people send me credit card information and passwords over standard email. I've pointed out to other people that the web form with which they're submitting their personal or financial information is not secure. I've always tried to get my friends and family to use other browsers because using IE just isn't safe. In all these cases, I generally get a vacant stare, because unless their credit card number is stolen, or somebody assumes their identity, they don't care. Those millions of users Iliad mentions are part of that vacant-stare category. Sure, if Microsoft had a corporate culture more like Google's, they would have internal pressure to fix these problems and be standards-compliant. But MS only feels the pressure when there are financial reasons for doing so.

      Web developers would prefer to code web pages in one cross-platform, cross-browser syntax, but thanks to Microsoft's indifference in the matter, web developers have to endlessly tweak things so it looks OK in IE as well as whatever browsers their target audience may be using. Given that the target audience for most web sites are IE users, and given that proprietors of those commercial web sites are more interested in making money than some philosophical desire to be standards compliant, whatever MSIE supports becomes the standard.

      Slashdotters know that universal support for CSS would be good. We also know that PNG is a legally pure image format. But in the world of PHB-controlled e-commerce sites and the typical demographic that visit their sites, PNG and universal CSS come second (or third, or forth, ...) to a host of other concerns. Those concerns are what Iliad are talking about.

      In any event, it seems that the reason Microsoft is going to release 7.0 before Longhorn is because of security concerns. CSS and PNG aren't necessarily related to that.
    2. Re:A quote: by Ambassador+Kosh · · Score: 4, Interesting

      My problem is that there is not IE stanard. There is no such thing as making a site MSIE compatible. You can make it work with the exact version on your desktop and test on others but if you are outside the w3c specs and a FEW very limited things that ms says it supports then you are dealing with quirks and the quirks tend to be very specific in too many circumstances.

      So far I have found the best way to actually get a page to render acoss a large various of MSIE 5.x and 6.x systems is to write the pages to xhtml 1.0 strict and css 1 and just use the subset of css that IE actually supports. The reason for the xhtml 1.0 strict is that then you can run a simple checker on the document and make sure every tag is properly closed. I know with html soup that IE renders a document as that it should not matter but it does in practice. Well formed html just renders more consistently across the range of IE browsers.

      It is stuff like this that web designers want everyone to follow the standards. It is a pain in the neck to program for each browser quirk especially when it changes so much between even minor bug fix versions. At least for opera, konqueror, mozilla, safarri, firefox etc I can write xhtml 1.0 strict and CSS2 and have it render nearly identically in all of them with only a few things that can't be used due to bugs. MS not adhering to standards makes sites cost more to write, more to maintain, more to test etc.

      --
      Computer modeling for biotech drug manufacturing is HARD! :)
    3. Re:A quote: by mhesseltine · · Score: 5, Insightful
      If web devlopers use these technologies to enhance their sites, users with browsers that can't handle CSS or PNG correctly wont see pages which are necessarily as pretty or functional as they would with a more compliant browser. If the gap gets big enough and is publicised I think at least some people would change browser.

      And if people with browsers that didn't support the standards would realize the problem and upgrade, this might work.

      What will actually happen is either

      • Users will assume that the website is "broken" and move to another site, never letting the webmaster know there's a problem
      • or
      • Users will begin contacting webmasters telling them that their site is "broken" and refusing to believe that it's actually their browser that's the problem.
      --
      Overrated / Underrated : Moderation :: Anonymous Coward : Posting
    4. Re:A quote: by superyooser · · Score: 2, Informative
      Do not use XHTML

      FYI, Hixie is one of the main Mozilla developers.

    5. Re:A quote: by mindfucker · · Score: 4, Informative
      No, he works for Opera. He used to be involved with Mozilla.

      And notice that he doesn't say to not use XHTML in that document, he does say that, in his opinion a) it's not worth the trouble at the moment because of the bad support for it in browsers b) don't do it unless you're going to do it correctly (and it's not as easy as many people think it is).

      But how do we ever expect to get the browser makers on board if we don't use it? I'm currently using apache's content negotiation to serve out strict XHTML1 as text/html (for IE) or application/xhtml+xml (for non-IE) as described here, and it works nicely on both gecko based browsers as well as IE6.

    6. Re:A quote: by Fweeky · · Score: 2, Interesting

      What are you gaining by using XHTML if you're just jumping through more hoops to make it work? You can only serve documents as text/html while they meet the compatability profile (does the W3C validator check that you followed *that*?), which basically tries to keep it looking to browsers like malformed but parseable HTML 4; and that's exactly how they handle it. How is that better than having them handle well formed HTML 4.01 Strict sent with the proper MIME type with no extra complications dealing with Accept headers and content types?

      For the record, I once bothered to do it properly. HTML 4.01 Strict to most clients; XHTML 1.1 to clients which claim to accept it. Costs a bit of string matching, a small XSLT and a lot of testing.

      The benefit? Uh, well, I got on the X-Philes and learnt some stuff about XHTML; namely that it's not really worth using in most circumstances.

  6. Browser Wars II: Mozilla Strikes Back? by LostCluster · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It's somewhat ironic that the competitor Microsoft thought they had killed, Netscape, is now again, in the form of the now open source Mozilla and it's variants, the biggest threat to IE.

    And, also, the re-rise of that competitor is bringing out the first major feature additions to IE in years...

    1. Re:Browser Wars II: Mozilla Strikes Back? by mechsoph · · Score: 5, Interesting

      That's why they wanted to call it Phoenix....

    2. Re:Browser Wars II: Mozilla Strikes Back? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      And so at last the beast fell and the unbelievers rejoiced. But all was not lost, for from the ash rose a great bird. The bird gazed down upon the unbelievers and cast fire and thunder upon them. For the beast had been reborn with its strength renewed, and the followers of Mammon cowered in horror.

      from The Book of Mozilla, 7:15

    3. Re:Browser Wars II: Mozilla Strikes Back? by dubiousmike · · Score: 5, Insightful

      it strikes me that we, as the slashdot crowd, tend to be the types where our jobs are highly dependant upon computers and thus as we progress in our careers, we care more and more about security of our blessed boxes. The health of these boxes are as important as the specific tasks whos sucess pay our bills. We care about our computers and the health of our friend's, family's and even stranger's computers.

      In the mean time, the rest of the population care about learning, communication and entertainment.

      I guess what I am getting at is most of us bash Microsoft because they choose usability (not the disability flavor, just that it works) over security. Slashdotters generally have a distaste for Flash even if it is because it is used gratuitously for entertainment. We choose to block ads and popups and some of us IMAGES because we feel it is useless and fluffy even though it is the main source of revenue for many businesses' web endevours. But the thing is, most folks ont he internet care that when their kid goes to PBS Kids, it works. When they go to their favorite mainstream band's website, it just works. When they go to their bank's website, it just works. When they want to play Yahoo games or take part in fantasy sports, it all just works.

      Where Microsoft suceeds is giving the consumer what they WANT. For stuff to work, even if it means that their computer is riddled with spyware and viruses. As long as their credit card number doesn't get swiped or find kiddee pr0n on their computer and everything else works, they are satisfied.

      I saw that someone wrote that Opera is a superior browser. While they are correct when using their guidelines, most end users would feel quite the opposite. Opera, at least with older incarnations, has not been a mainstream friendly browser. As an advanced user, I think its great. My mom, my kid and most folks int he public school system I work in think otherwise.

      We all know that a lot of user's problems with a computer gone "bad" would disappear without IE 5.5. But of course, many folks wouldn't want to use the web as much without the end user usability IE 5.5 has provided. Quite the double edged sword and frankly, we here at Slashdot are the minority in the internet using world.

    4. Re:Browser Wars II: Mozilla Strikes Back? by Pharmboy · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Nothing is created or destroyed, only converted from one form to another. Never more true, especially with Free software.

      --
      Tequila: It's not just for breakfast anymore!
    5. Re:Browser Wars II: Mozilla Strikes Back? by fejikso · · Score: 2, Insightful

      ... is now again, in the form of the now open source Mozilla and it's variants, the biggest threat to IE.

      Unfortunately, its biggest threat is not that big at all. It's not like everybody is going to switch to Firefox in the short term.

      IE is going to be the most used browser as long as it is bundled in Windows. Period.

