Last week, I talked about the ugly road Microsoft has set before Internet Explorer. IE6 was the butt of jokes and the bane of web developers, and Microsoft is on its way to repeating themselves.
As stated before, Microsoft’s ten year life cycle support promise sets the stage for ten versions of Internet Explorer floating around the web in 2019. This is a bad idea.
There is, however, a loop-hole.
Firefox and Chrome Model
Firefox and Chrome are moving towards a subtle upgrade strategy. The increase of release cycles isn’t as much of a strategy as it is a symptom of what the web is becoming.
Ninja Geddesign said it best:
A modern browser is an evolving, improving organism, rather than a stale frozen snapshot of partially supported standards.
So true!
The IE team must follow suit.
It’s not out of their reach, either. They can move to an evolving web browser and keep their legacy promise of ten years of support.
Again, Ninja Geeddesign lays out the plan:
The day IE10 comes out, IE9 becomes IE10, automatically, in the background. All IE9 users become IE10 users overnight. But to them it’s not really a different product, it’s Modern IE, getting better and better. Does this sound too crazy of an idea?
Nope. Not crazy at all.
I think Microsoft supporting ten browsers at once is far crazier, if not completely stupid.
On Their Way
Because it is so crazy to support this many versions of a web browser, and perhaps even crazier to think the web development community would pay respect to such a scheme, maybe they’re on their way to making some changes on how they do things.
In fact, Microsoft has taken its first step away from Flash:
Running Metro-style IE plug-in free improves battery life as well as security, reliability, and privacy for consumers. Plug-ins were important early on in the Web’s history. But the Web has come a long way since then with HTML5. Providing compatibility with legacy plug-in technologies would detract from, rather than improve, the consumer experience of browsing in the Metro-style UI.
It is only the Metro-style (Windows 8 “touch-first” interface) that’s pulling the plug on Flash, but at least it’s a step in the right direction.
If Microsoft doesn’t start making some changes quick, they’ll never catch up.
Ref: Zune and Windows Mobile 7.
What do you think?
[via CNET & Ninja Geddesign | Image via * hiro008]
Walter Wimberly says
I don’t like it – and here is the simple reason why. Working in a corporate environment, I’ve seen changes in IE break all types of web applications. Sometimes we have to go to vendors to get updates, sometimes we build them ourselves, but after every recent release of IE (7,8,9) – we’ve had to tell users to hold off until fixes were in place – regardless of where I’ve worked.
One such mandate was a for our corporate time entry system at the place I was working at the time. It only works in IE, and when 7 came out – it didn’t work. IT had to uninstall 7 on all the machines which installed it till a patch was out about a month later.
If IE was more consistent between versions, it wouldn’t be as big of a deal.
I’ve had similar experiences with Chrome as well. Go to a site today, works wonderfully. Go to the same site tomorrow – blue screened my computer – every time, till a new version was released. No going back, hope you don’t mind. Part of the reason I use multiple browsers.
Eric Dye says
So then it’s the corp environment dragging down IE?
Maybe they need an IE Biz version?
Chris Ames says
No, it’s Microsoft understanding, appeasing, and retaining their core customer base.
Let’s say Verizon spends $20 million dollars in creating in-house, propriety, web apps over a 5 year period that give them a competitive advantage. Now lets assume IE 11 comes out and it may or may not break mission-critical web-based apps across every Verizon call center, warehouse, distribution center, corporate office, and retail store on every continent of planet Earth.
Which is easier, cheaper, and smart business?
1. Dump another $500,000 – $5,000,000 in testing, development, releasing, and maintaining the server-based software for the entire enterprise over a 6 month period.
2. Sending an email to the IT director that that IE 10 is required for all employees in all locations until further notice.
People who complain about Microsoft and IE… don’t understand the people that put dollar bills in Microsoft’s pocket, or the legitimate, sizable challenges these customers face.
Microsoft is not being “antiquated” or “slow” or even “ignorant”. They simply have a strategy that is focused on supporting business, not evolving browser standards.
Chris Ames says
And by the way, this example is the rule, not the exception. All mid to large size companies build their own software in order to accomplish internal processes and compete in the marketplace.
Chris Ames says
Your “IE Biz Edition” idea is actually brilliant, BTW.
Eric Dye says
Thanks, Chris. 😀