Feb 15
Internet Explorer 7
2005 at 12.53 pm posted by Veerle
Yes it is no joke! Today at RSA, Bill Gates announced that there will be a new version of Internet Explorer before the much hyped Longhorn. It has taken all kinds of security leaks and bad press to move Microsoft of their big corporate ass.
I wouldn't be too surprised if Firefox also added some fuel to the fire. After 3 years an update! But let's get not too excited because they probably only going to update things on the security side and not a whole lot on the open standards side of the fence.
We're going to release a beta and listen, then refresh the beta and listen some more. We'll ship when the product is ready.
So here is me saying a prayer for transparent PNG support, fixing floating issues etc. I know it's probably an illusion that they are going to listen to us. But who knows maybe Microsoft will surprise us and do the right thing for a change. Except the Mac business unit those guys are already cool ;-)
So Bill start practicing on "Oh just one more thing" we also have added all requests from the web developers community... YEAH!
19served
1
The MacBU guys might be cool, but I wish they would make a version of MSN Messenger that wasn’t ages behind the Windows version.
2
Really grrreat news! I hope he wasn’t drunk when he talked about that :p
[at] Jeff Hume: I agree with you, I’m also searching for an alternative, but I still didn’t find anything. Bye.
3
Wow, what great news… hopefully.
I just can’t for the life of me understand MS. I lived in Redmond for quite awhile, and just walking around the streets, knowing that these normal people I was seeing could possibly be the same people responsible for IE. The company just doesn’t make sense to me. How keeping a product buggy can be a good corporate strategy and keeping the shareholders happy is beyond me.
I really hope they at least fix the bugs.
After all the security updates, etc… that have happened over the years, what would have been the harm of just including bug fixes in one of the updates?
4
I never know whether to laugh with - or get mad at these guys from Redmond. Fifteen years of delivering bug-filled, non-standards compliant, totally unsecure software and they still have to look at Apple (or other companies) for inspiration. Let’s see if they’ll follow some standards this time around or decide to invent some of their own… again… I’m so tired of coding for IE :-c
5
My verdict:
IE 7 is going to be the preferred browser once again and it will kick asses of Firefox, Opera and all other browser. Mark my words! :)
JD
6
If you read the fine print, it is not for all versions. It is only for WinXP SP2 users. For all those running older and illegal versions of Windows, you have to stick to buggy versions of IE or get yourself Firefox/Opera/any other browser.
Veerle, have you tried K-Meleon. Give it a try and you will be pleasantly surprised. It confirms to all standards like Opera and is pretty breezy to use.
7
well, it all depends on the people upgrading… then it could be indeed good news.
8
Funny, I just wrote an e-mail to Bill Gates (don’t have the illusion that he reads it, but it made me feel better).
When I start thinking about it. Microsoft was scared that Netscape would develop itself in a platform that runs applications like Windows does. In other words, they saw a threat. Ever since Netscape impact is nihil, they don’t anything anymore. So, why don’t they just replace it my Firefox. Everybody happy.....
9
What makes all other browsers different from IE/win? They are all stand alone browsers.
I think MS likes to see the internet evolving in one big pool of online-programs. Make your word-doc online, spreadsheet etc ... And this is a market they do not want to lose in the future. They don’t care abouth webstandard for ‘normal’ websites. They do care when the
internet becomes one big pool of application, that there applications will work as perfect as possible when it get integrated in there OS.
Dave shea predicts “2010 as the year we might be able to stop; even that might be wishful thinking, unfortunately.” [end quote] I think it is here to stay, unfortunately². I also think “IE will kick asses of Firefox, Opera and all other browser.” I do mark JD’s words, but I’m not happy about it.
On the other hand, today is the day the kyoto-plan finaly starts. At least we are trying to get wrid of one kind of pollution. I can keep my fait, can’t I?
10
Well, last friday I went to a MS presentation on Visual Studio 2005 and they’ve build in validators for xhtml and css in there. So, I they’ll probably take standards into account for IE7 too…
11
We all pray for more standard compatibility in future IE versions.
About the transparent PNG support: IE actually does support transparent PNGs but just in a strange way (as usual). This hack does a pretty good job without coding each image separately: http://webfx.eae.net./dhtml/pngbehavior/pngbehavior.html
12
:->JD
wonder what he smoking? IE Great. That is another OXYMORON along the lines of : Microsoft Works. jeez.
i couldn’t understand how people could put up with MS IE (Messy ;-) ) untill recently. i n the last month i have had at least 30 cals from friends wanting a solution to their woes with IE. I have switched at least 300 people to Firefox in that time. One friend i helped, had just had their machine complety re-hauled at a cost of 200.00 for tech support from some local WinWeenie. When i suggested that she get rid of both Outlook and IE and replace it with sunbird/firefox the weenie’s response was: spend money on anti-virus software!! That is when the light went on in my friends head. she is finally listening to what i told her two yrs ago when she bought a new box: next year it’s a mac for her....
13
standards…
that’s all I ask for.
...standards.
oh, and the png support! :D
14
@Jeff Hume: A few weeks ago I’ve read somewhere on the web that they (MacBU) are thinking about adding features that are available on the Windows version of MSN like webcam support for example.
@Otm Shank: No, I’ve never used K-Meleon. Will try it thanks for the tip.
Mostly it comes down to competition and pressure from corporate clients before Microsoft starts to act. As long as there are no appealing money reasons involved there will be no update, so that’s why they changed their strategy. So far nobody has said anything about updating their rendering engine of IE, but it would be a good opportunity if they did. I am sure they feel the Firefox pressure.
15
Hi Verlee,
what browser do you use most often? Anyway, i do hope that the new version will support transparent PNG images. A lot of people are starting to use that file format now. It’s still hard to believe that over 90 percent of PC web users are using IE.
anyway, any suspected release date, or is it a come and go kind of thing?
16
sorry, spelt your name wrong
Verlee --> Veerle
17
@Zeerus: My main browser is Safari on Mac and Firefox on PC. The first beta of IE 7 should be out this summer. No problem with the name thing it is a common mistake ;-)
18
quote from the article
“...while maintaining the level of extensibility and compatibility that customers have come to expect. “
translation: They’re not updating the rendering engine.
IE7 will be just as (in)compatible with my pure (hack-less) valid css as it always was.
19
Dont be too hard on Microsoft. It takes a lot of effort and energy to turn an aircraft carrier 180 degrees to the other direction while maintaining its speed whereas it takes little effort to do the same with a speedboat.
Microsoft is huge, changes will be slow and steady. At the very least, they seem to be listening and responding.