IE6 Your Thoughts?

[Hartmann]

IE 6 is in preview release: http://www.cnet.com/internet/0-3774-...74-8-5196333-1

What do you think? I think they are copying NS6 with the look and feel of the buttons and layout (neither of which I like). However, IE6 will probably be better (faster) than NS6. Lets just hope they get CSS right this time.

[KeithMcL]

If the screen shot that cnet shows of it is the main one then I think it's horrible. Too much like Netscape 6.

[dominique]

Yuk! If that's what the main skin looks like then it's horrible! Way way way too childish!!!!!

Whatever happened to those who surfed because they had a reason to surf? This browesr is for those who surf only because the browser is "cute"!!!!

On an other note, does anyone know what is searched when you use the seach field on the left in the screenshot? Is it Microsoft's search engine or can you set it up to search places like Yahoo! or Google? More and more people are going to use that and then Microsoft will be able to charge crazy prices to have your site listed...

[Michel V]

I guess the Back Forward Stop buttons have been blatantly stolen from Netscape6's modern skin then re-colored... I don't mean that such usual shapes could have een copyrighted by NS Corp., but there it's so evident that i would attack MS for blatant copy.

On the other hand, i'm about to reboot because i just installed it.

[MattR]

Yikes! I don't want all that junk hanging around on my browser -- I use IE5.5 to browse the web, nothing more. I'll keep 5.5 thank-you-very-much!

[Michel V]

I had a little trouble installing it because i wasn't using Explorer as my shell. Under LiteStep it wouldn't update Windows' components.
So i had to restart under Explorer. Once there, i didn't see the ugly skin so i thought it was not installed, and i ran the installer again. Well still no ugly skin. I guess the ugly skin appears on Windows XP only.
I'm using Win2k Pro and IE6's install is a bit of a letdown because you can't choose the components you're installing or not. So i don't know which things MS has installed on my system implicitly.
Anyway, the transition is smooth from IE 5.5, the browser's not especially faster nor better but i'll see when i have used it for some days.
CSS seems better: on http://dayzero.org , the links at last have the attribute "Variant: smallcaps", which makes nothing spectacular but was an exemple of IE's lack of compliancy.
The personal bar seems like i'll ignore it for a long time, default news are weather and stocks: i don't care muchfor the weather in the USA and i don't have any stock-options
There's a Media sub-bar but when i just hit the play button it leaded me to windowsmedia.com and took me away from the textbox where i'm typing this, so it was a big NO-NO. Seems like it wants me to play some files directly from the Web. Sorry Bill, not everyone's got a broadband connection.

Overall, it's not quite a revolution.

Other testimonies are welcome

[Michel V]

Originally posted by MattR
Yikes! I don't want all that junk hanging around on my browser -- I use IE5.5 to browse the web, nothing more. I'll keep 5.5 thank-you-very-much!

Don't worry you can eject the MS Messenger icon and the other junk stuff from the toolbar

[MattR]

Originally posted by Shin Ma

Don't worry you can eject the MS Messenger icon and the other junk stuff from the toolbar

That might not be too bad then... I'm just getting sick and tired of applications that are trying to be "all-in-one". I use outlook for my mail. I use IE to browse the web, and winamp to play MP3s. I like these applications AS IS. I don't want some catch-all application to come along and try and take these roles because usually they're slower, more error prone, and generally suffer from usability issues which weren't a problem on the original applications.

Windows Media Player 7 seems to fall under this category -- I used to watch movies on it, but now the movies that worked fine under 6 now either no longer play under 7 or have weird issues -- e.g. no sound, lost the ability to fastforward / rewind, etc.

Winamp is small and VERY fast. Outlook is pretty speedy and interfaces well with my Palm IIIc.

I hated Netscape 6 for a number of reasons, mostly because it was pretty slow and visually unappealing with all of that jazz thrown around it. I'd really use opera more if it didn't cost money and cause problems with page display.

[Michel V]

Well, when i started using Opera is was thinking "WOW i can do stuff, check my mails, and use ICQ with it !". But when you try the 2 pitiful implementations of these features, you're just deceived...

[Hartmann]

So that skin is only for XP? Well then I ain't buying XP!!!

If the IE6 skin is the same as 5.5 then I might use it. Otherwise, no.

[Michel V]

http://dayzero.org/gallery/screenshotie6.gif

Here's a screenshot with Win2k.

