Interview with Microsoft Exec on IE7 and RSS

AvianFlugelhorn writes "BetaNews has posted an interview with Gary Schare, Director of IE Product Management, which touches on the changes coming in IE7, Firefox's growth, and how Microsoft will bring RSS to the mainstream. It's interesting to see Schare become more humble since a November 2004 interview, when he questioned whether Firefox could attract more than just early adopters. Now, Microsoft says: 'we respect the work that the Firefox guys have done.' Schare also admits problems with ActiveX and explains why Microsoft will revolutionize RSS." Couple of days old, but still interesting.

Comments

My recommendation: Take out ActiveX!

[Bananatree3]

"Schare also admits problems with ActiveX"

From my point of view, the whole ActiveX thing in IE should be taken out. In today's world, ActiveX does have a couple of niche uses, but the Internet by far has left it behind as a old technology. Technologies/Techniques like Flash, Javascript, AJAX, PHP, browser extensions and the rest can do a lot of what ActiveX could do, and much more securely. ActiveX in my view is a weak link that is asking for viruses.

Re:My recommendation: Take out ActiveX!

[JavaSavant]

Not to troll, but what please tell me what PHP can do on the client-side? While the rest of your cited examples are right on, PHP is NOT a client-side technology and does nothing from the perspective of interacting with the web browser. Java Applets are a far more correct example.

Re:My recommendation: Take out ActiveX!

[truthsearch]

Not at all familiar with corporate intranets, are you? There are thousands of activex controls for sale to corporations who use them on their intranets. IE isn't only about the public web running mostly apache and PHP. It's about corporate intranets who mostly run IIS and ASP. They use these components extensively.

Security...

[Sean0michael]

"The primary driver behind expanding the reach of IE7 to Windows XP was security," and again, "The additional functionality is only one half of the equation; the other half is security."

Hmm... I wonder where they got the idea that IE wasn't secure enough? *cough*Firefox*cough*

I guess competition is good, since now people know what they are missing. Finally someone is, in a small way, asking Microsoft to step up the quality of their products.

Obviously no questions from the web team

[SmallFurryCreature]

Because if any one of the questions had been by any person ever asked to design a site it would have included something like the following:

Hi fucktard, are you bunch of fucktards ever going to fucking support the goddman fucking standard like bloody PNG and position: fixed and other basic stuff?

Who cares about security, if windows users did they wouldn't use windows. Who cares about hot new features. If people wanted cutting edge they wouldn't use windows. Sadly all those windows users do want websites that work in their browser so you are stuck supporting the crap that is IE.

It is very simple, very basic support for simple standards that IE just isn't capable of it. I can only think of the following reasons, A, they are really just not capable of it. MS can't hire any people who can hack up PNG support or do proper CSS. B, they want to hold the web back so they can launch their own new version. C, they want to wind me up and get me an ulcer.

Not that it matters ifI IE7 becomes a passable browser (yeah I considered the possibility that IE7 might become a good browser but who am I kidding) we will still have to support craptastic IE6 for years to come. Hell IE5 only now is starting to disappear.

If you are not a webdesigner you cannot understand.

You can make a beautifull page that truly shines that the customer finds enchanting and the users drool about and then you test it in IE and it all falls to pieces.

Ajax is the new buzzword so lets us that as an example to show how bad IE is. First the code for a real browser (anything not produced by MS):

if (!xmlHttp && typeof XMLHttpRequest != 'undefined') {
xmlHttp = new XMLHttpRequest();
}

Oh and line 1 and 3 are only there to keep IE happy. 2nd line would be all that is needed if you coded only for real browsers. But for IE you need that while IF statement. PLUS:

/* Create a new XMLHttpRequest object to talk to the Web server */
var xmlHttp = false;
/*@cc_on @*/
/*@if (@_jscript_version >= 5)
try {
xmlHttp = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP");
} catch (e) {
try {
xmlHttp = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
} catch (e2) {
xmlHttp = false;
}
}
@end @*/

The code is from IBM btw so I figure it is pretty pretty efficient example.

Can you start to understand why IE is hated so much by web developers?

No doubt IE7 will cause this simple code to expand yet more.

For my own personal sites I have long since stopped adding IE support. Get a real browser or fuck off. Sadly that is not acceptable in business sites. Not even the customer service section.

So next time you ask a fucking IE developer questions less sucking up please and more 'are you finally going to do some real work or do I have to get a contract on your kids'.

IE, because Bill Gates hates the net.

Re:"embrace and extend"

[dch24]

This just in:

Microsoft is telling us they will "revolutionize RSS" and "bring RSS to the mainstream". We all know what Bill's "embrace and extend" plans have done in the past.

And, I hate to be the one to point it out to you, Bill, but RSS is mainstream. All you'll do is fragment its marketplace.

ActiveX? Who uses it?

[moochfish]

I've only seen two types of sites that consistently give me security warnings about ActiveX (SP2).

1. MS update pages
2. Pr0n and hax0r sites trying to install some weird "requirement" that is probably a trojan

So... Exactly why is it I need it again?

Re:"embrace and extend"

[Richard_at_work]

RSS is designed to be extended, the base specification is very loose and open to extension by third parties. Lots of companies already use extensions to RSS, so MS wont be the first if they do, and they wont be 'evil' if they do. Get over it.

Microsoft will revolutionize RSS

[prsce96]

I guess RSS feeds will soon be able to exploit my win box :(

Re:Respect?

[killjoe]

Why does a corporation need or want our respect? Isn't it enough for MS to be a monopoly? Isn't it enough for Bill Gates to wipe his ass with 100 dollar bills? Why does he care about my respect?

Having said that the answer is no. I am too reliant on adblock, flashblock, live bookmarks, IMDB search, wikipedia search and a dozen other reasons to ever give up firefox. They will have to pry it away from my cold dead fingers.

Lets face it IE is designed to deliver advertising to windows users, and to encourage web developers to use non standard markup (coming soon XAML!) the fact that it can also peruse the web is a happy coinky dink. Firefox OTOH is designed to make my online life more pleasant.

Different aims, different product.

Feed the troll!

[Z34107]

Visual Studio is great. Besides being a fast, optimizing compiler, the fact that it lets you write your own resource files OR use a nifty editor, write native code OR use .NET or Java, compile code written in separate languages together into one executeable, and even whip out machine language in the middle of your higher-level program. Plus, it supports about a bajillion different processor architectures and 2005 has taken some steps to force good programming practices upon bad programmers. Feeding trolls is fun.

RSS and Usenet

[tabdelgawad]

Why wasn't the RSS spec designed from the get-go to duplicate the functionality in Usenet? It seems to me that a good RSS reader should have the basic functionality of a Usenet newsreader: threading, sorting (by author, date, etc), read vs unread, catchup, reply (if the feed allows comments), article expiration, etc.

In Mozilla Thunderbird, if you set up an RSS account for a Google group (using the atom 1.0 feed), it looks like a usenet subscription, except it's much more limited. If it's the same paradigm (except where the articles are hosted), why not the same functionality?

Yes, it's the...

[the_skywise]

... we let all the other pioneers get the arrows strategy.

Microsoft sees what "wheat" floats to the top separating it from the chaff and, if it's viable, they make it themselves and starve off the competition.