    6. Re:Browser Wars II: Mozilla Strikes Back? by Lehk228 · · Score: 3, Informative

      actually many people i know (non-tech types) have switched because they like tabs, popup blocking, and no more goddamned mother fucking purple gorilla

      --
      Snowden and Manning are heroes.
    7. Re:Browser Wars II: Mozilla Strikes Back? by gad_zuki! · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Lets not just turn everyone who isn't a techie into mindless consumers.

      My brother sure as hell cares if some virus wipes out his drive full of baby pictures. My technophobe friend sure as hell cares that she has to be careful with every single attachment she gets because of spam, spyware, and viruses. Or every site she visits. "Give us security" isn't just geeks anymore, its everyone, thus MS's actions. Spyware, spam, and viruses have hit such an all time high that the dinosaur that is MS is forced to do something about it. Especially, when its their browser which enables some pretty silly things like ActiveX, vbs scripting, etc.

      I don't know much are safety engineering, but as a car owner I expect my airbag and anti-lock brakes to kick in when needed. Or the locks of the doors to work. If these things don't work then I'm pissed. You don't need to be a mechanic to understand why. Sure, a gear head is better informed than me, but that doesn't mean I don't care about such issues and when these issues become a real problem I demand something be done about them. The gearhead may have thought of it first, but he's really no superior to me as we're both consumers of a product from a company neither of us controls. Be it autos or software.

    8. Re:Browser Wars II: Mozilla Strikes Back? by jesterzog · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Where Microsoft suceeds is giving the consumer what they WANT. For stuff to work, even if it means that their computer is riddled with spyware and viruses. As long as their credit card number doesn't get swiped or find kiddee pr0n on their computer and everything else works, they are satisfied.

      I'm not sure I agree with this. With few exceptions, I rarely meet anyone who is happy with their Windows PC. They are certainly not satisfied, but merely have no alternative. At least in my experience, most people use Windows and its software because they have to, not because they want to, and they're no afraid to express it if asked. The problem, however, is that you can't complain to Microsoft and expect to get any meaningful reaction. You simply have to accept what Microsoft provides you and then deal with it.

      The reasons I've encountered frequently involve not knowing about any alternative. If they're aware of something like Linux, they have no idea of how to switch, or have the perception that they're too locked into Windows already to even seriously consider it. Most people have no way to reliably back up their data and simply zap windows without the fear of not being able to get it back. There are some great open source ideas such as Knoppix that may work towards this, but right now at least there's still not a lot of interest or publicity out there.

      My own conclusion is that Microsoft isn't successful today because it offers satisfaction or just working. In many cases there are superior alternatives to Microsoft products, even within Windows. It's successful because it's engineered a world of ignorance and despair, in which people aren't confident that they're expert enough to understand anything different from The Microsoft Experience (tm), and don't want to take the risk of falling off.

  7. How is this possible?!?!? by jjh37997 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I thought IE and the Window OS were so tightly integrated that they were virtually the same thing? Do you mean IE was actually a separate program all along?

  8. Call Me Clueless by rudy_wayne · · Score: 3, Interesting

    But I don't understand the point of "The Browser Wars".

    Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that Microsoft is finally making some long over due improvements.

    But........

    If everyone stops using IE and moves to Mozilla/Opera/whatever, Microsoft's loss in revenue is exactly zero.

    If everyone abandons other browsers and uses IE exclusively, Microsoft's increase in revenue is exactly zero.

    So what's the point of all this?

    1. Re:Call Me Clueless by PeteQC · · Score: 5, Insightful

      As more and more application start to use HTML browser as their "interface", the war is for the future of computing. Event SAP created web interface to its popular Enterprise System. So, as the time go, more and more applications (specially business applications) will use HTML as a way to create remotely-accessible interface. So, the OS could become less and less important and the browser would become more and more important. So, if people lose interest in IE, they won't be tied to Windows anymore and then Microsoft will lose revenues.

      --
      Montreal - Best city to live in!
    2. Re:Call Me Clueless by Sebby · · Score: 2, Insightful
      You can only get IE on Windows (unless you're geek and play around with Wine).

      Having the biggest browser marketshare means you can get more sales of Windowz, and you can spit on standards. The more users of it, the more developers write for it, the more users need Windowz to run it.

      So while it doesn't directly translate to direct revenue, it does translate into indirect revenue.

      --

      AC comments get piped to /dev/null
    3. Re:Call Me Clueless by Nurgled · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Anyone who uses Internet Explorer is using Windows. If Internet Explorer has the highest market share, they control the de facto standards and can keep customers locked into Internet Explorer and by extension Windows.

    4. Re:Call Me Clueless by The+Vulture · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If everyone stops using IE and moves to Mozilla/Opera/whatever, Microsoft's loss in revenue is exactly zero.
      Not true. A lot of companies are using the Microsoft server tools (like IIS, SQL Server, Windows Media Server) because they're designed to work with Internet Explorer (and vice-versa). If all of a sudden Mozilla/Opera/whatever had 97% of the browser market, then companies would have to stop serving up web pages that don't render properly in Mozilla/Opera/whatever. And if you're not serving up those pages, when it's time to upgrade your Windows server software, why upgrade? Why not just switch to other open source tools, like Apache?

      Additionally, once everything standardizes on a platform-independant browser, like Mozilla, who needs Windows anymore? Okay, granted, a lot of software is still available for Windows, etc., etc., but perhaps for a company that doesn't need Windows-specific applications, they might switch. This scares Microsoft more than anything else.

      If everyone abandons other browsers and uses IE exclusively, Microsoft's increase in revenue is exactly zero.
      Again, not true (in fact the opposite of what I state above). Since IE has a dominant portion of the browser market, companies are more willing to buy the Microsoft server tools, which brings in money for Microsoft. Also, this leads to client lock-in, since in order to view the Microsoft content, you need a Microsoft client.

      -- Joe

    5. Re:Call Me Clueless by harikiri · · Score: 4, Interesting

      If 90%+ of the market is using Internet Explorer, developers will design websites with IE in mind.

      Then microsoft decides to incorporate some non-RFC "features" into IE. Developers know that 90% of the people coming to their websites will have support for this feature, and will use it on the sites they design.

      Unfortunately, the particular feature that IE supports is directly tied into Windows, and has no counterpart in Firefox/Opera/etc. Users with browsers different to IE will be unable to view sites using this non-RFC feature, or will have a less than optimal browsing experience on those sites. In order to view these sites correctly, you will need to use IE, which in turn locks you into Windows.

      I'm using a hypothetical scenario here, but I believe in some instances this has occured in the past - today I have problems viewing websites designed for IE when I use Firefox, and for quite some time internet banking for unusable except for IE.

      Because the browser locks you into the operating system, that is the point of this.

      --
      Man watching 6 MSCE's around a sun box, looks alot like the opening scene's of 2001:space odyssey...
    6. Re:Call Me Clueless by boredMDer · · Score: 4, Funny

      'Anyone who uses Internet Explorer is using Windows'

      blanquita:~ pmohr$ uname -a
      Darwin blanquita.local 7.4.0 Darwin Kernel Version 7.4.0: Wed May 12 16:58:24 PDT 2004; root:xnu/xnu-517.7.7.obj~7/RELEASE_PPC Power Macintosh powerpc

      blanquita:~ pmohr$ ls -l /Applications/|grep Internet\ Explorer
      drwxrwxr-x 3 root admin 102 31 Jul 21:44 Internet Explorer.app

      Hmm?

    7. Re:Call Me Clueless by IANAAC · · Score: 2, Insightful
      For all intents and purposes, it does mean Windows and nothing else.

      OS X no longer ships with IE. Windows is the only platform to now ship with IE.

    8. Re:Call Me Clueless by kikta · · Score: 3, Funny
      [kiktajm@devildog2 bin]$ uname -a
      Linux devildog2 2.6.5-7.104-default #1 Wed Jul 28 16:42:13 UTC 2004 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux

      [kiktajm@devildog2 bin]$ ll Iexplorer
      lrwxrwxrwx 1 kiktajm users 9 2004-08-09 02:16 Iexplorer -> /dev/null
      I crack me up...
  9. Waiting on Google by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The June Google Browser graph shows an interesting turn in IE's share. Now, is it like previous "bumps" where IE quickly rebounded, or is this the sign of an actual turn? I hope they release the July figures soon.

