Busting IE8’s Mythbusting
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Busting IE8’s Mythbusting
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Re: Busting IE8’s Mythbusting
#2First: I use Chrome. IE is an awful browser. IE8 is bearable. I think that the advertising campaign that they are using for IE8 is disingenuous and despicable. As a Microsoftie, I'm not proud of it. I'm going to let it slide simply because I want as many people as possible to upgrade from IE 6 and 7. I do, however, believe there are more honest ways to go about it.
I think people have found my defensive insight into Microsoft to be a valuable perspective. Let's keep the streak going...
While the advertising teams have taken serious liberties, the engineering team has been honest.
I can't find the source now, but I've heard that they were only aiming for CSS 2 support because CSS 3 is an unfinished draft: http://www.w3.org/Style/CSS/current-work
Many people complained about broken standards, so Microsoft decided not to ship a browser which map to unfinished standards. This would create future compatability issues. I think that's a reasonable call considering the critical mass of their browser which causes it to be a defacto standard.
This looks to be in line with independent findings which show IE8 has fantastic CSS 2 support, but weak 3 support: http://www.quirksmode.org/css/contents.html
Additionally, the IE team has made significant contributions to the W3C with CSS 2.1 test cases: http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2008/03/06/ie8-and-css-2-1-...
Re: Busting IE8’s Mythbusting
#3As a long-time and primarily Windows user and developer, even though knowing that they're false, I was interested in seeing these so-called "facts" Microsoft has been spreading around about IE8 being busted in a clear, concise and researched way.
...But as I opened the page, this came up:
"Windows 7 is the best Windows yet (unlike Vista) and IE8 is the best IE yet (unlike IE6-7)."
Can't they be even more biased? Despite Vista having a bad launch, it was far from being a bad OS and is, as of right now, extremely solid; IE6 and 7 were a significant improvement over their predecessors.
I'm sorry to de-rail the topic.
Re: Busting IE8’s Mythbusting
#4Complaint #1: its is a possessive; it's is a contraction for it is. (The author kept using its as if it meant it is.)
Complaint #2: The author kept using the form:
Re: Busting IE8’s Mythbusting
#5I'm almost starting to think that this recent IE8 promotion and "facts" is actually a clever marketing strategy.
Just releasing a poor or decent browser doesn't get that much mentions or headlines - but with outrageous claims or even lies you get tenfold mentions in blogosphere and media. It might not be a smart for Microsoft appear as liars but hey, at least people know that IE8 is out.
Re: Busting IE8’s Mythbusting
#6The IE8 comparison is very misleading. They give IE checkmarks for "security," "privacy," and "ease of use," where Firefox and Chrome get none. What, so Firefox and Chrome have ZERO security and privacy? Wow, thanks for warning me, Microsoft!
The truth is that all three browsers have security and privacy features, which are too complex to be reduced to a single checkmark. Firefox at least gives some quantified argument on its pages: "An independent study shows that, in 2006, IE users were vulnerable to online threats 78% of the time. Firefox users? Only 2%."
It's interesting that this comparison doesn't concede a single category. In "performance," they say, "hey, let's call it a tie!" Actual timed measurements of Javascript performance show that IE8 is WAY slower than the competition.
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/01/27/ie8s_javascrip...
http://service.futuremark.com/peacekeeper/browserStatistics....
Microsoft's browser comparison truly is deceptive. I'm glad they're moving people away from IE6, but they're far from having the best browser our there.
Re: Busting IE8’s Mythbusting
#7As a long-time and primarily Windows user and developer, even though knowing that they're false, I was interested in seeing these so-called "facts" Microsoft has been spreading around about IE8 being busted in a clear, concise and researched way. ...But as I opened the page, this came up: "Windows 7 is the best Windows yet (unlike Vista) and IE8 is the best IE yet (unlike IE6-7)." Can't they be even more biased? Desp…
Here's how I read that statement:
IE6 and IE7 were only the "best IE yet" at release due to how truly awful each previous incarnation was. IE7 is a lousy browser, so calling it the "best IE yet" at the time was like saying that chewing on tinfoil is more fun than chewing on rusty razor blades. It might be an accurate statement, but it doesn't mean you're enjoying that tinfoil. IE8, on the other hand, actually feels like a step (admittedly a smallish step) in the right direction.
Similarly, Windows 7 is actually more _usable_ than previous Windows. Vista was shinier than XP, and had a couple nice features like integrated search, but there's a reason Dell had to start selling machines with XP licenses again.
I think the author intended the statement to be something like this: that Windows 7 and IE8 actually _deserve_ the title of "best ___ yet."
Re: Busting IE8’s Mythbusting
#8Complaint #1: its is a possessive; it's is a contraction for it is . (The author kept using its as if it meant it is .) Complaint #2: The author kept using the form: The Lie: The Truth: That's messed up. The "lie" should be what he thinks Microsoft got wrong. Complaint #3: The whole thing is just his opinions. It would be nice to link to some actual benchmark results, for example, rather than just countering Microsof…
I agree that the article isn't very helpful. Here is a benchmark for you:
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/01/27/ie8s_javascrip...
Re: Busting IE8’s Mythbusting
#9Complaint #1: its is a possessive; it's is a contraction for it is . (The author kept using its as if it meant it is .) Complaint #2: The author kept using the form: The Lie: The Truth: That's messed up. The "lie" should be what he thinks Microsoft got wrong. Complaint #3: The whole thing is just his opinions. It would be nice to link to some actual benchmark results, for example, rather than just countering Microsof…
Here's another test. Out of 10 browser versions tested, the only one that IE8 beat was IE7.
http://service.futuremark.com/peacekeeper/browserStatistics....
Re: Busting IE8’s Mythbusting
#10What this says is that Microsoft is willing to be very deceptive about a free product. But you can't blame them at all, it's just a web page. Even if this deception actually has some demonstrated effect on browser market share, those market share changes will be based on the personal decisions of people to switch. It's not like Microsoft has gone and deleted everyone's IE7 and Firefox installations without permission.
Remember that any source of information should not be implicitly trusted. [Trust me! ;) ] If an individual decides to believe Microsoft's statements without doing any further research, and downloads and permanently switches to IE8 based on lies, then it's that person's problem.