Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Internet Explorer Turns 15

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the and-the-internet-has-never-been-the-same dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Software giant Microsoft's Internet Explorer turned 15 years old on Monday. The company recently said it would launch the Internet Explorer 9 public beta version on September 15, 2010. The software giant launched the first version of the browser, Internet Explorer 1, on August 16, 1995. It was a revised version of Spyglass Mosaic, which Microsoft had licensed from Spyglass Inc."

5 of 271 comments (clear)

  1. It's hard to believe... by MikeRT · · Score: 4, Insightful

    that there was a time when people actually fled in droves to IE the way they are switching to Firefox and Chrome.

    Anyone who wonders why IE 6 became the de facto standard just needs to find a download of Netscape Communicator.

    1. Re:It's hard to believe... by characterZer0 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The problem with IE6 is not that it was bad but that people wrote ActiveX applications for it and those applications are still needed.

      The problem now is that many organizations have clueless IT departments that do not know how to deploy those old applications via Terminal Services and instead insist that desktop machines stick with IE6.

      --
      Go green: turn off your refrigerator.
    2. Re:It's hard to believe... by colmore · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The problem with IE6 is that it doesn't render CSS properly, has ugly javascript quirks, and is STILL FUCKING USED BY 30% OF THE DAMN INTERNET.

      And yes, I am a web developer.

      --
      In Capitalist America, bank robs you!
  2. Re:IE turns 15... by characterZer0 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It does not matter when the first copy of XP was sold, it matters when the last copy was sold. You cannot drop support for something that you sold a few months ago just because it has been on sale for 8 years and there are two newer versions.

    --
    Go green: turn off your refrigerator.
  3. Yes there is by zogger · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It's called listening to your customers and not dictating to them what they want. Now I don't use it, but XP is still widely used, because it got "good enough" for companies and individuals to use and rely on. Same with upgrading hardware. If what you have is good enough, not broken, and does the job, there is no overwhelming need to upgrade, even if the hardware guys want you to.

    Comes a time that corporations and stockholders, etc should put the fork down, push back from the table, and realize they have eaten enough, and go into maintenance mode. Still make some money but not the boatloads they got used to. Like GM..just realize you got bloated, and cut back a lot to stay relevant. Reach a level of market share and be content with that, because all corporations can't endlessly grow forever and two days, it just isn't possible, and it is ludicrous to expect that.

        The planet has given hundreds of billion$ to microsoft..perhaps it is time they wound down and enjoy what they made so far and not expect this huge gravy train to go on forever.