  10. Standards by Norgus · · Score: 2, Insightful

    If microsoft do manage to get standard complience into this new IE browser, then at least the rest of the internet that was still catering to shity IE 5.5 type design will be practically forced away. It might be good news for people who don't even USE IE. *continues living in a fantasy*

  11. Corporations Sucks by Nurgled · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This is the attitude throughout Microsoft. It's the same reason why the Windows API still sucks after 20 years. The vast majority of customers don't give a damn about any of this stuff because they don't care: no sites will use alpha-transparent PNG unless IE does, so why bother implementing it?

    This is the problem with relying on commercial entities for "innovation": they'll only bother when it actually benefits them. Mozilla, on the other hand, implement things purely for the sake of completeness and interest.

    1. Re:Corporations Sucks by ScrewMaster · · Score: 3, Interesting

      People don't care what's under the hood ... if they did, we wouldn't be using hideously inefficient Carnot Cycle engines to run our vehicles and most of our power plants after all this time. It's good enough that the car starts every morning and gets them to work on time.

      HOW automobiles (or any other piece of sophisticated technology) actually work will forever remain a mystery to the bulk of the population. However, a manufacturer whose cars had a reputation of being to be easy to break into might have problems in the marketplace.

      I think that is what is happening to Explorer. I have had an increasing number of people in recent months start asking me questions about Internet Explorer, security in general, and alternatives to Explorer in particular. I think that's great, and I do what I can to get them thinking about the subject. The recent rather well-publicized CERT recommendation to switch away from IE certainly had a lot to do with it. So don't completely underestimate the ordinary computer user: the problem is more lack of awareness than anything else.

      --
      The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
    2. Re:Corporations Sucks by spectecjr · · Score: 3, Informative
      People don't care what's under the hood ... if they did, we wouldn't be using hideously inefficient Carnot Cycle engines to run our vehicles and most of our power plants after all this time. It's good enough that the car starts every morning and gets them to work on time.

      How did this get modded up? Carnot Cycle engines are the most efficient heat-cycle engine there are. Until you come up with something to replace it (ie. a process that generates electricity from fuel directly, that is more efficient than a Carnot Cycle engine), it is the pinnacle. There is and cannot be anything better.

      More info here

      Quote:
      As Schroeder puts it "So don't bother installing a Carnot engine in your car; while it would increase your gas mileage, you would be passed on the highway by pedestrians."
      --
      Coming soon - pyrogyra
    3. Re:Corporations Sucks by callipygian-showsyst · · Score: 2, Interesting
      It's the same reason why the Windows API still sucks after 20 years

      The Windows API has had two MAJOR updates in the past 20 years (from Win16 to Win32 to .NET) and many minor ones.

      .NET is a brand new API that has some major innovations, like managed GC access to system resources. I love programming in .NET. In fact, I was a Macintosh OS-X developer until about 18 months ago when I started working with Microsoft's new .NET API and I've never been happier.

  12. What... by RLiegh · · Score: 2, Insightful

    no popup-blockers? no flash-click-to-view? Other than the fact I'm on XP, is there any compelling reason to switch over?

  13. The problem is... by krahd · · Score: 4, Insightful

    That, until now, each major IE upgrade has a new, non standard and non-supported-by-other feature, that was immediately and widely adopted by web designers (perhaps because it gets immediately added to Dreamweaver et al).

    So, here we go again, new pages that look like crap in non-IE... :(

    The advantages of monopolys are endless.

    --krahd

    --
    mod me up scottie!
    1. Re:The problem is... by cujo_1111 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I don't understand all this complaining about MS adding their own little non-supported-by-other feature and web designers using it. If the feature is a handy little feature and it gets used, can't the Mozilla team add in support for the same thing, thereby eliminating your complaint?

      I may get flamed for this but I don't care, why complain about MS giving web designers a new tool to use and it gets used in a big way. If the feature is so useful, why can't the standards bodies and the Open Source world take a look at it and adopt it?

      It would also act as a way for Mozilla to move into new areas by touting that Mozilla supports all MSIE extensions, plus runs on multiple platforms.

      Limiting Mozilla to just the standards could be hurting it's acceptance in the business world...

      --
      If I point out that you are incorrect, making me a foe does not make you any more correct.
  14. not _exactly_ by ihatewinXP · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I would have to imagine that microsoft benefits in mindshare and monetarily by having IE as your default browser. Being that millions of users are still unaware that you can change your homepage (or just dont care to) MS gets to advertise their sites and services by default to many windows users. Also the search function (and the fact that if you incorrectly type and address you are presented with a 'search') links directly to the MS portal and advertisers on their engine.
    Now I admit that it is not much, but to by default have a user in your sphere can be directly profitable or at elast usefull in a number of ways.

    --
    ---- The real Slashdot is still here. You just have to browse at -1 to read the comments.
  15. About Windows 95/IE 5.5 Users by linguae · · Score: 2, Insightful

    About his concerns for people who are still using IE 5.5 (mostly all Windows 95 users, since they can't upgrade to IE 6, nor does MS support them anymore), they can be convinced to use IE 7.0 through convincing them to buy a new computer. There are still a lot of Windows 9x boxes out there, so Microsoft could use security as a incentive (among others) for people with older versions of Windows to switch to Windows XP with the new and improved Internet Explorer. (Likewise, Linux/BSD supporters could convince Windows 9x users to switch for the same reasons, too, and there is always Mozilla/Firefox, which runs on Windows 95, so there are other options)

    Still, though, the developer's comment was stupid; everyone benefits from full CSS and PNG support; it would save developers a lot of time trying to get their pages to render properly under IE, and it would make IE more standards compliant.

  16. Re:And the standings are.... by foidulus · · Score: 5, Funny

    My prediction: lynx will make a comeback and overtake them all!

  17. Feedback by Shinglor · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I didn't buy their request for user feedback. I'm sure they know exactly what is wrong with their browser. They're not stupid, just evil.

    It doesn't matter whether they add tabbed browsing, RSS feed integration or any other interface improvements as long as they support XHTML1.1/CSS2 and the recommended modules of CSS3. If users want features they can easily switch to Opera but as a web developer I have no choice but to make my pages work in IE. So until IE fades out of common usage or it is updated to support current standards, the development of the web be halted and we'll be stuck with 1990s web technology.

  18. Star wars quote.. by ShadowRage · · Score: 2, Funny

    Strike me down... ah fuck it, you all know the quote.

  19. Control! by theluckyleper · · Score: 2, Insightful

    See the responses (above) to this post.

    The future direction of the web is at stake... if Microsoft maintains their massive IE market share, then they can continue to dictate standards, rather than follow standards created by impartial third parties.

    Why would they pass this up? They have 50+ billion dollars in the bank... I'm sure tossing a couple of million into IE development is no big deal. And if it allows them to maintain their stranglehold on the Internet, I'm sure they'd find it to be worthwhile.

    --
    Visit the Game Programming Wiki!
  20. one of my favorites about IE by yagu · · Score: 3, Interesting
    One of my favorites about IE is its notion of "favorites". Another example of how MS really just doesn't "get it".

    I mean, exactly what is it about marking a site that makes it "favorite"?!? Consider for example doing research on euthanasia (sp?)... would that someone sits down to use your browser and sees that you have five references to sites describing or providing "howto's" for euthansia. Are these really semantically "favorites"? I don't think so. It's really an example of how cute MS gets, but doesn't get the semantics. Netscape, Mozilla, and all of the other browsers got it right when they provided "bookmarks". The metaphor is apt, and not overreaching.

    Just my $.02, and probably offtopic.

  21. More than meets the eye, here by ekhben · · Score: 5, Insightful

    And no, IE7 won't be a Transformer.

    Microsoft does not sell IE. They gain no direct profit from people's use of it, so you have to wonder what their motive is here. Let's assume that "good" and "evil" are subjective and emotive words that have no relevance to this discussion, ok?

    If you read Joel Spolsky's API war article, some perspective may be gained. Microsoft wishes only to discourage Web developers from moving away from the IE platform. If developers move away, Microsoft no longer has control over web development, and can no longer keep new technologies on the fringe.

    This is bad news for a company with plans to move to network applications. If a platform for network applications exists outside of Microsoft's control, it will be much harder to profit from. Thus, Microsoft's interest is served here by retaining that 90%+ browser market share, to prevent the adoption of new technologies not under MS control.

