IE8, Microsoft's Best Effort at Righting Past Wrongs?
While not specifically anti-IE, most web developers are nearly all pro web standards. By and large the developers I jostle with are building in some incarnation of gecko or webkit. Then it's hack and slay till it's tamed to work with IE in order to satisfy some random stake-holder. The mounting frustration inevitably leads web developers to use their influence to reduce IE's footprint.
Anecdotally I'd say that your average web developer works on the theory of "anything but IE" in their day to day browser usage. IE is endured because of its market share, and little else. Microsoft would get a lot of value out of convincing this crowd that IE8 is Microsoft's best effort at righting past wrongs.
As IE8 moves into production, they could start by making a compelling argument for why web designers/developers should be building on IE8 and then testing on other browsers, rather than the other way around.
Windows IE8 Beta Home Page does nothing for me at the moment.
I want to see options that make developers' lives easier, such as in-built debugging tools for web design and development. Or perhaps a plugin architecture that lets the community build it's own.
What is Microsoft doing to get people off IE6? Some insight into why the IE6 crack-habit has been so difficult for users to kick would be very interesting. Here's hoping that once Microsoft actually have a browser worth upgrading to, there will finally be a platform the web community can endorse and actively encourage users to upgrade to -- while letting corporate curmudgeons maintain their homogeneous Windows fiefdoms.
Perhaps "IE8 for developers, developers, developers" will reveal all.
Comments
duncan on 15 Feb 2009 08:12 PM
Jakob Nielsen wrote an article 11 years ago that is still valid today, for why users don't upgrade their browsers http://www.useit.com/alertbox/980322.html see also the 2008 update here: http://www.useit.com/alertbox/990418.html
Jeff Coughlin on 16 Feb 2009 02:46 AM
Here here! Microsoft appears to be the proverbial thorn in our backs. When they released IE6, they said "It meets web standards!"... right. what they failed to mention was that it was "their" standards (and their own added styles, etc). Then IE7 came along and MS said "It meets web standards!". Rinse, repeat. So far the betas for IE8 have been nothing but junk and still don't meet all standards. Oh, but wait. Microsoft says "Ah, we've got you beat there... IE8 Beta is the only browser that can successfully pass ACID tests!" Well Microsoft, if I need to make smiley faces on my website, then I'll look to IE8. Until then, I want to use a browser that actually displays websites that follow coding standards set forth by Wc3. To Microsoft: Thank you sir, but for now I'll continue to load Dean Edwards IE7/IE8 solution into my websites to make your code comply to standards. You know, I find it interesting that one guy (Dean Edwards) can use javascript to fix your base code when you have an entire team of core developers who can't match up to his techniques.