[sowen]

Can you install it alongside IE5.5? You know .. so you can check different browser compatibility .. ARE YOU LISTENING MICROSOFT!

[Michel V]

Alas you can't...
I think there's a way to uninstall it, but it's a true system stuff, like coming back to a previous state of Windows...
It's explained in the readme: i just uploaded it, so you can see the pros and cons, because as usual, MS will show you the Install-readme only when you've already installed their stuff...

http://dayzero.org/gallery/iereadme.txt

By the way am i the only one to find that very weird that MS stopped letting users download IE6 just after they released it ? Maybe they thought "OOPSIES ! We forgot to add trojans and backdoors !"

[Justin S]

I tried using the custom installation option, so that I could have both IE 5.5 and IE 6 on my computer, but it kept saying it wasn't installing correctly. So until it comes out of beta, I'm sticking with IE 5.5.

[Elledan]

IE6 is just way too bloated IMO. Who wants to receive all this useless junk in the sidebar?

I don't think I'll make the switch from NS/Mozilla to IE. IE still doesn't run on Linux, which is the OS I use mainly for browsing (with NS 4.76 and Mozilla 0.7).

I bet the bookmarking system of IE hasn't improved either in IE6.

[sowen]

It is FAST! Sitepoint front page opens up 5 or 6 times quicker. Hasn't crashed yet (5 hours uptime)

I will stay with the beta.

You can turn most of the c##p off. The news bar is classic Microsoft though, Only accepts American Zip codes!

[CJ]

Originally posted by Elledan
IE6 is just way too bloated IMO. Who wants to receive all this useless junk in the sidebar?

I don't think I'll make the switch from NS/Mozilla to IE. IE still doesn't run on Linux, which is the OS I use mainly for browsing (with NS 4.76 and Mozilla 0.7).

I bet the bookmarking system of IE hasn't improved either in IE6.

Have you tested it on your own?

I can't tell anything about IE6. I like IE5.5 and it seems there aren't any 'great' new options so I ain't using it yet.

[mmj]

yuck

I hate skins.

I don't like something taking up so much space just because it has a fancy border.

Most skins are ugly too, and slow down the whole computer.

I hate media player 7 and I hate anything with "skins". I hate the way windows media player 7 cannot get rid of the skin - there's a "classic" version but it's just a skin of it - and doesn't function properly.

As long as IE6 has a skin-free option (like red rooster (in joke)) then I'm looking forward to it.

[James]

I can't download it because the connection is too slow
However I do know this:
-the screen shot shown on CNET's site is not installed by default
-it does not come as the default in XP

The CNET shots were taken on WinXP but the funny buttons aren't set up by default. However the larger than normal title bar of the App is (where it has the minimize buttons etc)

As soon as I can I will be downloading the beta

[MattR]

I think I might give it a couple of weeks to solidify (I browse the web WAY too much to have a browser that crashes constantly) and see how it goes. If you all give it the thumbs up (including the roll-back to 5.5) I will install.

[wert]

...kinda disliked it at first. Then found out it was really easy to offload all the crap that comes up by default. Now it looks pretty much exactly like 5.5 but seems much faster and more stable. I'm keeping it...

[mjames]

The screenshot CNET has at http://www.cnet.com/internet/0-3774-...74-8-5196333-4 makes IE6 look hideous! I agree with MattR above. I can't stand how all these companies are making all-in-one softwares with too much intregration with features most of us don't even use. It bloats things, makes things slower, and is more bug-prone. At least give us an option for some of this! I think Microsoft is trying to make IE too newbie-oriented. I don't like all those bright colors and such, yuck.

[wert]

There is no skin download on my copy of IE 6 at all. I did the minimum install from their site, then went in and disabled the html sidebars. Now it looks pretty much *exactly* like 5.5. I don't see any extra icons, bars, etc... Looks and feels like 5.5 but faster... Don't go by screenshots alone! Try it yourself. You can always revert back to 5.5 if ya don't like it. I hate skins too. Wouldn't use it if if forced me to use a skin.

[Goof]

I almost expect companies to do this now. Just as long as we're still able to turn all the extra crap off. BTW, anyone who uses the search feature in IE5.x, I would recommend installing the Google Bar from www.google.com - I'm not one for additions to IE, but the google bar helps very much!

Goof

[James]

I've done a standard install on Win2k Pro and it was great from the outset. There were no ugly skins, bad integration etc. I've had no problems at all.