  22. "Mass migration"??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    "Apparently in response to the recent mass migration away from MSIE..."

    Like it or not, IE has only lost 1% of market share. See:

    http://www.infoworld.com/article/04/07/12/HNielo se sshare_1.html

    Hardly a mass migration!!!

    1. Re:"Mass migration"??? by Spad · · Score: 4, Insightful

      IE losing 1% of the market share may not be that significant, but Mozilla et al gaining 1% of the market share *is* significant.

      If IE was at 97% and is now at 96%, that's 33% increase in the number of people not using IE.

    2. Re:"Mass migration"??? by Photo_Nut · · Score: 2, Insightful

      If IE was at 97% and is now 96%, that most definately is a 33% increase in the number of people not using IE. However, the more insightful question is: Are they still using Windows?
      Because they paid for Windows. They got IE for free just like Firefox.
      Now, another interesting thing is: How many other web browsers pretend to be IE? Can you accurately measure usage of IE versus usage of other browsers pretending to be IE?

  23. Marketing won't like this... by rsilvergun · · Score: 3, Funny

    Since they integrated it, upgrades to IE become upgrades to the OS. I'm sure marketing would much rather hold out till longhorn hits. It'd make thier job of selling a bloated, complex upgrade that much easier. I tell you, I wouldn't want to be the guy who had to come up with reasons why you should upgrade to Windows ME.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
  24. What happend to 'no more standalone IE' by nurb432 · · Score: 4, Informative

    I remember Microsoft making the statement that IE6 would be the last standalone version..

    Guess control of the market is more important then sticking with your promises...

    --
    ---- Booth was a patriot ----
  25. MS caught in their own lies again by phillymjs · · Score: 5, Insightful

    In a C|Net article from May 31, 2003, a Microsoft rep said, "Legacy OSes have reached their zenith with the addition of IE 6 SP1. Further improvements to IE will require enhancements to the underlying OS."

    Cut to a year and change later, Longhorn is taking too long to arrive and people are getting sick/scared enough of all the security deficiencies in IE to actually look for a better browser. Because informed consumers are their worst enemy, Microsoft gets a little nervous that their lock on the browser market might be in jeopardy, and POW! Miracle of miracles, it is suddenly possible to further improve standalone versions of IE on non-Longhorn versions of Windows! Whoda thunk it?

    Technically such an improved beast should be called IE 6.5. If they actually do call it 7, it's purely for marketing reasons-- they'll launch some flashy commercials to try to snow people into thinking this is some totally reworked wonder that fixes everything they didn't like about IE 6, when in reality it will just be IE 6 with some bugs fixed and some extra shit grafted on. Too bad their campaign will probably work on the uninformed.

    Don't roll over and take this, people! Keep informing your friends/family/clients that there are better browsers out there, and install your alternative browser of choice wherever possible. Don't let them listen to whatever sunshine Microsoft will be blowing up their asses about the "new, improved" IE.

    ~Philly

  26. If there is any justice by BCW2 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    In this world, the same thing will happen to M$ that happened to Netscape. Once you get used to a browser there is no compelling reason to change back. If people shift to Mozilla or Firefox now they probably won't want IE in the future due to the bad reputation, no matter if they really fix it or not.

    --
    Professional Politicians are not the solution, they ARE the problem.
  27. Browser stats - where's the proof? by Internet+Ninja · · Score: 4, Interesting

    So there's a mass migration away from IE.
    From the stats gathering we do on our site, I have yet to see that. Oh sure there's a slight rise but that's not enough to convince marketing etc. Mind you, the 3rd party we use is crap for browser analysis but we're stuck using it because everyone in the industry does.

    Are there some reliable browser metrics out there? Your own site stats don't count...

  28. Now is the time... by r.jimenezz · · Score: 4, Interesting
    ...for the F/OSS community to leap forward. If people really want to be able to say that F/OSS is where the innovation is, this is the time to start thinking hard of the features to be included in FireFox 1.0/1.1/1.2 (not 2.0... That's too far!) that will make evident that MS is playing catch-up here.

    Otherwise, as another poster stated, people will simply wait for MS to level the field with the rest of the browsers and keep using what they have.

    Interesting questions, interesting challenges... Are there enough resources? Is there enough people/creativity/motivation/discipline (no bickering, forking and what not) to keep MS at bay? Can the F/OSS community focus on the users and develop widely accepted, non-controversial(*) extensions?

    Exciting times - I can hardly wait to see what happens!!

    (*) The reason I mention this is because FireFox has this ad blocker... Which is good and all, but at some point someone will point that out as something bad. Even if it still hits the advertiser's servers... Joe Consumer will be under the impression that this is not a "good" browser, developed by "good" people. Remember, chances are Joe Consumer does not care about adverts. And companies may find an excuse to indulge in more yummy FUD :( Fear the media, people...

    --
    The revolution will not be televised.
    1. Re:Now is the time... by violet16 · · Score: 3, Insightful
      FireFox has this ad blocker... Which is good and all, but at some point someone will point that out as something bad. Even if it still hits the advertiser's servers... Joe Consumer will be under the impression that this is not a "good" browser, developed by "good" people. Remember, chances are Joe Consumer does not care about adverts.

      No way, you've got that backwards. Joe Consumer does not care about the business model of ad-supported web sites. He does care about being able to easily block ads. (When I talk to people about Firefox, this is always a big plus.)

      I mean, when people watch TV, they don't sit through ads because it would be "wrong" to dent the station's business model, do they? They fast-forward or channel surf or do whatever they can to improve their own viewing experience.

  29. Re:Microsoft could just use Firefox! by Tumbleweed · · Score: 4, Informative

    Actually, the easiest 'fix' I can think of for MSIE would be for them to release an update that merely includes IE7.css as the default CSS file (read before it reads any site's CSS file). That would fix the vast majority of CSS compliance problems (and PNG, too, if I recall correctly). They also need to pay Dean Edwards a million bucks for this thing, too - not even a rounding error to MS, really.

  30. Make your own browser by $exyNerdie · · Score: 5, Informative

    .....support for tabbed browsing.....

    Well, MSDN front page has an article with code to build your own custom web browser with tabs and an integrated link to a search engine.
    You don't need to buy anything for this. Visual C# express is a free download

  31. Before Longhorn, but how long? by guard952 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Notice there's not even a date mentioned in this article. It barely even suggests that ie7 will be released before longhorn (2008 last I heard).
    Is it any wonder that people are switching away from a browser (and operating system) that can't even release system patches (XPSP2?) on time.

  32. Re:Why does MS still care? by Tony+Hoyle · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Hell, with XP SP2 you're forced to buy an encryption certificate if you want to distribute software...

    Verisign are making a *hell* of a lot of money of MS' back.

    They can safely disable activex as it was dying anyway... they've found a better money spinner now.

  33. PNG and CSS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It's about damn time. But even if they finally manage to fix their box model rendering and implement native, non-filter:DirectWhatever(foo) PNG alpha support, how long until that's actually widespread? Given that so many people still use IE 5 or 5.5 (last I checked, anyway) long after IE 6's release and subsequent patches, it might be quite a while before IE-specific quirks don't need to be worried about. That is, unless MS forces everyone using Windows to upgrade, or Firefox becomes the dominant browser. /continues using the box model hack and that freakish DirectX alpha filter

    Heck, maybe I could use one of IE's security holes to install a PNG fix when users visit my site.

  34. What for? by dustmite · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So if we wait until Microsoft develops and releases these features in Internet Explorer, then we get to do everything that we .. uh .. already can do today in browsers like Firefox. Thanks, but no thanks, we can get now what they're offering next year.

    Microsoft are truly amazing: Can any other IT company consistently generate excitement and buzz amongst their customer base by announcing that they are going to add features that everyone else has had for years already???

    1. Re:What for? by bmantz65 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      That's the problem, most of their userbase doesn't know that Firefox, Opera, or even some of the IE shells exist, thus the ignorance to tabbed browsing.

  35. Quick... by awful · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ...somebody patent tabbed browsing, mouse gestures and standards compliant browsing...

  36. Re:Before microsoft steals ideas... by Fuzzle · · Score: 2, Informative

    Opera had this first, didn't they?

  37. Patenting Features by warmgun · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Now that Microsoft is going to try keep ahead of the curve in terms of features in web browsers, should we be concerned about Microsoft patenting those features?

