The solution to this conundrum on the iOS platform has been the app: companies like Netflix and the BBC have applications to watch video on these devices. The result is that in the desire to push an open, plugin-free Web, companies are being forced to migrate away from the Web entirely.
On some non-obvious consequences of Microsoft's move do ditch all plugins in Metro version of IE 10.
The results are fascinating. Users of Internet Explorer 6 have an average IQ score barely more than 80; Firefox and Chrome users fare much better, with average IQ scores of around 110, while Opera and Camino users have an average IQ score more than 120.
I see Camino's popularity spiking by few hundred percent last weekend. Which should translate to at least 3 new users.
Yes, the banner is fugly - and inaccessible, thanks to the missing alt text – but that's not as much of a problem as where the banner links to: the IE homepage on microsoft.com. Given that everyone using IE6 is, at best, running Windows XP, and given that Microsoft have stated that IE9 won't be available for pre-Vista SP2 OSs, the most recent version of Internet Explorer they could ever hope to upgrade to is IE8.
On downsides of recent Microsoft's campaign to eradicate IE6. To Microsoft credit one must admit, that they're doing their best and it's hard to expect they will link to Firefox or Chrome instead of their own browser, even though it's already obsolete.
There is no way to make IE9 display CSS3 like other browsers. IE9 is that bad. It should be canceled the day before the official launch, that way everyone could at least feel sorry for it. It hasn’t even launched and I loathe it more than I loathe IE6.
A hate post against IE9. Unfortunately, it's well grounded on facts. IE9 will be at least two years behind on the day it launched.
Our marketing team tells us what users want. We only implement the things on that list. We work with standards bodies to insure that standards are written to conform with the list from our marketing team.
For those like me who are too enthusiastic about the progress made in IE9.
The majority of IE6 users come from the corporate world, and as we've discussed before, one of the reasons that world keeps IE6 around is exactly because it doesn't work well with social networking sites like Facebook.
I have never thought about this reason to keep IE6, but in fact it makes perfect sense.
While we’re on the subject of graphics, Internet Explorer 9 has superb rendering of both type and images, even those that have been rotated and scaled using JavaScript.
Comprehensive summary of some of the new IE9 CSS features. Improved rendering is impressive indeed.
I got asked by one teacher who has been seeing these more and more, how he would go about upgrading his browser. The computer ran Windows ME. I had to give the advice that he would need to buy a new computer. I hate telling people that, because most of them don’t want to spend €400 on a new computer, unsurprisingly.
As much as web developers hate it, IE6 is going to stay here for a little bit longer. It doesn't automatically mean one has to support it, but discarding this part of the audience should be a conscious decision.
At the same time, Microsoft’s marketing department wants the public to believe that IE and Windows are profoundly innovative. Thus efforts to catch up to the typographic legibility and beauty of Mac OS X and Webkit browsers are presented, in Dean Hachamovitch’s blog post, as leading-edge innovations. Don’t get me wrong: these improvements are desirable, and Direct2D may be great. I’m not challenging the quality of the hardware and software improvements; I’m pointing out the enforced bragging, which is mandated from on high, and which flies in the face of the humble stance other high-level divisions in Microsoft would like to enforce in the wake of the company’s European drubbing and the dents Apple and Google have made on its monopoly and invulnerability.In short, the tone of these announcements has not changed, even though the times have.
While Zeldman is right, it's also true that Microsoft has made a big progress. Only 5 years ago web developers could expect nothing but negligence from the company. Right now Microsoft is updating us on the progress and visibly cares about web standards. Unfortunately, it doesn't make their browser anything more than a desperate attempt to catch up with what other browsers have been offering since few years.
Many other companies have already stopped supporting older browsers like Internet Explorer 6.0 as well as browsers that are not supported by their own manufacturers. We’re also going to begin phasing out our support, starting with Google Docs and Google Sites. As a result you may find that from March 1 key functionality within these products -- as well as new Docs and Sites features -- won’t work properly in older browsers.
Hooray!
