IE7 Announced for Longhorn and WinXP 755
sriram_2001 writes "There is now an official announcement from Bill Gates on Internet Explorer 7. It will be available in beta form this summer for Longhorn and XP SP2. The IEBlog has commentary about the decision making process that went into the new browser version." Coming on the heels of the June Beta announcement for Longhorn, if things go as planned it will likely be here in early summer. The new browser's early arrival was first discussed last year.
Yippee (Score:4, Interesting)
A friend's computer is virtually unusable because something corrupted IE, and that in turn broke Windows Explorer.
So? (Score:5, Interesting)
So surprised. (Score:2, Interesting)
The real question is: (Score:5, Interesting)
Will all you Firefox users now be quiet [msdn.com]? Oh, they are talking about me, as well?
IE.Net? (Score:5, Interesting)
IE.Net (or rather, mshtml.Net) would be a great way to show off the supposed security enhancements that
(Aside: Is Visual Studio now written in
Too little too late? (Score:1, Interesting)
From my perspective, they have given Firefox a huge head start, and, since they can't outcompete them on a cost standpoint (hey, Firefox is free too!), they will have to rely on superior coding (maybe), or hope that most new computer users will simply use whatever comes installed as long as it doesn't suck too hard.
Consider, though, that almost everyone I know either uses Firefox now or avoids windows altogether. Heck, Firefox is even the default browser on the public computers on the UC Berkeley campus these days. I work there - I know how notoriously slow the PC techs are to change anything.
IE7, great. Microsoft will probably integrate it more tightly into the OS. In the meantime, the Mozilla foundation has at least 4 more months to get even better. Lets hope they build an even stronger lead.
I was a long time IE user- I remember downloading all of the IE4 betas and admiring the technology. But, I know who i'll be rooting for in this one.
Re:I wonder what MS has stolen from firefox (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm glad they dropped the ball on this. (Score:2, Interesting)
If microsoft patched ie to stop popups and hacked in tabbed browsing I don't think as many would have switched to ff. It's not like we would get many converts with 'Look! It open source and standards compliant!!'
Thanks microsoft for dropping the ball on this, and whatever your smoking up there in redmond, keep smoking it.
IE is so closely tied to Windows... (Score:2, Interesting)
how can Microsoft claim it's not possible to ship Windows without IE when IE can ship without Windows? or is the IE7 coming out as a part of Longhorn beta?
Re:Wow. It's been a long time since Microsoft blin (Score:5, Interesting)
Microsoft terminates work on IE, they own the browser market, spyware runs rampant, all is good in the universe.
Firefox appears and chomps into their dominance, offering features and spyware noncompliance that makes IE6 look like a Microsoft product.
Microsoft internally goes,
shit, our browser marketshare is weak, people are acting like IE is a Microsoft product for once! We need to make it look better, pull the browser team back together, do something, and up the version number!
Actually, I dunno why they give a damn about browser marketshare, ignoring that having a dominant browser that only really works on their platform keeps people using their cash-cow OS so they can view MS-HTML websites without difficulty and reap the latest in spyware technology.
Re:I wonder what MS has stolen from firefox (Score:5, Interesting)
As far as tabbed browsing & mouse gestures, well MS has been pretty smug in saying they provide what their customers are asking for & they aren't asking for tabbed browsing & mouse gestures - so probably not.
Re:Maybe they'll do it right this time... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:valid CSS and FULLY supported PNG? (Score:3, Interesting)
This shouldn't be modded "Funny", it should be modded "So true I'm crying into my vodka".
Unless you are a web developer that has to waste time every day working around Internet Explorer's eight year old screw-ups of the standards, you really don't understand how it feels.
It's like being in an abusive relationship. Microsoft have billions of dollars to fix Internet Explorer, and instead they let it rot for years. But you have no choice but to support it because loads of people still use it.
If you add up all the time I've wasted professionally, working around Microsoft's incompetence, I've probably lost weeks of my life that I'll never get back.
Bah Google Owns All (Score:2, Interesting)
http://LitePC.com (Score:1, Interesting)
Version numbers as marketing tricks (Score:5, Interesting)
Nothing in the press release or IE blog post mentions improved standards support. Mixed in with the "Yay, IE7!" bandwagon blog comments are those from actual web developers still asking for better CSS and PNG support.
Which we won't get. IE7 will be (spurious) security fixes, and the large version increase (6.0 to 7.0) would imply more sweeping changes than SP2 to the Windows security model. That may be, and considering the track record of SP2, also implies more software breaking.
IE7 might include some candy that the average user can comprehend (like tabbed browsing or RSS feeds), but I'd give even odds on that. What we definitely won't see is a fixed CSS box model (or any standards improvements), and native alpha support for PNG. They've made such a mess for themselves out of the rendering engine that they can't fix it without a ground-up rewrite.
MS has no reason to allow people to stay on XP or 2k instead of upgrading to Longhorn in now() + 2 years. IE7 has two purposes:
By not addressing standards at all with this release, the press has no reason to make an issue of it. Mainstream press isn't capable of making the link between standards support and interoperability anyway.
It doesn't really matter (Score:3, Interesting)
If Microsoft was smart, they'd release IE 7.0 for Windows 2000, Windows ME, Windows 98, and Windows NT 4.0 and help fix the security issues the older versions of IE has with those platforms.
Yet in doing so, Microsoft is hoping to force upgrades to Longhorn or XP SP2, in order to use IE 7.0, and it may backfire on them. Not to mention more spyware and adware and trojan infections from older versions of IE not patched.
So Microsoft's only option for legacy users is to upgrade to a new OS, possibly buying newer hardware.
Yet Firefox, Mozilla, Opera, etc offer users the chance to use their old OS and switch to a new web browser.
Linux, *BSD, Darwin, etc offers users the chance to keep their hardware and solve security issues as well, but at the cost of running legacy Windows applications.
Apple does have that spiffy $499 Mac Mini, which users of older computer can upgrade to if they have a USB mouse and keyboard. That is yet another option.
Re:Longhorn and XP converging (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm also not going to accuse you of being a Microsoft shill, but busting out with a marketdroid line like "No OS, however, can truly compare with the compatibility and versatility of the world's most popular OS", well, it's hard for me to believe that you could be anything else.
I suppose it's equally possible that you just work in marketing and describe all things that you like in that manner. But I'm doubtful.
Re:valid CSS and FULLY supported PNG? (Score:4, Interesting)
The real question is will this raise the bar for minimum features supported by a browser. If they build IE7 and no one upgrades than we are still where we are today.... Screwed.
Re:valid CSS and FULLY supported PNG? (Score:2, Interesting)
- M
Re:Beta Release? (Score:3, Interesting)
I played through The Fools Errand [fools-errand.com] (1987) about a month ago on MacOS X 10.3 [apple.com] (2004). It ran flawlessly. That's 17 years. Granted it was under the classic environment- but it ran flawlessly alongside Safari (needed hints!).