    If Microsoft's IE team comes up with a nifty new feature that makes surfing the net easier, I can see two possible scenarios: 1) Microsoft patents the feature making it exlcusive to IE 2) the feature is quickly copied into Firefox by either the MozDev team or an enthusiastic extenstion developer. Without patenting features, how can Microsoft keep Internet Explorer superior to its competitors feature-wise? I suppose plug-ins exist for IE to include mouse gestures and tabbing and such, but are these as much of a threat to Firefox and Opera?

    1. Re:Patenting Features by MonTemplar · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I suppose Microsoft could apply for a patent on some aspect of browsing, but unless it's some really new, super-nifty stuff that's still in the Microsoft Research labs, they risk getting snookered by either A) prior art, in the form of exising features of, or extensions to, one of the other browsers, or B) the Patents Office, having been shaken a bit out of it's reverie by the Eolas debacle, starting to look more closely at 'new' patents.

      -MT.

      --
      -MT.
  38. I do not think that word means what you think. by Kiryat+Malachi · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Deprecated, not depreciated.

    --

    ---
    Mod me down, you fucking twits. Go ahead. I dare you.
    (I read with sigs off.)
    1. Re:I do not think that word means what you think. by DaZedAdAm · · Score: 2, Funny

      Well I was going to make a comment making fun of "unclear, ambiguous" by saying something like:

      "To the point that there are so many unclear, ambiguous, redundant, repetitive, redundant, repetitive ..."

      But now I'm worried I'll be wrong about something and someone will call me out on it.

  39. Re:Why does MS still care? by Glowing+Fish · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It's a flagship product. There of course is the idea that if there is a lot of people using IE, there may be more webservers using IIS, which might mean more computers running Windows XP.

    But I think the idea might come down to trying to keep a brandname product in public view. And remember that even after there recent returning of cash to investors, M$ still has enough money that they can spend a billion dollars on keeping IE up to date purely for marketting reasons.

    --
    Hopefully I didn't put any [] around my words.
  40. CSS compliance and IE by eidolons · · Score: 5, Interesting

    As a web developer / designer, I've been using Mozilla and the like for a long time. But what interests me is what the majority of people use - I need to design stuff that works for everything. Since Explorer has ALWAYS been a pain when it comes to CSS compliance, myself and every designer out there have had to bend over backward to write code that has all these little IE fixes built in. I'm sick of having to play with code and then check both Netscape and Explorer for consistency. Please, oh please, give IE 7 some decent fricken CSS compliance!! That way, I will KNOW that it will all look the bloody same, just like it should for pete's sakes.

    1. Re:CSS compliance and IE by LiquidCoooled · · Score: 2, Insightful

      So in IE7 slashdot will be screwed up and displaying over to the right hand side inside a black background with black text?

      back in reality, your absolutely right.
      I think the public will accept a few minor tweaks to how they operate, and for whats allowed, but the problem at the moment is how well will sites render in the new version?
      should Microsoft maintain that backwards compatibility, or bite the bullet now to clean up their act?

      I personally feel that microsofts fumbling on this IE issue is actually them trying to listen to us.
      For years and years, we the annoyed techies have been screaming about yearly releases and unfinished software, now they try and buckle down to sort that out, were screaming that we want new features?

      It kinda makes me smile in a go linux way, but its also sad, because as a developer myself, I certainly wouldn't be happy with my software if some of my customers were unhappy using it.

      Windows does what it does, in its inperfect way, but it works, most people can operate it, its simple to pick up, and as much as we moan about it, gettin paid to clean off spyware isn't all that bad.

      --
      liqbase :: faster than paper
  41. CSS Positioning Problems Are Solved! by Da+VinMan · · Score: 2, Funny

    Just use HTML tables!!!!

    *duck*

    (No flames please, yes I'm kidding. Sort of.)

    --
    Please mod this post only if you think others should/n't read this. I have enough ego^H^H^Hkarma. Thanks!
  42. Microsoft committed? by Fastleaf · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Now that their marketshare is decling, that is when Microsoft starts working on improving IE.

    That's funny, seeing as it could very well be argued that the primary reason Mozilla has been gaining marketshare is because of it's increased security, while IE has clearly needed such security measures for some years and yet has not even had an established team to work on it for that duration of time.

  43. PNGs in IE and Mozilla. by kennycoder · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Imagine you are a webdesigner... and you really NEED to use transparent PNGs. So you have this options:
    Mozilla: <img src="filname.png">
    IE: <img src="files/spacer.gif" border="0" style="filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.AlphaImageLoader (src='filename.png')"> where spacer.gif is 1x1 blank gif file.

    Make your choice...

    --
    Fucking a fat girl is like riding a scooter... it's fun 'til someone sees you.
  44. "new and different" is better? by lone_knight · · Score: 3, Insightful

    As a web developer, it is annoying beyond belief to have to test all of your design code in a growing number of different browsers and versions.

    Hey, I think improvements are great, as long as Microsoft focuses on becoming more compliant with CSS standards, etc. rather than trying to reinvent the wheel for a competitive edge.

    Because "new and different" doesn't always mean "better".

    --
    Computers are useless. They can only give answers. --Pablo Picasso
  45. Speculation by lou2112 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The cited article itself says that it's based on speculation. Channel 9 attracts developers, not "consumers"; so, the "consumers" the article mentions who "are demanding that IE be fitted with tabbed browsing", etc., are actually just developers. Indeed, the majority of IE's consumers couldn't give a damn about tabbed browsing, or CSS, or PNG.

    Sadly, this whole article (i.e., Slashdot's article) has become a collection of threads promoting FireFox, Opera, etc., and generally IE-bashing instead of actually discussing the issue at hand. Sure, perhaps the majority of geeks don't use IE, but we're also the people who would use OpenOffice instead of MS Office, Linux instead of Windows, etc. I.e., we're not Microsoft's intended audience.

    So, take a moment and think about the article's premise. Will there be a new version of IE before Longhorn? I'd venture to say no. Why? Mainly, a better IE would be a major selling point for Windows (as Safari has become for Mac OS X, e.g., Tiger's Safari RSS). Also, it's probably moved all new development of IE to Longhorn APIs, and doing double-development of new features is a nuisance (as it was for Apple).

    In general, developing new features for IE 6 just doesn't make sense from a business, marketing, or technical perspective. Saying a new release of IE "may be imminent" just adds more vapor to the breeze, seemingly endorsing speculation, and creates even more opportunities for MS-bashing. Whereas MS-bashing can be justified, ripping apart products that exist only in your mind is ludicrous.

  46. IE7 (partly) not going to happen by Dracos · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It will happen, but everything that the article implies won't be included.

    IE7 will be the same caliber of upgrade as IE6, but with much more user value (who cares about the stupid image toolbar?). Little to no rendering engine improvments will happen, but most if not all of the UI features (tabs, popup blocker, etc) will. Remember that IE is essentially a very hacked up version of Mosaic, a codebase that is nearly a decade old. I've heard rumors of a Windows XP2 full release (in about a year)... likely any IE7 would accompany it.

    But I do suspect that any possible IE upgrade will not be solely driven by user migration. MS has finally realized that they made a mistake in letting IE lag behind in the marketplace... the users are forcing them to admit it.

    The people who run Channel9 post vehemently that they can't promise any improved support for anything. Remember that IE is still the sam bowl of spaghetti that it was 3 years ago (plus being stale and moldy). Do we really expect MS to make major rendering changes (so they claim) to IE and support it while developing the Longhorn UI (a rehash of Mozilla's display architecture)? I don't think so. I'm not sure how likely IE7 for Win98 will be.

    And of course, don't hold your breath for IE including useful developer tools (DOM inspector, etc)... it never was for developers, and it never will be.

    1. Re:IE7 (partly) not going to happen by earache · · Score: 3, Informative

      IE hasn't been based on mosaic since 3.0. 4.0 was a complete rewrite.

      Also, as a developer, you have complete access to the DOM via COM. There are a variety of third party tools that give you this capability. IE was a more developer centric than Netscape was, until the advent of mozilla. The script debugger alone was a thing of beauty. Not to mention some niceties if you were stuck developing an IE only intranet solution (behaviors, etc.).

      And XUL isn't so novel as to be claimed as an original thought on behalf of the developers of mozilla. It's a fairly natural advancement of HTML, although, arguably, it could be designed a little more simply. But to say Avalon is a rehash of XUL is pretty dumb.

