Internet Explorer 7
In case you haven’t heard, Microsoft has started pushing out its new web browser, Internet Explorer 7, to everyone using Windows Update. In fact, if your computer automatically installs Windows updates, you may get IE 7 without even noticing it - until you reboot your computer.
In theory, the upgrade isn’t all bad: it effectively updates Microsoft’s web browser to the level that all other browsing technology has been at for the last 3 years. Of course, if you’re an average Windows user, you probably have no idea that other browsers like Firefox have existed for years and have offered for years what Internet Explorer 7 finally will offer to you - things like tabbed browsing and integrated search.
Of course, if you’re an average computer user, you probably also won’t realize that this latest browser upgrade from Microsoft is causing websites everywhere to panic - and for good reason: many websites do not work in the new browser. Reference the statement from Reuters or about PeopleSoft telling people that these applications do not (yet) support IE 7.
Why, you ask, would sites stop working in IE 7? As a web developer, I can tell you why: for years, Microsoft browsing technology has not conformed to any official or published web standards, such as the W3C standards. So web pages that work in every other major web browser like Netscape or Firefox often don’t work in Internet Explorer because they don’t conform to Microsoft’s own version of web standards. But, since Internet Explorer’s inferior browsing experience has such a wide following (because Microsoft forces it onto people via Windows), websites usually make special corrections, unofficial tweaks, and other creative adjustments to get their web pages to work in Internet Explorer.
With the introduction of Internet Explorer 7, Microsoft has removed support for lots of the “tweaks” developers used to get their websites to work with Internet Explorer. But Microsoft still hasn’t made Internet Explorer 7 support the published Internet development standards that all other browsers support, leaving developers everywhere panicing: what worked on IE 6 doesn’t always work on IE 7, but what works in Firefox might not work in IE 7 either. Typical Microsoft.
on November 5th, 2006 at 18:43
yeah, i went ahead and did the upgrade thing cause i got tired of the reminders. i used it for one day, just to test it out. not bad, but the tabs (which are my favorite firefox feature) are not as good as they could be. now, i admit i haven’t sat down and configured everything, but …it’s not horrible. the funny part is going to be listening to people complain how they can’t find all of the old buttons in their new places. hehe. i use firefox 99% of the time, and when i’m not, it’s becasue the website i am using needs IE to run, so then i just open up a new tab in firefox that runs IE. yipee.
on November 8th, 2006 at 21:55
good grief. more problems. i hate IE. i’m viewing your site via firefox, btw.
and i noticed your IM pic update? is that you? and i read your bio, you’re from OH?! geez, could swear you were english or scottish or something. did i tell you i’m getting married (officially, for the familysake) this Dec? to a Scottish girl?
http://www.lucyjordan.com/coppermine/
err…the pictures…aren’t pretty…no where near as presentable as yours…i look goofy and retarded in many of them…and lucy looks like a cancer survivor…hmmm
here’s the only halfway presentable mug of me…not looking to much like a ritalin kid…
http://www.lucyjordan.com/coppermine/displayimage.php?album=1&pos=4
and who’s trying to sell you car insurance? is that another IE problem? may need to add one of those human test posting submittal viewer thingamajiggies to dodge those autofilling spammers.
on November 8th, 2006 at 22:01
uhhh, if there’s ANY confusion as to which one is me, i’m the taller one…without glasses, although, i tend to wear glasses…and don’t really look like anyone’s grandmother…
on November 15th, 2006 at 20:39
Do you think maybe you can sue that spammer for sexual harassment?
on November 20th, 2006 at 15:04
Cheryl, glad to hear a more or less objective person [this means you] give this assessment of microsoft.
rita