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Ars: IE8, Beta 2, Shows MS is Serious About Catch-Up
by , 4:55 PM EDT, August 28th, 2008
Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8, beta 2, is much easier to use, has a host of security, stability, and privacy features, and shows that Microsoft is serious about playing catch-up, according to ars technica on Thursday.
The author pointed out that beta 1 had a lot of rough edges and was hard to use for an extended period. However, he was impressed with beta 2.
In a guided tour of his testing experience, with a wealth of sceen shots, Mr. Bright works his way through launch, customization, tabs, Firefox-like address bar, search, private browsing mode, and adherence to HTML standards. IE8 has the ability to switch between the older IE7 "fake" standards and real standards. As a testament to that, or perhaps a disappointment, some of Microsoft's own Web pages break in the more standards compliant IE8.
"IE8 has me surprised. Internet Explorer has fallen a long way behind Safari, Opera, and Firefox," Mr. Bright concluded. "IE7 brought the much-needed tabs, but was still a long way behind the competing browsers. And honestly, even IE8 hasn't caught up with the competition. But it's a great deal closer than I thought it would be. The standards compliance is certainly still a big issue, and the reality is that IE8 still won't be nearly as good on that front as the other three major browsers. Nonetheless, as an overall package, IE8 is a far better product than its predecessor.
"After using beta 2, I am now confident that Microsoft actually cares about creating a good web browser, and I haven't felt that way since the days of the browser war. My only worry now is that MS will once again lose interest in its browser; I hope not."
This is all very good news for Macintosh users who run XP or Vista in virtualization or Boot Camp and have hesitated to use IE7 in the past for its poor security and standards performance.
Observer Comments
Mozilla has to code up a plugin so that IE can handle SVG...
And NBC's use of Silverlight to enable DRM when viewing video on the web clearly shows Microsoft can't be bothered with fully supporting it on the Mac [as PPC machines couldn't view any of the videos].
So, Microsoft is still up to their old games of supporting their own platform and proprietary protocols and formats first and best, and then maybe work on standards second.
Hell, IE8 is only happening because FireFox was gaining significant adoption on the enterprise.
Why shouldn't Microsoft support their own platforms? I mean, why should they support Mac at all??? They aren't forcing users to buy a Mac. It's their choice... Go run a VM or complain to Apple. Their stock is way up there, maybe they can pay Microsoft to do a port for them or buy the specs themselves and implement their own Silverlight-compatible solution... On a similar note, my iPhone and iPods only sync with iTunes. Imagine that?! Would be great if I can use Windows Media Player to sync, but I can't. Oh well... Life will go on... bottom-line, I don't think Microsoft has any obligation to support Apple whatsoever...
Thu Aug 28, 2008 6:36 pm Subject: Double Yawn-Hail 2 Mac :-) MSFT could ever convince me again
MSFT could ever convince me againThu Aug 28, 2008 7:15 pm Subject: And they thank Apple for the support
QuoteGuest wrote:
Why shouldn't Microsoft support their own platforms? I mean, why should they support Mac at all??? They aren't forcing users to buy a Mac. It's their choice... Go run a VM or complain to Apple. Their stock is way up there, maybe they can pay Microsoft to do a port for them or buy the specs themselves and implement their own Silverlight-compatible solution... On a similar note, my iPhone and iPods only sync with iTunes. Imagine that?! Would be great if I can use Windows Media Player to sync, but I can't. Oh well... Life will go on... bottom-line, I don't think Microsoft has any obligation to support Apple whatsoever...
Does Apple lock Windows users out of some web sites?
Is iTunes and QuickTime available for Windows?
Is this new version of Explorer finally web standard compliant?
QuoteSir Harry Flashman wrote:QuoteGuest wrote:
Can I legally run OS X on my Dell computer?
No, but you can legally buy a Mac and legally install Windows on it.
