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Microsoft is killing off the Internet Explorer brand

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Re: Microsoft is killing off the Internet Explorer brand

#31

Post by drzaiusapelord »

bdcravens wrote: post #15

> "Not that Internet Explorer branding will vanish entirely. It will still exist in some versions of Windows 10, but Project Spartan will be the main way Windows 10 users roam the Internet." If IE was an issue for users, pretty sure that means they'll continue to use Firefox or Chrome, not Spartan.

The same way users were going to flock to Netscape instead of IE?

Spartan will be pre-installed and "good enough" for a lot of people. IT departments will de facto have to support it because it comes on the Windows image. Joe User read a lot things about Chrome spying on him or blocking his favorite ad blocker and might want to try it out.

>If IE was an issue for users

IE as legacy browser tied to active x junk and old school enterprise sites was the problem. Spartan dumps all of that. Oh some $crappy_site_coded_for_ie6 doesnt work in Spartan? Too bad. IE is there for legacy stuff, Spartan is for modern stuff.

If MS doesn't screw it up, Spartan may be a big deal and could cut into Chrome's marketshare. I wouldn't write it off.

Re: Microsoft is killing off the Internet Explorer brand

#32

Post by smacktoward »

gagege wrote: post #24
whoopdedo wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've lost count of the number of times I asked someone what browser they used and was told "Yahoo."

About 4 years ago (note: not 14 years ago) my boss at the time told me "AOL" when I asked him that question. Immediately I thought he was joking, then I thought he must be mistaken and was telling me what his homepage was by accident. But then, to my horror, he showed it to me, and I realized he was completely correct. He was using some ugly purple "modern" version of an AOL browser that I didn't even know existed.

> He was using some ugly purple "modern" version of an AOL browser that I didn't even know existed.

That was probably Netscape 6 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netscape_6), or Netscape 7 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netscape_%28version_7%29), the two versions of Netscape that AOL managed to squeeze out after acquiring them before giving up on the "Netscape" brand entirely and laying all the developers off.

The thought back then was that there would be a "Mozilla" brand working on the core browser tech as open source code that was strictly for developers, while AOL would take Mozilla tech and use it to periodically release consumer-facing browsers under the brand "Netscape." This turned out not to work in practice, since the main contributions AOL would make in turning Mozilla into Netscape revolved taking a perfectly useful browser and making it less useful. (An example: Mozilla included a pop-up blocker, but AOL disabled it in their "Netscape" builds. Yes.)

AOL/Netscape ought to be a business school case study in how to completely demolish the value of a brand after paying out the nose for it.

Re: Microsoft is killing off the Internet Explorer brand

#33

Post by molmalo »

jbinto wrote: post #30
xxxyy wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't this just a marketing stunt? The article contains no engineering facts, just the branding thing. I mean: I expect the "new IE" to inherit code and practices from the "old IE". Unless I'm proven otherwise.

While it is mostly marketing (i.e. still using Chakra and Trident engines), the biggest change from a web developer's perspective is that the new Spartan browser will be evergreen[1]. [1]: https://plus.google.com/+PaulIrish/posts/f15yUhu4tE3

I may be wrong, but I believe that they replaced the old rendering engine (Trident), with a new one (EdgeHTML.dll).[1]

But Trident will still be around, for compatibility with old websites (especially for enterprise applications).

So, it's not just marketing...

[1] http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2015/01/26/inside-microsofts...

Re: Microsoft is killing off the Internet Explorer brand

#34

Post by JimboOmega »

aikah wrote: post #10
angularly wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Heh, exactly my thought when I saw the headline. As a webdeveloper since 1995, I can only say "phew, finally" - that browser probably cost me 2-3 years of my life, spent hacking various webprojects to make them work in IE.

You forget the fact that IE used to be the best browser out there.Netscape ended up being total shit.

I remember a day when the most compelling reason for me to use Windows (over Linux) was that Windows had IE.

Re: Microsoft is killing off the Internet Explorer brand

#35

Post by cssmoo »

nostromo wrote: post #7

> "We’ll continue to have Internet Explorer, but we’ll also have a new browser called Project Spartan" Oh joy, another browser from Microsoft to test. :\

I don't know why you were down voted.

We have to support Ie7,8,9,10,11 and 11 for metro in and out of compatibility mode across three fucking platforms due to control styling differences. Now we have Spartan and whatever shtcrock will ship as legacy.

We'll lose IE7 when vista is dead. We'll be left with enterprise IE11 well into 2028!

Why? In financial services all our clients are cheap, dumb and incompetent. Unpatched win7 from "managed service providers" is the reality. If yore lucky they're not some hideous terminal services shit crock.

This is why we go "oh joy".

Its also why everyone who works at the places goes home to Apple and Android kit.

Re: Microsoft is killing off the Internet Explorer brand

#36

Post by dchest »

smacktoward wrote: post #32
gagege wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

About 4 years ago (note: not 14 years ago) my boss at the time told me "AOL" when I asked him that question. Immediately I thought he was joking, then I thought he must be mistaken and was telling me what his homepage was by accident. But then, to my horror, he showed it to me, and I realized he was completely correct. He was using some ugly purple "modern" version of an AOL browser that I didn't even know existed.

> He was using some ugly purple "modern" version of an AOL browser that I didn't even know existed. That was probably Netscape 6 ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netscape_6 ), or Netscape 7 ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netscape_%28version_7%29 ), the two versions of Netscape that AOL managed to squeeze out after acquiring them before giving up on the "Netscape" brand entirely and laying all the developers off. The th…

AOL Browser is not Netscape http://discover.aol.com/aoldesktop97/

Re: Microsoft is killing off the Internet Explorer brand

#37

Post by cheald »

xxxyy wrote: post #28
angularly wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Heh, exactly my thought when I saw the headline. As a webdeveloper since 1995, I can only say "phew, finally" - that browser probably cost me 2-3 years of my life, spent hacking various webprojects to make them work in IE.

Isn't this just a marketing stunt? The article contains no engineering facts, just the branding thing. I mean: I expect the "new IE" to inherit code and practices from the "old IE". Unless I'm proven otherwise.

Modern IE is actually pretty respectable. Its biggest issue is that unlike its competitors, it only works on a single platform.

Re: Microsoft is killing off the Internet Explorer brand

#39

Post by hasenj »

baldfat wrote: post #27
aikah wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You forget the fact that IE used to be the best browser out there.Netscape ended up being total shit.

I would say that Netscape lived on and became Firefox.

This interpretation entails that IE will live on and become Spartan
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