Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft Says IE9 Beta Demand Overwhelming
cgriffin21 writes "Microsoft expected Internet Explorer 9 to be popular, but after more than two million people downloaded the IE9 beta in the first two days after its release, the software giant is having a hard time choosing which eye-popping statistics to cite. Microsoft says its "Beauty of the Web" site, which illustrates the aesthetic advantages of IE9's support for HTML5 and hardware acceleration, has had more the 9 million visits and 26 million page views since the IE9 beta launch on Sept. 15. Microsoft's developer-oriented IE Test Drive Site has had 4 million page views during the same period."
U get one thing right and u won't shut up about it
Everyone just had to see if they were actually doing a browser without the retarded gene.
That this is being pushed by automatic updates then? And that you are given the option to view the "Beauty of the Web" site on first run or something?
Just like Silverlight is for some reason an option and selected by default when you try to install Windows Messenger.
which is totally what she said
I for one am happy to see IE becoming competitve again. It is good to have more than one viable alternative out there.
See my journal for slashdot ID's by year. Mine created in 2005. http://slashdot.org/journal/289875/slashdot-ids-by-year
Highlighting a bunch of words in your article as hotlinks, and then just sending them to other stories, instead of the stuff you're writing about is pretty bloody annoying.
Right, I'll go to MS myself for this information instead then, shall I?
Hmmph.
Two million malware distributors want an early start on the game...
UTF-8: There and Back Again
Maybe ppl are tired of the old and crappy IE?
... insert "must not be running on IIS..." joke here.
The main thing with me is does IE9 deal well with IE8 plug-ins?
I would love to see his reaction to this
did you forget to take your meds?
Now I can go on 4chan and view the full beauty of... oh god is that an anthropomorphic hermaphrodite squirrel orgy?!?
we have seen "Microsoft Statistics" when Vista came out.. The sales was good and happy customers, In reality.......................
Say what you want about IE's history (and lets face it, the jokes that come to mind are bountiful), but with Firefox and chrome pushing them that Microsoft has again started pushing IE development. Im not happy about that because I want IE to dominate, but because it keeps ALL the vendors honest.
Say it with me, competition is GOOD.
You're right with that, but i just hope that IE would be as light as its other competitors asbestos attorneys
I must find out for myself!
ie9.downloadAmount++;
Say it with me, competition is GOOD.
Unless it threatens a brand you like or comes from a brand you don't like.
(the general "you", not "you, Sprouticus")
Living With a Nerd
A lot of people have websites. They want to see how their website is looking in the next version of a major browser. Some dudes like epSos.de do not care at all, but others who live from their websites want to know the future of their business.
I can see a few reasons for this:
1. Lots of intranet and other internal company websites are I.E. only. It would be good to know now if those sites will continue to function.
2. Lots of employees are locked into I.E., and want to know what is coming up.
3. I.E. still means "the internet" to a lot of people.
4. Everyone who has a plug-in or toolbar needs to know if this will work with their "product."
5. There are about 2 billion internet users worldwide. I.E. has about %50 marketshare. 2 million downloading a beta out of a group of 1 billion users is about half of a percent. That's not bad by any stretch of the imagination, but it doesn't seem out of line with expectations.
The ______ Agenda
Since the browser still doesn't support HTML5 properly, and still doesn't play nicely with all strict implementations of HTML4, CSS and Javascript.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsazure/ :)
Browsers do not excite people. Getting their problems resolved does. Microsoft's "overwhelming" response is a strong indicator that people are displeased with what they have now and are looking for it to be fixed.
This is nothing new. Nearly every upgrade from the previous version of Windows was enthusiastically received by users who were hopeful that the problems of their previous version are resolved in the new one. People were happy with Windows98 and so WindowsME did not receive any welcome from users. (If they called in Windows98enhanced it might have gained popularity though) And the same happened when trying to get people to go from WindowsXP to Vista... people were happy with XP (and still are!) and see no compelling reasons to move to another OS. (The use of 64 bit will be the draw that will finally move people to Windows 7 though)
If there is a reason people WANT MSIE9, it is because the previous versions are not good enough.
It's not surprise that IE users are quick to try IE9 - IE7 and IE8 suck.