Apple is a niche company and they force users to buy their hardware to use their OS, yet we all complain about MS. I'm not supporter or companies. I don't like cult mentality. All of them are here to make money. If Apple is holier than MS, why don't they make its OS available to run on any type of computer and do a great service to the industry? I use safari, firefox and IE. firefox is the best. Safaris has look and feel but sucks on many websites and doesn't play many embedded videos even after installing all the plug-ins. No one can make a perfect software. If they did, they will have to stop the business. Cut the crap! Apple is not here to do philanthrophy. They are like any other business. All these companies are hypcrites. While they blame MS, they themselves force us to lock us into their product.
QuoteGuest wrote:QuoteSir Harry Flashman wrote:QuoteGuest wrote:
Can I legally run OS X on my Dell computer?
No, but you can legally buy a Mac and legally install Windows on it.
Apple is a niche company and they force users to buy their hardware to use their OS, yet we all complain about MS. I'm not supporter or companies. I don't like cult mentality. All of them are here to make money. If Apple is holier than MS, why don't they make its OS available to run on any type of computer and do a great service to the industry? I use safari, firefox and IE. firefox is the best. Safaris has look and feel but sucks on many websites and doesn't play many embedded videos even after installing all the plug-ins. No one can make a perfect software. If they did, they will have to stop the business. Cut the crap! Apple is not here to do philanthrophy. They are like any other business. All these companies are hypcrites. While they blame MS, they themselves force us to lock us into their product.
n/t
Sure you can as long as you do the install yourself (despite what the license says). What you can't legally do is buy a copy of Leopard from a third party hardware manufacture who violates Apple's copyright to make a profit by installing the OS for you. However, I am not sure what your point is. Apple is a hardware manufacture of personal computers, Microsoft is not. Apple makes an OS only to sell it's hardware.
Let me run this buy you, can I easily with Microsoft's blessings run WIndows on an X-Box? Many people want to because it would make a great cheap PC. However, Microsoft has shut that idea down by sending out the lawyers. Moreover, Microsoft doesn't allow anybody else to create a operating system for the X-Box.
QuoteGuest wrote:
Can I legally run OS X on my Dell computer?
QuoteGuest wrote:
I sure hope, as a web developer, that ie 8 starts to straighten up and fly right so that web pages render right without us developers write tel copies of code with variances that please the whims of theicrosoft monopoly anymore
If you want standards, they have already been written so you can have a universally compatible website:
http://www.anybrowser.org/
Doesn't take I.E. adopting more standards to make the web more universally compatible. What it takes is web developers learning the standards that already have been written that are browser independent.
QuoteGuest wrote:
If you want standards, they have already been written so you can have a universally compatible website:
http://www.anybrowser.org/
Doesn't take I.E. adopting more standards to make the web more universally compatible. What it takes is web developers learning the standards that already have been written that are browser independent.
True, the standards are maintained by the WorldWideWeb Consortium
http://www.w3.org/
The issue is not that there aren't standards. The issue is that MS has used its overwhelming market share (gained through questionable if not illegal means) to ignore and run roughshod over them. The MS attitude seems to have been that the standard was whatever they, as holder of 90% of the browser market, said it was. This meant that often (and I have done a fair amount of web coding) you had a choice of making a site compatible with IE OR compatible with every other browser. Getting a site to be both was often exceedingly difficult.
Personally I find this kind of arrogance to be typical of MS but it?s still exceedingly offensive. I am really hoping that IE8 will rectify this.
Fri Aug 29, 2008 11:29 am Subject: Unfortunately I.e. 8 will do little to rectify it
QuoteAnonymous wrote:
Can I legally run OS X on my Dell computer?
QuoteCan I legally run OS X on my Dell?Sir Harry Flashman wrote:
Does Apple lock Windows users out of some web sites?
Is iTunes and QuickTime available for Windows?
Is this new version of Explorer finally web standard compliant?
We aren't talking about operating systems here, we are talking about browsers. You CAN run iTunes on your Dell. You CAN run Quicktime on your Dell. You CAN run Safari (a browser) on your Dell.
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