uh... I wud like to make a note to all those referring to IE as feature starved and extensibility deprived.

See, with more than 1000 workers working on a single product, that too under an organized atmosphere, its not tough to put all these little features that we call 'basic'.

The catch is, MS had been involved a suit by i dont know which firm, that argued Windows OS came bundled heavily with software (Linux users would be laughing to that...). For that reason MS had to let go providing the bare minimum features and let the developers work out other advanced stuff.

There have been many popular browsers that became popular piggy backing onto IE... one gud example would be NeoPlanet. It was a skinnable browser, that looked very very kewl, had IE as its base, and gained immense popularity after its release in 99 (i guess).
Similarly there have been many such newer IE extended browsers, like MyIE 2 etc. which are used by many.

Well, I have myself made an IE extended browser with tabbed browsing feature and popup blocking feature (much before SP2), and put up its source on www.a1vbcode.com ( http://www.a1vbcode.com/app-3022.asp )
That was just an effort to show people how easy it is to code these features, and bring into light that how idiot the vendors where in making them appear as if these features were directly brought down from heaven.

A customized browser of my choice would be a browser that allows me to render a page in IE as well as FireFox (specially as a web developer, i need to take care of websites rendering on both platforms).
I guess some idiot FireFox programmer made an extension by which users could bring an IE browser into FireFox. FireFox should not do that. Puts a wrong impact. A third party developer does it, thats fine.

I don't understand why everyone calls down microsoft, they arn't as bad as everyone things because if it wasn't for them, we wouldnt be as advanced as we are today because microsoft gives other corporations a reason so advance quickly.

As for IE 7 beta 2 its being offered to everyone who wants it, not just selected few check it here and i think because of microsoft taking its time with inovations that other browsers thought of a long time ago they are better.

Other browsers think to much of a user friendly interface that they lose sight of security and stability. IE is so secure and so stable mostly because a large percentage of the world uses windows in conjunction with linux and mac. FirFox is just a open source explorer made by 2 people who got lucky because they made it so customizable. but making a browser that way causes major stability and security issues.

There are better more secure and more user friendly alternatives like maxathon which is based off of microsofts IE engine so most sites that work with IE will work with Maxathon but not firfox (microsoft.com) Then there is Netscape which has also become free and it has the ability to switch between the firefox and internet explorer engines thus working with sites that are coded for firfox and those that are coded for ie.

Then there is opera which is on its own engine but based of of ie but is much more secure and much more user friendly, especially since it became free.

basically you guys shouldnt bash microsoft just because they worry about security more then customizability unlike firefox which focuses on customizability more then stability or security...

I am so loving this thread. =^^=



Microsoft, the reason for our technological advancement? That's a matter of opinion. Very much a matter of opinion. Might as well thank Hitler for nuclear power since he started the war that pushed people to develop nuclear weapons in the first place and thus advance technology as a whole. If there's any reason why Microsoft would provide incentive for other developers to advance, it's because those developers are trying to fill the hole left by the growing number of dissatisfied Microsoft customers. Just look at all those people who switched to Firefox and Linux. =^^=



Eh, you might want to check that link again. IE7 is available only for a selected few. According to the official MS info, IE7b2 is available only for Windows XP SP2 users, XP Pro x64, and Windows Server 2003 SP1. Oh, and it'll probably also come out with the new Vista OS. Now if that's Microsoft's definition of 'everyone', then I'm afraid that a developer with such a myopic view just isn't worth very much.

And then there's your statement about Microsoft being better because they're taking their time with innovations that other browsers thought of a long time ago...

...
...
...

Sorry, that just doesn't compute. =^^= Care to run that by me again? Have you taken a look at IE7's overview? I did, and you know what? Their 'new' features just aren't that new. Practically everything you would be getting with IE7 can already be had on Firefox. Heck, even the browser's layout isn't original! =^^=



IE, secure and stable? Wow, where have you been living the past couple of years? If there's anything IE's known for, it's how many security flaws it has. It's gotten so bad that two years ago the U.S. Government's Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) pleaded with users to stop using Internet Explorer and recommended that people use alternative browsers.

That was two years ago, so how have they [Microsoft] been doing since? Answer: Not very well. Just take a look at Secunia's vulnerability report for Internet Explorer 6.x. 25% unpatched security flaws doesn't make for a pretty picture. For comparison, here's Firefox's vulnerability report.



Hmm... I think I'll just pick this section apart by commenting on the alternative browsers you've mentioned. =^^=

Maxthon - uses the Trident layout engine which IE uses, but is also capable of using the Gecko engine (Firefox) through a third-party program. It's better than IE, but since it uses the Trident layout engine, it is subject to the advantages and disadvantages of that engine.

Netscape 8 - in one word: bloated. 'Nuff said.

Opera - the best alternative browser next to Firefox. However, I disagree with your statement that's it is based on IE. The whole point of Opera was to be a radical departure from IE, not be based off of it. Oh, and another thing — it's not that user friendly. =^^=



Actually, we bash Microsoft because they're more concerned about the money and the bottom line than about the users who'll be using their products. =^^=

This has to be a big joke. The power behind the extensions is that they are opensource. Firefox is opensource. Microsoft is... Well you get the idea, so my point is, instead of having it as "add-ons", why don't they just include it in the installer and have the user the option of not installing it? Duh.

How big u want the installer to be? It's already bloated. I think MS should start hiring people to write IE add-ons, and until it puts it out for free, no one will use it.