No more standalone versions of Explorer

A /. entry caught my attention today:

This downright pissed me off. Despite being part of the various committees that created the web recomendations, Microsoft ignored many of them. Despite having several years to implement the recommendations, Microsoft ignored them. Now they're saying they will not release a new (standalone) version of Explorer, so the issues will likely never be addressed (I doubt a service pack will change the core engine of the browser, so I'm not counting on any of the recommendations magically being supported in SP1...one could always hope though).

Basically, all the fancy CSS and DOM Level 2 specifications that are so handy will never be well supported now, until the whole world either begins using good browsers (*cough*), or begins using next generation Microsoft operating systems. Ooooh geez, that will do wonders for progressing web design.

What a bloody crock.

i suppose this is a celebration of their eventual win in the browser wars - with AOL using IE for free for the next 7 years - IE is the only browser and Win32 is the only OS - why should you need a separate installer.....

I don't know, but is it impossible or impratical for the W3C to develop a browser that meets most, if not all, of their standards?

They tried that...

http://www.w3.org/Amaya/


fwiw, you're better off using anything from mozilla... amaya isn't that good.

I just wish Microsoft would take some responsibility for their market position. They are the dominant force in the browser market, so they should be obliged to support the recommendations for the software they're designing. Really, of what use are the recommendations if only 5% end users have software that follows them?

Bah, no point preaching to the choir. As a company though, I just hate Microsoft all the more.

maybe what they mean by standalone is that instead of going to the site to get the next versions, you have to use Windows Update and update to the next version like that.

No, they mean "Internet Explorer will be fully integrated in the OS" - you know, one of the things the DOJ slapped them for before.

That's it.... Microsoft if now fully above the law in the United States... they have pocketed so many lawyers and so much of the government, I suppose, that they are now beyond the laws of the U.S. government.... such is the American dream

I hate IE, and haven't used it in a long time. Below are the browsers I use.

Mac OS X (my primary OS)

• Safari
• Camino
• Firebird
• Lynx (used rarely; testing only)

Windows

• Firebird

I personally haven't used Linux (yet), but when I do I plan to use the same browsers I use on Mac OS X except for Camino. I'll use Konqueror in place of Safari.

What browsers do you use?

1) MOZILLA (cant get over the firebird issue)
2) Konqueror
3) Lynx (when in text mode)
4) IE (when using Windows on a computer I don't have permissions on to install anything better)

No point even bringing up which browsers we use. We're developers, and for the most part, use the better browsers. With the seventh generation ones out now, the old Explorer doesn't even come close. Point is though, they have the market share of the users, and we're going to be stuck designing for their crappy browser for years to come now, since it will be that long until either people realize that Explorer6 sucks (fat chance of that happening), or that everyone uses Longhorn (or whatever it's going to be called...the more likely scenario).

I don't understand the problem here. How many people are upgrading the browser NOW? Everyone I know that uses IE only "upgrades" when they get the latest version with a new computer anyway. That's like 1 upgrade every 3 or 4 years. On top of that, Microsoft had no intention of implementing the various standards properly when it was *ahem* "standalone", so what's the difference that they won't do it now? They used their vast amounts of wealth to market themselves to the top on lies and underhanded tricks, not technological superiority in usability, features, security, etc (just like they do with all their other products) and they fully intend to keep it that way. If they ever see their browser share start slipping, they'll just add some cute new "feature" like smiley bars or something, and that'll be that.

Nothing is really changing. The situation sucks *** now and it'll suck *** when they integrate the bloody thing. The only difference will be the dipstick users who use it will have more security / privacy / performance problems integrated right into their system giving them more to complain about. At this point, I've gotten to where if someone comes up to me and says "Internet Explorer does this / has this that or the other problem / etc." I tell them that the only solution is to stop using it and use Mozilla or Opera (the new Opera mail kicks *** by the way). I also tell people flat out that every problem they have with a slow system, popups, etc. is caused almost certainly caused by Microsoft either directly or indirectly and they can either:

1) Format the system every 7 or 8 months or
2) Stop using it

I just refuse to fix most problems in IE / Windows anymore because they either just come right back or are replaced by new ones. When they integrate I'll still be telling people that it's there problem and the only solution is getting a better system.

From the development standpoint, the situation still sucks too. You have to code around IE's lousy implementation of CSS/JavaScript/HTML now, you'll have to code around it in the future. The solution, of course, would be to tell people that for their own good they'll need to get a browser that handles webpages properly and stop bending over backwards for IEs deficiency, but that would require every developer on every site to implement that at the same time thus FORCING these people to get their heads out of the sand and use decent software...

.... I hate Microsoft, but I think I hate users more for keeping them alive

Well, yeah. I suppose in the back of my mind though, there was always the hope that Microsoft would muster up a teeny weeny bit of responsibility and actually release a...ah nevermind. Microsoft has never been responsible, never been fair, never been anything other than ruthless. I guess the odds of them doing something like that are about the same as GWB and Bin Laden getting together for a few beers and laughing their problems away...

awww crap! i've just got a job offer: site up a college website.

the college has 500 Win XP machines, and want the site on IIS server to be available on the intranet and internet via. 8mb line

pooey :P

It is possible to create a standards-compliant site that also works well on the browser most people use (IE 5.x on Windows). Take my site, for example. While there are some workarounds you must do to make it work well on IE, they don't break W3C-compliance and are usually very easy to implement (ex: place the font-family part of a style at the end of that style in a stylesheet to make it work with IE 3).