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Topic: Internet Explorer 7 (Read 25393 times) previous topic - next topic
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Internet Explorer 7

Reply #50 –
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If Microsoft could make IE fully W3C and CSS compliant right now, they'd do it.
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If i recall correctly, then they ditched further IE-development because they were afraid of the internet (or more correctly, affraid of web-applications which could turn the client-os irrelevant). I am quite sure that microsoft does not want the internet anymore - they want the desktop.
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They've never been "afraid of the internet".  Not in a sense that would make them step away from any aspect of an online world market.  They want the desktop, AND they want the internet.  This is shown by their heavy push to hosted applications.

Online activation is just the beginning, boys and girls.  Next we won't have to install software anymore.  Just go online and use Microsoft's hosted office apps, configurable integration platforms, data management, and almost anything else you may need for your home or business.  Your money won't buy a box, a disc and a product key, but rather a site admin login to...

http://<yourcompanyname>.microsoft.net/

...which will provide access to all the user management, client management, office apps, web portals, "SQL Enterprise Online", and proprietary systems that you've paid them for.

It opens up all kinds of highly marketable benefits:  No more (or at least not as many) hardware/system incompatibility issues for software apps, remote support won't have to be so "remote", "cheating" on license agreements will be a thing of the past, and centralization of most software and data storage services will be much more cost-effective for them and their customers.  (It's at least gotta be less than what we currently pay for all our volume licensing agreements alone, not even counting MSDN subscriptions and maintenance agreements.  )

And I hate the whole idea.  When all this happens and there's a platform or system issue, we will be relying entirely on an external entity to fix it for us.  One whose highest priority is not to fix problems specific to our company.  I hope I get to retire first.   

But anyway, sorry to diverge from the topic of IE 7 and standards compliance.  But then again, it's all leading to this...
Sometimes you have to jump off the cliff and build your wings on the way down.

Internet Explorer 7

Reply #51 –
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Online activation is just the beginning, boys and girls.

[...]

And I hate the whole idea.
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The solution is pretty simple: don't use Microsoft products.

Really, it's that easy.  It won't be the end of the world by any stretch.  There's a ton of good software out there that won't end up this way either because the small time developers creating it all won't be able to afford hosting things centrally in such a fashion, or because people will have ideological problems with it (Linux/BSD crowd).

I'll be a little upset if Apple plans to follow suit, but as much as I am happy with their current products, I'd switch in an instant if it came to something like this and I decided that I didn't like the way they were handling it.

It's a lot like the whole music/movie thing really.  People complain and complain about the RIAA and MPAA, but then go out and dump a whole load of money right into their pockets.  There's no need too, most of the stuff they have a hold on is crap anyway and there's better stuff out there if people bother to look.

In the end though, this sort of move from MS might be a good thing for certain segments of the computing population.  It'd open up a lot of opportunities for other people/companies to fill in the kind of gaps left from MS's exodus to network service based software systems.

Internet Explorer 7

Reply #52 –
Good points.  Certainly feasible for the consumer market.  But the corporate market is a different story.  It's much easier to compete with MS in the home than it is in the office.  Many companies have huge scalability needs and require on-site support contracts; difficult needs to fill for smaller software companies.

But many companies try to "fill in gaps" with non-MS, and even non-licensed, software whenever possible.  My company uses quite a few freeware and open-source apps, for instance.

Internet Explorer, however, is firmly entrenched in the commercial world.  Not many (especially consumer-targeting) companies out there will, any time soon, develop their websites specifically for anything other than IE, for the simple reason that some 90% of the consumer market uses it exclusively.  Many commercial sites are also Opera- and FireFox friendly, but this is very often incidental.  (Meaning the corporate web designers happened to not bungle the standards so badly as to lock them out of the more standards-compliant web browsers.)

A significant percentage of consumers would have to change web browsers before companies would begin developing for the IE alternatives.  The trend already exists, I'm just afraid it will never move quickly enough to loosen IE's foothold.



[span style='font-size:7pt;line-height:100%']And just to note...at home I'm a loyal Opera user.  And as soon as there's a very easy-to-implement, turn-key Linux distro with enough compatible software to replace the bulk of my current apps, I'll leave Windows behind as well.[/span]

Sometimes you have to jump off the cliff and build your wings on the way down.

Internet Explorer 7

Reply #53 –
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Not many (especially consumer-targeting) companies out there will, any time soon, develop their websites specifically for anything other than IE, for the simple reason that some 90% of the consumer market uses it exclusively.
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Interesting that you mention market-penetration. Two years ago, it was still about 97%, no its down to 90%. And in germany, its already below 80% ! Really, no need to worry about a rapidly changing market.

What you wrote is interesting. So, does this mean that they have already given up on windows-supremacy and are now trying to take over the internet and make money by creating a monopoly on "services"? Wouldn't that require aggressive lock-in methods in multiple departments(hardware, software, networking)? I sincerly hope that they will fail, because then the PC and Internet-world would be quite dead and more like an empire/police state. It is interesting to note that if this is their plan, then open webstandards are their enemy. I would expect more MS-only webextensions for lock-in purposes.

With relying on all those "hosted services", has anyone thought about what this would mean if the net-connection gets interrupted for a while? What possibilities this would open up for worms and virusses? Or even one step further: what this would mean for mankind when a high-priority component (satelites, rootservers, continental cable-bridges) get attacked, while almost *everything* in the world at that stage is depending on the inet? Sounds like a safe ticket to destination "global disaster"

- Lyx
I am arrogant and I can afford it because I deliver.

Internet Explorer 7

Reply #54 –
Market penetration of IE-alternatives is indeed making headway, just not quickly enough to make companies design for non-IE browsers anytime soon.

MS isn't going to ever give up on "Windows supremacy".  They'll leverage it in every way possible to maximize their penetration of the internet as a "market".

And I agree with you completely on the risks of the widespread adoption of hosted applications.  This is where I'd say we should take the approach Dibrom suggested to not follow Microsoft's push to use their products and not bow to their strategies, and instead make a dedicated effort to expand the user base of non-Microsoft alternatives out there, in web browsers and every other type of application.

But this is where "what I'd want to happen" and "what is likely to happen" differ, I'm afraid.  Looking at the history of technology adoption over the past twenty years by both the consumer and corporate markets, Microsoft is very well anchored and getting stronger every day.  People gravitate to that which they know.  And many people in this world know Windows and Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player.  Not nearly as many know Linux and FireFox and Foobar2000, for instance.  Technically superior alternatives will remain mostly in the realm of the tech savvy, which number few in this world.  Bad news for us; great news for Microsoft.
Sometimes you have to jump off the cliff and build your wings on the way down.

Internet Explorer 7

Reply #55 –
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The solution is pretty simple: don't use Microsoft products.


Do you think people should stop using Microsoft products?

What do you think about these words by Bill Gates?

Microsoft has finally presented its new version of Internet Explorer, IE 7. Bill Gates noted: “What we've decided to do is a new version of Internet Explorer, this is IE 7, and it adds a new level of security.” Read More>>>

Does it really add new level of security to your Windows system?