  47. Photocopiers were initially useless, too by jesterzog · · Score: 4, Interesting

    But in the world of PHB-controlled e-commerce sites and the typical demographic that visit their sites, PNG and universal CSS come second (or third, or forth, ...) to a host of other concerns. Those concerns are what Iliad are talking about.

    There's an analogy here to do with Xerox and the photocopier, which I think is quite relevant:

    When the photocopier was first developed and Xerox began marketing it to businesses, it took a lot of effort because the bosses couldn't see the point. From a PHB's perspective, there's not a lot of point in having a machine to duplicate documents. After all, whenever a boss wanted a copy of a document they would hand it to the secretary who would re-type it, perhaps with a few sheets of carbon paper.

    Xerox eventually sold it to businesses by proposing to simply install the photocopier for free, and only charge for the copies that were made using it. Many more PHB's then accepted it, and it immediately became a fantastic tool for the secretaries who no longer had to struggle through typing and re-typing entire documents just to make identical copies. It was only at this point that its usefulness really became apparent to a lot of bosses, who realised that the availability of a photocopier was letting their staff spend time on other things. Really the end customer (PHB) wasn't interested in the photocopier, but by providing it they made someone else's job much easier which resulted in a better service.

    I guess if Microsoft wants to market standards compliant CSS and PNG support, they should be marketing it at the people to whom it'll mean the most. ie. The developers. Those are the people whom it's going to benefit most immediately, after all: not the end customer. If there are enough websites and web applications out there that require IE7 and assuming Microsoft makes it easy to get, it really shouldn't be much of a problem.

  48. Article summary--uh, "recent mass migration?" by rd_syringe · · Score: 5, Insightful

    All the submitter did was link to a blog entry that listed a couple of public advisories and mentioned Mozilla. Apparently, when put through the Slashbot filter, that becomes "recent mass migration away from MSIE?"

    According to Google Zeitgeist, IE 6 hasn't dropped at all and is still massively slaughtering the competition. In fact, Slashdot's own browser statistics show that IE is the majority browser for people accessing this website! Also note that every year is the year of "Linux on the desktop," yet Linux is still at 1% of usage on Zeitgeist.

    I don't like IE either, but come on. There is no "recent mass migration."

    1. Re:Article summary--uh, "recent mass migration?" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      The Zeitgeist is from June, before the major effect of the advisories was felt. On my site, IE has slipped a couple percentage points in the past couple months (and it's not a tech site).

    2. Re:Article summary--uh, "recent mass migration?" by 0x0d0a · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I don't like IE either, but come on. There is no "recent mass migration."

      I think the tiny grain of truth somewhere was that the current version of IE actually saw a market share decrease last month instead of an increase.

      Really, why do Slashdot story submitters have to have such completely and deliberately inaccurate stories? It *sucks*. I'd happily add a day or whatever on to the time until a story comes out if the eds would just read the linked to article on each story that they actually pass.

      On the other hand, the "year of the desktop" claims have a bit more meat to them. Linux has a small desktop market share, and so a doubling over the course of a year doesn't look like all that much.

      Also, most of the people talking about the "year of the desktop" are talking about whether the desktop is technically ready. They aren't factoring in transition time (which may well be up to five years -- nobody is going to throw out all their existing, reasonably well systems to install Linux -- they're just going to install Linux when they do their next upgrade).

    3. Re:Article summary--uh, "recent mass migration?" by stuuf · · Score: 5, Insightful

      IE 6 hasn't dropped at all and is still massively slaughtering the competition.

      It's not slaughtering the competition, it's slaughtering it's ancestors. IE 4/5 are dropping, netscape/mozilla are steadily rising.

      --

      Everyone is born right-handed; only the greatest overcome it

    4. Re:Article summary--uh, "recent mass migration?" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Most competitive browsers have the ability to hide their identity, making the stats essentially worthless.

      Both my mozilla and opera say they are IE6. Of course so does my IE6, which is never, ever opened. I don't even have a link to it visible on my desktop or start menu.

      What really gets me is that Opera and Mozilla have a Google search bar built into it, so they should be going there in very high numbers. What if it only registers hits to the main page?

      How many downloads of Opera and mozilla per day? of those...practically no one uses it? Hard to believe.

    5. Re:Article summary--uh, "recent mass migration?" by CvD · · Score: 2, Interesting

      So where are the Slashdot browser stats? I'd be very interested.

    6. Re:Article summary--uh, "recent mass migration?" by master_p · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The sad fact is that even Windows ME covers most needs, i.e. web browsing, word processor, e-mail and games. Average Joe does not really understand if his PC is riddled with spyware or not, unless porn adds pop up all the time or the PC resets from time to time. All other problems (slowness of PC, a couple of relatively harmless viruses, lotsa popup windows) are not considered problems at all, but rather a physical consequence of computer evolution. So it is highly unlikely that the average Joe will bother to install Firefox, let alone use Linux.

  49. What I've done... by bmo · · Score: 3, Interesting

    At the library where I'm tech-support, I've installed Mozilla and it auto-launches to the library's homepage on reboot.

    I've also posted an explanation on the desktop entitled Read Me.

    I have left IE on the desktop for the diehards, mostly to keep the complaint level down.

    What I've found: Some people love it (there are one or two who want Opera) . Others just use what's in front of them. Still others re-arrange and delete the Mozilla icon (which re-appears on reboot).

    *Shrug*. We've got some people who do online banking and ebay and whatnot and insist on IE. It's not like the IE fans haven't been warned.

    These computers also have OpenOffice. There have been *O* complaints, just questions whether it will open and save Word files. Yes...yes, you can!

    Shameless plug: Deep Freeze. Let them screw with the computers to their hearts' content. Power-cycle or soft reboot and it goes back to normal.

    --
    BMO

  50. Perhaps they'll finally fix... by wandazulu · · Score: 3, Interesting

    1. Printing. They've never fixed the problem of text overflowing the right margin and getting cut off, leaving a worthless print.

    2. While it's a minor thing, how is it that IE can eventually forget every site icon? I mean, really...come on guys....

  51. Deprecated is correct by Compact+Dick · · Score: 2, Informative
    Deprecation is a step towards declaring something obsolete. It aims to discourage its use in favour of possibly better alternatives.

    As the W3C says:
    A deprecated element or attribute is one that has been outdated by newer constructs. Deprecated elements are defined in the reference manual in appropriate locations, but are clearly marked as deprecated. Deprecated elements may become obsolete in future versions of HTML.

    User agents should continue to support deprecated elements for reasons of backward compatibility.

    Definitions of elements and attributes clearly indicate which are deprecated.

    This specification includes examples that illustrate how to avoid using deprecated elements. In most cases these depend on user agent support for style sheets. In general, authors should use style sheets to achieve stylistic and formatting effects rather than HTML presentational attributes. HTML presentational attributes have been deprecated when style sheet alternatives exist (see, for example, [CSS1]).

    Cheers,
    Jason
  52. Internet Explorer and .NET by rd_syringe · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Microsoft doesn't care all that much about Internet Explorer. They don't want to improve it, because then they can keep back web APIs. Face it, XUL isn't exactly going anywhere.

    Microsoft doesn't really care, as they have their sights set on .NET, which is truly Internet-able. Even OSS has gotten into the trap with Mono. Longhorn will be entirely based on .NET, with mere Win32 compatibility DLLs thrown in for older apps.

  53. The Real Way to A Browser War by iradik · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The Real way to get to a browser war is if developer's simply started coding web sites with only Mozilla/Opera/Safari Compliance in mind.

    Just like in the old says, when we had the Netscape Now buttons.

    But no one is going to hurt their ROI just because they want to hurt microsoft.

    But i dunno if some major news sites, were like, you need Mozilla to view this site. Who Knows?

    Problem is the people CSS is intended to save. Dial up users. How can they get their hands on Mozilla. AOL needs to use their CD distribution program for something good. i.e Mozilla!

    Of course whenever i say mozilla i mean firefox.

  54. Slashdot in Firefox by 0x0d0a · · Score: 2, Interesting

    So in IE7 slashdot will be screwed up and displaying over to the right hand side inside a black background with black text?

