Firefox overtakes IE6, threatens IE7

[ShayneTilley]

The point is, the people who understand tech the most, do not use IE, and that tells us a lot about IE.

You're not going to get an argument from me there.

[Poiesis01]

I deleted that last paragraph. Then reinserted it and I just knew someone would say what you just said, Shayne, and you're not taking the analogy as intended.

The point is, the people who understand tech the most, do not use IE, and that tells us a lot about IE.

By tech you mean webmasters because programmers know from experience that the nature of an app changes with every rebuild as new features are added and existing features are altered.

[superjacent]

Not one mention of Chrome. Obviously not a serious player yet, even with Google's backing.

[AlexDawson]

By tech you mean webmasters because programmers know from experience that the nature of an app changes with every rebuild as new features are added and existing features are altered.

The only problem with that statement is Internet Explorer is the least upgraded browser around, all of the others get regular update cycles where as we are lucky to get a new version of IE every few years. And most “programmers” are well aware of IE’s shortcomings in comparison to the other browsers simply because those shortcomings (unless you are a non-technical user) extremely profound and obvious.

[Poiesis01]

The only problem with that statement is Internet Explorer is the least upgraded browser around, all of the others get regular update cycles where as we are lucky to get a new version of IE every few years.

IE doesn't get regular updates? IE updates are implemented through Windows Update rather than when you open IE so it may not be as visible as when FF updates and restarts but it does get regular updates.

And most “programmers” are well aware of IE’s shortcomings in comparison to the other browsers simply because those shortcomings (unless you are a non-technical user) extremely profound and obvious.

Yes they do, and yes IE6 had profound and obvious shortcomings. But "programmers" also know better than to slate IE8 based on experiences with IE6, which is my point.

[AlexDawson]

IE doesn't get regular updates? IE updates are implemented through Windows Update rather than when you open IE so it may not be as visible as when FF updates and restarts but it does get regular updates.

While IE does get regular updates through Windows Update, none of these contain new features but are simply patches for flaws and holes in the system, not new functionality and therefore the shortcomings which are associated with functionality holes or unresolved issues will remain until a new major version.

Yes they do, and yes IE6 had profound and obvious shortcomings. But "programmers" also know better than to slate IE8 based on experiences with IE6, which is my point.

I would say to some extent that developers do basemark against previous versions of a product, especially if there were noticeable flaws in the product. Because it’s those things we look to see if they still exist or have been resolved, granted they would not use non-existent or known issues from IE6 to slate IE8 but IE itself has suffered so much bad press due to those previous versions it takes time for wounds to heal.

[felgall]

The upgrade from IE6 to IE7 patches about 1000 security holes that would have been too hard to fix without making significant changes to the way IE worked - so that's what they did.

The upgrade from IE7 to IE8 implements as much of the current CSS standards as Microsoft was able to do without changing the way the rendering engine works (because changing trident too much would break windows).

The upgrade from IE8 to IE9 looks like being one where the rendering engine will be changed from Trident to either Webkit or Gazelle. If this is actually what happens then IE will no longer be locked into Windows and will be as capable as any other web browser.

The only mistake that Microsoft made in all this was that they didn't bother with any upgrades during the six years where IE6 had over 95% of the browser market and so fell behind all those that started up during that time. Basically they skipped two releases and so have to do something fast so as to catch up while they still have a userbase left.