IE7 and 8 are too slow, don't work right with many websites (it's amazing how many sites look different with a browser that support CSS round corners), are difficult to use (Internet Options, security zones, and the functionality blocker ribbon works anyone) and offer only the advantage of being able to access sites built exclusively for Internet Explorer (that number is dwindling and will continue to as people continue to run to Firefox, Chrome, Safari and other alternatives).
-- $G
Hell may have frozen over. A JS engine that rivals the best, support for most of the CSS3 goodies, and budding hardware acceleration. This is looking like the best IE release in a while.
If they can keep security snafus down, alternative browsers are going to be a harder sell.
Did anyone hear that Chris Wilson - Platform Architect of the Internet Explorer Platform team at Microsoft (and ex-Group Program Manager) moved on to Google yesterday ?
What do you expect when you advertise your new software that replaces an old bad one?
Scientology could produce far more impressive numbers- they just have to make a browser and call it "4chan <3" and their page will get millions of hits every second.
My webcomic
IE8 must be pretty uncompetitive.
I can't wait to run IE9 in WINE just to taunt XP holdouts. Why? 4 TEH LULZ!!1!
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
Well done Slashdot for taking part to the communication plan of Microsoft!
From your summary (AYSSTIRTFABPAC? [*]):
[...] aesthetic advantages of IE9's support for HTML5 and [...]
Praising a product for supporting a future norm currently undefined (by definition of a future norm) is brilliant. A bit like if you were reporting custom benchamrk results proov^H^H^H^H^H^H^H ...
Oh, just forget it!
Yours sincerely,
--
AC
[*] : Ain't You Seriously Suggesting That I Read TFA [**] Before Posting A Comment?
[**] : WTF?
I haven't tried the new IE9, but I hope it turns out alright. I have been interested in their campaign to promote it. They've produced some really cool websites that show off some creative uses of HTML5.
It seems like too many people get caught up in the video debate and forget about all of the other exciting uses for HTML5. If those are just early examples, I can't wait to see what creative professionals will be able to produce in a few years.
-- amazed? Microsoft says something about a product of theirs to try and generate hype and interest in it. This is news? OMG!
Why not one for Linux or Mac too....Why compete on your turf only ?
Can't we have Festivus?
It's nice that Microsoft is releasing a browser more compatible with standards, however in order to test websites with it I can't use my fully functional Windows XP install that I'm running in VMWare. I need to fucking buy another whole OS just so I can test websites in their new browser?
How about we tell clients "no we won't test your new website in IE9, because most people are still running Windows XP anyway"?
I'd really like to see the statistics of hits to www.beautyoftheweb.com by browser.
1) Pinned pages in Windows 7 are a great feature, but addons are disabled for pinned apps. It seems likely to me that MS is saying to online developers that if they customize their pages for pinning MS will grant them full control of the look and feel of the pages (including if ads are displayed) and what functionality the user can access in that window (spell checkers, password databases, etc). This makes the feature all but unusable for many pages that would be great as pinned pages like Gmail and Facebook or even Slashdot
2) The absence of a built-in spell checker. I would be willing to make a small wager that more people write more words in browsers today than in dedicated word processing programs. Think how many people use a web browser as their primary email client. Think how much stuff is written daily on Slashdot and other community sites. The browser is a major tool for creation of text content. It should have built in tools to aid in that process.
If your requirements include sharepoint and other microsoft web-apps, then you need IE. IE9 looks to be the first version of IE that doesn't genuinely suck monkey balls, so of course people are keen to test drive it.
Will IE9 replace the other alternatives in general use? Who knows - but it will certainly replace the browser people need for IE-only microsoft apps, and I know plenty of people, myself included who are all too keen to see IE8 (never mind 7 or 6!) die in a fire.
I run: Windows, OS X, Linux, FreeBSD. Just because you have a hammer, doesn't mean everything is a nail.
please???
Even with automatic updates fully on, you have always had to specifically choose to upgrade IE. Yes, it will show up in the "optional updates" list - but it was never checked by default. Expect the same for IE9. It's not like Chrome which silently updates - no questions asked.
(disclaimer: I use Chrome and I am quite happy with it. But I do understand how silently updating software will give some admins pause).