    Speaking of which, does anyone know (a) why this happens, (b) why it only happens occasionally, and (c) whether anyone is working on fixing it? I would have guessed that Taco and Jamie and so forth use Firefox, but maybe not. [shrug]

    1. Re:Slashdot in Firefox by BZ · · Score: 5, Informative

      > (a) why this happens

      It's an error in some min-width computation code in Gecko.

      > (b) why it only happens occasionally

      Because it's only an error in the incremental reflow code; if the initial layout happens early enough, the problem is not hit.

      > (c) whether anyone is working on fixing it?

      It's been fixed in trunk Gecko since April. It's not fixed on the stable Firefox branch yet, and probably won't be because the fix leads to problems of its own on some sites.

  55. Yeah, well... by ThisIsFred · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If it isn't separated from the shell, and doesn't have it's own filetype registry, for starters, then Microsoft hasn't learned a damn thing from their mistakes, and there'd be no reason to believe it would be any more secure that version 3, 4, 5, 5.5, or 6... As all of those releases were supposedly more secure than their predecessor. The extra features can wait, let's see some real solid core code in IE first.

    If Microsoft can't even do this, then I hope version 8 is an IE uninstaller.

    --
    Fred

    "A fool and his freedom are soon parted"
    -RMS
  56. Now THAT is fast by Infonaut · · Score: 2, Funny
    Whoa, fasten your seatbelts, folks! A product that may beat Longhorn to market sure must be coming out soon. ;-)

    --
    Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
  57. The W3C isn't that bad! by Quantum+Jim · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Warning: also a long rant.

    Certainly, in 1995 it was a lot easier to learn how create a web page. You can still use the same HTML of course, but few places teach that - they all want to try and teach new users about CSS, XHTML, DHTML, JavaScript and other buzzwords which only serve to overwhelm people.

    Um, the only thing that seems correct is that it used to be a lot easier to become a professional web page author (IMHO). In my experience, most (educational) places want to teach 1995 era web development ... things like massively nested frames, tables, and photoshopped images. Design is an afterthought.

    Furthermore, those "buzzwords" aren't really that hard learn at all! XHTML is just a simpler HTML; CSS makes design so much easier; and a little JavaScript is easy as pie (a lot - like any programming language - takes skill). DHTML usually represents methods using JavaScript to change the existing CSS and markup; easy for little cutting-and-pasting. It just seems complicated many developers feel the need to use everything including the kitchen sink. Don't use CSS if you can use templates with PHP or ASP. Don't use JavaScript unless you really need it. HTML 4 still works. Moderation! Moderation! Moderation!

    The hard parts about web development are design and consistency. Web browsers in 1995 were not more compliant than now; however, designs were so much simpler that it didn't matter. As I said before, developers nowadays want everything including the kitchen sink. Complex designs take more skill to develop and more testing to work around browser differences. Good design makes it easier to learn to code web sites, but learning to design well is really hard.

    A very easy to use but powerful scripting language (something not unlike HyperTalk itself springs to mind), the ability to easily use other native interface widgets - like tabs and menus -, as well as some basic drawing tools (line, rectangle, circle and a basic fill tool spring to mind) together with an easy publishing system should have been the goals for HTML & HTTP IMO.

    You're describing the design goals for Java or the X Window System. However, that's not for what hypertext was meant. The World Wide Web is about transferring documents - not programs. Writing documents with (X)HTML, and CSS is easy. On the other hand, writing complex programs with markup and scrips is hard.

    IMO we should have a system where - say you are browsing your web site and you spot a spelling mistake on it at http://www.i-like-kibble.org/about.html you should just be able to click an edit button in your browser, be asked to supply a username and password and then have it open webdav://www.i-like-kibble.org/about.html either in a built in editor or it should ask you to select an editor (such as notepad, gedit or even MS Word). When the page is 'saved' in the editor, the changes should be uploaded to the site automatically by the browser. If they had been even remotely competant and argued for this from day one (and hacked up a couple of functional implimentations) we could all have that functionality today.

    TBL did have that functionality in mind while writing the original web browser: WorldWideWeb. The W3C's proof-of-concept web browser was designed with exactly that feature built-in. WikiWikiWeb is the popular server version of your vision. The W3C's founders envisioned your suggestion; however, most users simply didn't need or want that functionality. That's one reason why Mosaic and Netscape Navigator were successful despite not having automatic editing capabilities.

    And what really annoys me? CSS wasn't even that well designed. It's got huge gaping holes in functionality. You sh

    --
    It is impossible to enjoy idling thoroughly unless one has plenty of work to do.
    - Jerome Klapka Jerome
    1. Re:The W3C isn't that bad! by dolphinling · · Score: 3, Interesting
      Don't use CSS if you can use templates with PHP or ASP. Don't use JavaScript unless you really need it. HTML 4 still works.

      No, use CSS whenever you need (or want) to say how something's displayed. Use Javascript whenever you need (or want) a page to be dynamic (but don't use it for things that you can accomplish with CSS/HTML!). And yes, as you say, HTML 4 still works. Just make sure your html is semantic.

      The World Wide Web is about transferring documents - not programs.

      It was originally designed that way, but now it is quite useful for documents, small programs (like rot13ing text, or something on a similar scale) and web applications (where a user interacts with a program that is actually on the server by means of a web browser and an html interface)

      The other stuff you wrote was good, though.

      --
      There are 11 types of people in the world: those who can count in binary, and those who can't.
    2. Re:The W3C isn't that bad! by @madeus · · Score: 4, Interesting

      You're describing the design goals for Java or the X Window System. However, that's not for what hypertext was meant. The World Wide Web is about transferring documents - not programs.

      *sigh*

      Do you know the relevant history behind the development of the WWW? Do you know why web browsers show a little hand with a finger pointing out when you hover over a link even today? It's because of the software the web was modelled after. Hugely influential and revolutionary software by Bill Atkison. Software for creating little 'page' (card) based 'applications'. That was where the initial inspiration came from.

      Like many others I'm sure I was creating networked, linkable and editable wiki style 'sites' with it before the WWW, the only major difference was it was with proprietary software. TBL saw HC and was inspired by it. I think it entirely possible he wouldn't have bothered with creating HTML had HC not been proprietary.

      Today, web applications are all around us. They are revolutionising the way we live. They are a big deal. The only reason TBL's implementation is not is good at allowing people to create web applications as Bill Atkison's inspirational software is that TBL didn't know how (or have the resources/inclination) to implement many of the relevant features, and they missed the boat on having a half decent scripting language so Netscape assumed dominance with the god awful JavaScript to fill a niche, by then it was too late, we were stuck with a Turkey.

      People are spending vast amounts of time and money building web apps. Huge financial resources are put into it each year by corporations building web apps for customers, online stores, B2B and users build web apps just for fun. So much futile effort and man power could be better spent if we just had a decent implementation of a standard for that, but we don't so expensive investment in working around this gaping whole in the current technology is the norm. It's really quite insane, especially when you've experienced a highly equivalent way of doing the same thing that's so much better.

      The WWW is not about simply 'sharing documents' (do not listen to your inner hobgoblin who tells you otherwise), it's about sharing information - the exchange of information - and that's a two way process, and for that, you need an interface that facilitates that.

      Oh and don't worry - I know how Internet standards bodies like the W3C typically work and I think it's surely painfully obvious to those who still don't get it that its a poor way to make standards. I know many will disagree, but to them I point out the result of the current system - we live in a world of half baked web and network standards the implementations of which are rarely actually compatible.

      The sad testiment is that today, proprietary reverse engineered solutions are usually better at providing interoperability that competing platforms are at implementing identically functioning standards based systems!

      It's a shameful mess for a technically competent society to be in.

      As the bunny icon used to say '"Subvert the dominant paradigm!"

      The WWW has alas been crippled by a lack of vision since the W3C's inception. It's too bad there are not more Bill Atkinson's to go round.

    3. Re:The W3C isn't that bad! by Quantum+Jim · · Score: 2, Informative

      Do you know the relevant history behind the development of the WWW? Do you know why web browsers show a little hand with a finger pointing out when you hover over a link even today? It's because of the software the web was modelled after. Hugely influential and revolutionary software by Bill Atkison. Software for creating little 'page' (card) based 'applications'. That was where the initial inspiration came from.

