Comments on: IE8 Passes Acid2 Test, Web Standards Project Dies of Shock

By: foobar

foobar — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 04:16:37 +0000

Those viruses you speak of, normally come from users going to adult sites/warez sites. They get spyware from those sites, and then click on those popups and download the viruse themselves. Viruses are an issue with the user, not the browser.

I guess you’ve never heard of ActiveX; remote exploits aren’t just a user issue. Microsoft’s also to blame for their braindead handling of executables versus data files; every properly designed filesystem uses an executable bit in the file metadata to identify executable files, while MS filesystems rely on file extensions, and that’s hardly the only problem with their filesystem permission handling. If it wasn’t for the reliance on file extensions to identify executables, downloaded viruses would be completely impotent unless accompanied with effective social engineering attacks, significantly lessening their total impact potential.

By: scollins77

scollins77 — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 06:01:35 +0000

I'm surprised iCab and Konqueror rate a mention as passing the Acid2 test, but no mention is made of Opera (my browser of choice!) in the blog post - as dkesler pointed out, they are currently the only major release browser which does pass the Acid2 test, and have done so for a while. According to http://www.howtocreate.co.uk/acid/:

Opera 9 passes the Acid 2 test, making it the second browser to do so, and the first browser for Windows or Linux/UNIX to pass. It is the only current browser available for download for all of Windows, Linux/UNIX and Mac, that passes Acid 2. The other browsers that pass are either tied to a specific operating system, or must be built manually.

By: AlexW

AlexW — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 00:35:47 +0000

Those viruses you speak of, normally come from users going to adult sites/warez sites. They get spyware from those sites, and then click on those popups and download the viruse themselves. Viruses are an issue with the user, not the browser. Yes the browser could have some functionality built in to protect the user from these threats, but Microsoft can’t fix user habits.

That’s like saying, “Sure, we sell front door locks, but if you’re going to live in a dodgy neighbourhood, we can’t be held responsible.” You can’t stop people from actively opening the door to hoodlums, but you can at least make sure the door doesn’t open with a mild shove.

By: Hal9k

Hal9k — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 22:31:50 +0000

I’ll die of shock when IE 8 surpasses the level of penetration of IE 6 and 7 combined.

By: feketegy

feketegy — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 09:15:42 +0000

I think Microsoft should end support for ie6 and force those users to upgrade to at least ie7, because if not I think many problems will come in the developers community.

Think of the many CSS stylesheets and hacks we will use to render a page correctly in all the major browsers ie6, ie7, ie8, firefox, opera, safari (at least).

I think a good approach from Microsoft would be to shorten the support date for every major internet explorer…

By: Pancho

Pancho — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 07:54:59 +0000

Opera 9.5 beta (kestrel)is the best and fastest browser I ve seen…

It renders satellite and radar weather Java loops much faster …

By: Ben Tudball

Ben Tudball — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 04:13:59 +0000

About time! It has taken 3 years and IE8 will be officially released in about a year, so make that 4 years.

Where is the built-in support for:

SVG?
CSS3?
DOM3?
APNG?
Canvas?
Video element?
etc.

Internet Explorer is still holding back the Web until it is up to speed with the rest of the A grade browsers.

By: John Bowling

John Bowling — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 02:28:01 +0000

So what’s useful about it when it’s restricted to Vista or possibly XP? I don’t use either. As a Linux user to avoid all the crap ware that MS and IE maintain an open door and welcome invitation for, I’m happy using open source browsers.

As a web page developer, I HATE making a web page that does all kinds of weird stuff to try to make it work with all the stupidity IE has maintained over the years and versions.

So any future pages I do will not do ANYTHING to make IE work. If it isn’t fully standard, the viewer can go elsewhere!

By: jjpmarketing

jjpmarketing — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 01:59:41 +0000

Those viruses you speak of, normally come from users going to adult sites/warez sites. They get spyware from those sites, and then click on those popups and download the viruse themselves. Viruses are an issue with the user, not the browser. Yes the browser could have some functionality built in to protect the user from these threats, but Microsoft can’t fix user habits. If you walk into a jungle carrying a big juicy gazelle steak… chances are you will attract lions… and probably get attacked. Same goes for computers and viruses. People think that they can just download any old thing off the internet and be safe. Have you seen the scary movies where people just open the door for the monster/villain? Once he is in there, he ain’t leaving without some big dramatic fight. Viruses are no different. If you open the door for the virus, you are just asking for trouble.

By: dkeesler

dkeesler — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 23:05:14 +0000

Regardless of one’s opinion of Opera’s lawsuit, at least they practice what they preach. Opera v9 already passes the Acid2 Test, and is the only release version [major] browser to do so.