Reading slashdot one-liner: (irm http://rss.slashdot.org/Slashdot/slashdot).rdf.item | fl title,desc*
Our Corporate IT Overlords haven't been willing to jump to IE8 yet, though apparently on some laptop brands we're running IE7 at least.
Needless to say I run Firefox to do actual work unless I'm using an IE-only website, and even most of those aren't really stuck at IE6.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
9 million visits and 26 million page views - yes of course cos, when I logged out of hotmail account it took me to beautyofweb.com site. Obviously all hotmail users when logged out were redirected to this. So the count is in millions.. just visit or views should not be counted
Incredible though it seems, Microsoft may actually be NOT SUCKING.
I mean, Windows 7 makes up hugely for the Vista tragedy, and Office 2010 isn't all that bad at all. I haven't downloaded IE9 yet, but if the reception is anything to go by, it's pretty special.
But it's going to be the same old problems. No matter how fast, efficient and pretty it is, it's still going to try and shove Bing and MSN up our nostrils at every opportunity. It's still going to be the #1 target for malware, spam and advertising. And it's still going to be used, the world over, by newbs.
I use Firefox and Chrome alternately, and even with a better IE I wouldn't switch over. They have a bit of flair, a bit of offbeat to them, whereas using Internet Explorer I get a horrible, dirty feeling when I realize I'm using the same piece of software as dimwitted Facebook louts and angsty teenagers, and this is not going to change much if IE8 and 9 are phased into the next Windows versions. Call me an elitist, but I'm sticking with the browsers used by people who actually care about the internet.
Also, has anyone wondered how long it's going to take for Google to update for this? What about Mozilla? I would be very surprised if they haven't already been working on HTML5 versions of their browsers.
XP mode is not trivial to get set up. It is not always clear to average users how to use it, and rarely easy for them to deal with problems (other than to reboot). Some applications that ran fine in XP are problematic for users trying to use them with XP mode. I am telling my customers to view it as a bridge that should help to get through to when we can upgrade the apps.
So what they're saying is that even the people using IE know how crappy 6, 7 and 8 were, and are fleeing in droves to the beta?
I'd be more interested to hear that in some magical way all the remaining IE6 users have been forced to upgrade to IE7 at least...
argh, when can that browser whither out of existence? For good!!! On our site (it's a corporate one) we still get a healthy 42% IE users, 40% of which are still IE6!!!! (which means... you guessed it... we still have to support it as web developers)
I'm no longer fed up with MS Windows: I go rid of them
Yes, 2 million+ web developers are very interested in how you are going to continue to make their lives a pain.
high demand? of course ..
i love IE so much that i alone ha've downloaded it 17 times!
tough love man.
Am I missing something here? since when is "utilizing more hardware" equivalent to "improving your performance"? Yes it will be faster than IE8, but at the expense of your other applications' performance...
A lousy rendering engine stays a lousy rendering engine, even if you artificially improve it's speed by giving it more hardware!
The MAFIAA is a bunch of mindless jerks who will be the first up against the wall when the revolution comes
Windows XP-x64 purrs along quite happily on my 3-year-old laptop w/ 8GB of RAM.
Loads Server 2k3 64-bit drivers for video, everything else I can run the same Vista/7 drivers as everyone else for newer stuff, and for older stuff (printers mostly that try to force you to re-buy the 'Windows Vista/7' models) I can keep running the old Windows XP drivers.
MS' competition. Do I think Opera or FF's coders would stoop to such a "low"? No, by NO means. However, their marketing and "PR" folks, as well as their fanboys online would though. Oldest trick in the book really: Use mockery, misinformation/disinformation, and create an "evil entity" out of your competitor and throw as much dirt on them as is possible (nobody is "free of sin" so to speak) from their past mistakes (if/when possible, and it usually is, see my last comment in parentheses), and when in doubt? Tell lies. This is how gossiping women act, and it's also how MS' competitors can act, but I doubt it's the coding teams of either Opera, FireFox, or even Google Chrome. Thing is though, most of the folks out there WILL "fall for it", everytime, because they do not think for themselves or investigate things that were said, and they also want to be "part of the team" (because most men are 'not men' and can't stand on their own).