      I never used Hypercard, but I don't doubt it was influential. However, according to the original proposal for the WWW, TBL was more inspired by his earlier work with Enquire in 1980. This was seven years prior to the first release of Hypercard and the hypertalk programming language. I think that JavaScript and the DOM event model have more in common with hypertalk than the original vision for the WWW. And what about the contributions of Ted Nelson and Doug Engelbart. Surely they were more influential!

      ...and they missed the boat on having a half decent scripting language so Netscape assumed dominance with the god awful JavaScript to fill a niche...

      Well, I really disagree! JavaScript is a wonderful programming language. Little things like dynamic typing, Self-like prototypes, and object/dictionary equivalence makes it easy to do really powerful things. I find it a real pleasure to work with.

      The WWW is not about simply 'sharing documents' (do not listen to your inner hobgoblin who tells you otherwise), it's about sharing information - the exchange of information - and that's a two way process, and for that, you need an interface that facilitates that.

      You're describing the Internet as a whole. The WWW is mainly about document-like information; that's what most of it is! Web apps are a relatively small part. (Note that there are hybrids, like /. and similar forums.)

      As the bunny icon used to say "Subvert the dominant paradigm!"

      Isn't that how the W3C works? Companies submit their "paradigm" to the consortium. The W3C works on a compromise. Companies implement the compromise along with their "paradigm". And due to a recent (long overdue) change in their policy: when there are at least two implementations, the compromised paradigm becomes a ratified specification. I still don'w understand: what's your beef?

      --
      It is impossible to enjoy idling thoroughly unless one has plenty of work to do.
      - Jerome Klapka Jerome
    4. Re:The W3C isn't that bad! by dolphinling · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Web apps might be a bit hackish, yes, but they're quite useful. Look, for example, at an airline booking site--that's a web app. So are eBay and Amazon. Can you think of any other reasonable way to allow everyone to book flights or buy stuff online? Web apps also drastically reduce the cost of developing and distributing the program in a corporate intranet.

      Also, they're hackish because the languages used (namely HTML) weren't designed with web apps in mind and thus are missing a number of features that would be good for them. whatwg is trying to remedy that.

      P.S. Not to be pedantic, but I will. :-) Did you know that the blockquote tag requires a block-level element inside of it?

      No, I didn't. Thank you. :-)

      --
      There are 11 types of people in the world: those who can count in binary, and those who can't.
  58. I goofed! by Quantum+Jim · · Score: 2, Funny

    I agree, I submitted a bad link. I was referring to the recent loss of MSIE's market share to Firefox and other alternatives.

    Sorry!

    --
    It is impossible to enjoy idling thoroughly unless one has plenty of work to do.
    - Jerome Klapka Jerome
    1. Re:I goofed! by Pieroxy · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Nice of you to provide te link, buyt a drop from 95.48 to 94.42% in market share is nowhere near what I call a "Mass migration" either.

  59. Mod Parent Up by einhverfr · · Score: 5, Informative

    Additionally, even in June, it should be noted that Mozilla has regained substantial marketshare, nearly reversing the losses that the Netscape codebase had suffered since 2002. Way to go.

    Mozilla is doing well in all its forms. The Google figures if you look closely, indicate a general increase of Internet Explorer 6 is mostly at the expense of other versions of IE. Mozilla and "Other" are actually slowly gaining.

    AND this was before the latest security advisories hit.

    AND Netcraft has issued an advisory indicating that banner ads could be used to spread malware.

    --

    LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
    1. Re:Mod Parent Up by sfe_software · · Score: 2, Interesting

      AND this was before the latest security advisories hit.

      AND Netcraft has issued an advisory indicating that banner ads could be used to spread malware.


      I have to wonder if the average user really understands these advisories though. I mean, they always refer to an Outlook exploit as an "email virus".

      Even worse, and almost made me sick, was when my cousin said the other day: You're still using Google? Didn't you hear about the Google virus? I just banged my head on my desk for a while until he went away...

      Though I have noticed more and more people on Firefox lately, I think most users don't understand the concept of a "browser", and rather than being scared of Microsoft software (as they should) they are scared of the Internet and computers in general.

      --
      NGWave - Fast Sound Editor for Windows
  60. What a great day! Thanks Microsoft! by Lisandro · · Score: 2, Funny

    This is great, and just in time, because Expl... Ooooh, lookie! A flying pig!

  61. Giving Alternatives to Others by Chromodromic · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Every opportunity I get I tell people about Firefox, and since the Internet is my living I get asked a lot, as do many of the people here on Slashdot.

    The fact is, Firefox is giving the best features to both consumers and developers before they're asking for them, not after the fact. This, I think, is an important distinction. Microsoft is only picking up the ball because, after they announced they would no longer be playing the game, they've realized that the browser isn't going away after all and, oh by the way, Firefox is kicking ass all over IE on a number of fronts.

    This is not only self-serving and a way of marginalizing mainstream consumer demands -- all while convincing them that they don't really want what they want after all, no, what they really want is what Microsoft happens to be pushing -- but it's cynical, pure and simple.

    The great thing about Microsoft, though, is that they make it so easy for you to hate them. They don't apologize, and they never deliver without being asked, but they are constantly telling you what you really want, even though you didn't realize you needed it, whatever "it" happens to be, like their new touted shell that passes around .Net objects. I'm sure we'll all be "needing" that, too.

    --
    Chr0m0Dr0m!C
  62. OT: spreading FUD by nikster · · Score: 3, Insightful

    id Software lost $2.75 million to record-breaking piracy on the weekend before Doom 3's release. Thanks, guys!

    this statement is based on two false assumptions:

    A) people would have bought it if they hadn't pirated it
    B) people won't buy it because they pirated it

    please stop spreading BSA-FUD. repetition doesn't beget truth.

    [waiting for mac version ...]

    1. Re:OT: spreading FUD by Lennie · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You know ofcourse if every1 does this, the economy will not recovery easier and that was the reason you got fired in the first place.

      If Doom 3 is so important to you, please pay for it, ID software will have more money, they will spend it, butterfly-effect. :-)

      --
      New things are always on the horizon
    2. Re:OT: spreading FUD by The_great_orgazmo · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Where do you get the idea that money not spent on buying Doom3 won't get spent elsewhere ?

      It's not like ppl who pirate software keep a seperate "cash i saved by pirating checkbook" or something, they'll just spend it on something else. your economy statement is flawed.

    3. Re:OT: spreading FUD by Tim+C · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Can you really call it piracy if you download something you can't buy yet, just to be able to play the game, and then buy it as soon as it's released where you live?

      Legally-speaking, you've still comitted copyright infringement, yes.

    4. Re:OT: spreading FUD by Refrag · · Score: 4, Funny

      "If Doom 3 is so important to you, please pay for it, ID software will have more money, they will spend it, butterfly-effect."

      Exactly. John Carmack will buy a new Ferrari. One of the Ferrari factory workers will get a bonus and decide to strike out on his own pizza shop. A business man from America will happen upon his shop while on vacation and persuade him to bring his pizza to America and start a new franchise. Enzo Pizza will invade the market with a higher quality, lower price pizza that will enliven competition in the pizza delivery market. A younger gamer playing at a Doom 3 LAN party will order one of these pizzas while saving $1.73 over the pizza he would have bought from Papa Johns.

      Everyone wins.

      --
      I have a website. It's about Macs.
  63. On the other hand, surely google knows this? by SmallFurryCreature · · Score: 2, Informative
    Do you really think the people at google can't decipher the useragent string? It is possible but somehow I find it unlikely.

    You see if you examine your opera useragent string closely you will see that the word Opera definitly is there. I myself filter it out to get some really usable statistics (IE users vs IE pretenders) and I doubt I am a better coder then Google.

    --

    MMO Quests are like orgasms:

    You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.

  64. of course how else will they force you to longhorn by gelfling · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It's axiomatic that the browser will be released first. This will be how they essentially force you along the upgrade path.

  65. Re:So you're the guy... by Al+Dimond · · Score: 2, Interesting

    amen, brother!

    There are some things that are kinda tricky to get working in Lynx, but when you have them working, you often have a page that is better thought-out, and where the markup makes more sense for what you're trying to do.

  66. Don't be fooled by a1englishman · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Don't be fooled: IE6 will remain a pestulance for many years after IE7 debuts. There will be many people, influential people, who won't downloand IE7 because it's too big. Even if IE7 pulls some miracle and implements good CSS compliance, you're going to have to sense IE6 and below, and comensate for the damned thing.