Comments on: IE8 Version Targeting: Microsoft Considers Feedback

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 02:24:47 +0000

MS is just using their monopoly to create the internet on their terms. If they make IE Standards compliant, then web developers won’t have to make pages render differently for IE than for compliant browsers. If web pages render the same in all browsers, who in their right mind would choose IE? Thus by being different, they make the whole web follow their footsteps like little sheep following their shepherd. If IE was not a part of just about every OEM Operating System, they wouldn’t be able to muscle their way around that way. This kind of behavior should be reviewed by the Justice Department because it is evidence that MS has not changed their ways even after they have been caught abusing their monopoly.

By: AlphOmega

AlphOmega — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 11:41:47 +0000

To me arguing this new version targeting proposal from Microsoft is just a battle of principle. Whether people agree with it or not, in the real world, we will most likely have to end up adding an extra meta element into our web pages which wont break take any more effort than not.

By: akayani

akayani — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 08:10:09 +0000

“The NUMBER OF PAGES THAT CURRENTLY (AND IN THE FUTURE) DON’T COMPLY TO STANDARDS [OUTWEIGHT!!!!] those of us who do comply.”

If that were the case surely it would be obvious when you view the web using Fox or Safari or Opera.

I’m certainly not seeing that.

Yani

By: Mister

Mister — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 02:50:56 +0000

Why is everyone crying “a foul”? The opt-in basis makes the best sense. Why? The NUMBER OF PAGES THAT CURRENTLY (AND IN THE FUTURE) DON’T COMPLY TO STANDARDS [OUTWEIGHT!!!!] those of us who do comply.

This is a great idea. I don’t mind sticking in that little piece of meta for IE8.

By: headbank

headbank — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 14:49:13 +0000

This really is a no-win situation for standards-lovin’ devs. On the one hand, if IE8 strict-mode is opt-in as proposed, we have to fix all our pages by adding the meta tag. (OK, most of us have powertools at hand to make this a fairly simple task, but I digress.)

Then again, if it’s opt-out — thus forcing all these alleged lazy MS-focused devs to deploy the meta-tag — then we probably still have to audit our pages to see which of our beloved old IE7/6/5 hacks are now defunct and/or harmful.

We’ll have work to do either way (though, when you are talking about a major-version upgrade of IE, whoever doesn’t prepare themselves for that fact is a bit naïve to say the least!) — personally I’d feel better if the lazy MS-lovin’ devs finally had to do some as well.

Looking to the future, I simply can’t see MS’s solution as being sustainable. If they keep saddling each new browser with a compatibility engine for each one of its ancestors, it’ll collapse under its own weight before long.

If Chris Wilson & Co are listening: come on guys, grow a pair and have the courage to move forward. Vista made a few tough decisions wrt legacy-support, and while a few Joe Sixpacks out there are still moaning about that, it’s made your OS platform a whole lot better prepared for the future. Apply that same resolve to the browser and you’ll see more appreciation from the greater dev community than you’ve ever known or thought possible.

To quote Starsky: “Do it. Do it.”

By: Erik R

Erik R — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 07:43:31 +0000

I wanted to hate MS for having their cake and eating it too, but this only encourages more people to move up to xhtml rather than deal with excess browser incompatibility issues while Explorer-only devs will continue to wallow in their MS-only skill sets.

By: akayani

akayani — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 02:23:13 +0000

I read the interview last night. They really are assuming that web developers target IE and therefore all our pages are incorrect as is. I don’t think this is true. I think developers long ago started targeting FF and correcting for IE. For one there is a significant number of developers using Macs. And those of us on Windows… all I know are using FF.

I wonder what you would see as browser stats if you looked at MS web logs in professional discussions about web authoring?

Yani

By: DevKinney@devkinney.com

DevKinney@devkinney.com — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 19:03:05 +0000

Wow, I certainly agree with you guys. Microsoft is primarily interested in supporting past versions as much as possible. But is this such a bad thing? In the days of Dos and Unix, nobody ever envisioned the coming ubiquity of the PC phenomenon much less the current web phenomenon.

With simplicity, connectivity and sustainability Microsoft has largely created this new real estate we call the World-Wide-Web. Whether standard or not, no current standards based browser renders text and images like Internet Explorer. And no other browser, standards or not, renders them as quickly.

The standards community can best Microsoft only if they can build better software that folks can be sure will be supported and maintained. It can be done, fellows, so don’t give up.

By: Dev.Kinney

Dev.Kinney — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 18:59:29 +0000

Wow, I certainly agree with you guys. Microsoft is primarily interested in supporting past versions as much as possible. But is this such a bad thing? In the days of Dos and Unix, nobody ever invisioned the coming ubiquity of the PC phenomenon much less the current web phenomenon.

The standards community can best Microsoft only if they can build better software that folks can be sure will be supported and maintained. It can be done, fellows, so don’t give up.

By: Dev.Kinney

Dev.Kinney — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 18:57:31 +0000

Wow, I certainly agree with you guys. Microsoft is primarily interested in supporting past versions as much as possible. But is this such a bad thing? In the days of Dos and Unix, nobody ever invisioned the coming ubiquity of the PC phenomenon much less the current web phenomenon.

With simplicity, connectivity and sustainablity Microsoft has largely created this new real estate we call the World-Wide-Web. Whether standard or not, no current standards based browser renders text and images like Internet Explorer. And no other browser, standards or not, renders them as quickly.

The standards community can best Microsoft only if they can build better software that folks can be sure will be supported and maintained. It can be done, fellows, so don’t give up.