5 ms·

Am I the only one who finds all the happy faces Microsoft have injected into the page a bit weird? It feels like they are trying to sell me some bad news but ma

by watson 11y ago

Am I the only one who finds all the happy faces Microsoft have injected into the page a bit weird? It feels like they are trying to sell me some bad news but make me feel happy at the same time. Don't get me wrong - I think it's a good move to discontinue support for older IE versions... There is just something with all the smiling and laughing faces all over the page that make all my alarms go off

derefr 11y ago
Hey, they're probably happy as heck to be free of the enterprise support burden.
- iwwr 11y ago
  Not so fast, it just means enterprise support prices have gone up for those organisations resisting change and still requiring security. For example, the entire country of South Korea.
  - zitterbewegung 11y ago
    So they are happy that they will get more from their Support partners
adrianbye 11y ago
it sounds like you criticizing our stock art photo overlords..
kintamanimatt 11y ago
I don't think it's weird at all, and it's probably a deliberate design choice by the developer that made this page. They've probably probably suffered for years because of IE's poor support for standards and other quirks. I think it's a mini celebration by way of design!
johnny99 11y ago
You are not the only one. My immediate thought was, what's up with the dazed-looking Microsoft stock humans.
harshreality 11y ago
Manipulation (aka advertising/PR/marketing) techniques 101. Showing pictures of happy faces makes the audience (not you in particular, but the average reader) have more positive feelings about the announcement. There's no other plausible reason for using a row of random smiley faces as a page separator in an announcement like this.
- noja 11y ago
  It makes me distance myself from the brand and distrust it.
- TheLogothete 11y ago
  Advertising/PR and marketing are not the same thing.
- witty_username 11y ago
  But in this case they overdid it, and now it feels a bit like a scam/domain hijacked website with tons of stock photos. I might not have noticed a single row, but it has 4 rows!
once-in-a-while 11y ago
Nah, I take it literally: this announcement makes 28 people happy!! Good for them!
maxwellito 11y ago
The happy faces on the page are front end developers. This is a dream day for them.
- uxwtf 11y ago
  Such a relief for front-end people. We'll be finally free of workarounds for IE.
  - _ao789 11y ago
    oh, that's what you think..
  - jvehent 11y ago
    Microsoft not supporting older IE doesn't mean front-end people won't have to if their sites have users who don't upgrade. It just means Microsoft can't be bothered to ship patches for those older browsers.
    - ToastyMallows 11y ago
      It's a good first step though. This means that websites can start telling users "we don't support this browser because Microsoft doesn't", etc., and they will die off quicker.
    - mkozlows 11y ago
      Everyone using a browser that doesn't get security patches is basically a walking malware farm. Not supporting them with your site and pushing them to upgrade is the moral high ground.
      - l1ambda 11y ago
        This. In fact by supporting those browsers on your website, you're in effect complicit in allowing malware to hijack those users' logins.
    - deleted 11y ago
      [deleted]
EvanPlaice 11y ago
Believe it or not, that's a huge improvement compared to Microsoft's past marketing endeavors. Checkout the photoshopped freaks they used for VS2008 http://www.secretgeek.net/vs2008_bugeye http://www.secretgeek.net/vs2008_bugeye
- mahouse 11y ago
  Haha, oh my god--I remember having taken a screenshot of that guy and shared it with the guys who worked with me.
oliv__ 11y ago
It's super creepy.
nothis 11y ago
That's almost comically standard stock image use, I haven't seen this outside of parodies in quite a while!
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
OliverJones 11y ago
The fake-grin people in the pictures are nurses and technicians from hospitals still stuck on IE6 because their late 1990s medical imaging ActiveX controls are bug-for-bug compatible with that wonderful piece of software. Behind their grins are the questions, "what now?" or maybe even "where do I want to go today." Their IT krewes are wondering, "how am I going to get the CFO to approve an upgrade to the GE medical imaging suite? we've been out of maintenance for 15 years." And their info security guy is considering seeking asylum in a foreign country.
- coldpie 11y ago
  > And their info security guy Who? Oh, that guy? We let him go six years ago when we couldn't figure out what he did.
  - kabdib 11y ago
    It's okay. He got back into their network and is still being paid. Got a raise last month, even.
rogeryu 11y ago
When I read your comment, I thought they had inserted happy smileys in their text. It made me curious enough to open the page and see the regular marketing faces for Microsoft. That was a bit of a bummer. It would have made my day to see real smileys on that page! ;-)
XDDD 11y ago
:-)
zensavona 11y ago
Reminds me of this picture http://www.lucasthenomad.com/images/cache/img/5d/5d8664cf92e4ce604998ebc905667d3186818aee1c8786b9cfd51712eead636e.jpg http://www.lucasthenomad.com/images/cache/img/5d/5d8664cf92e...
Eric_WVGG 11y ago
no but seriously those pics are manic

by watson 11y ago

derefr 11y ago

Hey, they're probably happy as heck to be free of the enterprise support burden.

iwwr 11y ago
Not so fast, it just means enterprise support prices have gone up for those organisations resisting change and still requiring security. For example, the entire country of South Korea.
- zitterbewegung 11y ago
  So they are happy that they will get more from their Support partners

adrianbye 11y ago

it sounds like you criticizing our stock art photo overlords..

kintamanimatt 11y ago

I don't think it's weird at all, and it's probably a deliberate design choice by the developer that made this page. They've probably probably suffered for years because of IE's poor support for standards and other quirks. I think it's a mini celebration by way of design!

johnny99 11y ago

You are not the only one. My immediate thought was, what's up with the dazed-looking Microsoft stock humans.

harshreality 11y ago

Manipulation (aka advertising/PR/marketing) techniques 101. Showing pictures of happy faces makes the audience (not you in particular, but the average reader) have more positive feelings about the announcement. There's no other plausible reason for using a row of random smiley faces as a page separator in an announcement like this.

noja 11y ago
It makes me distance myself from the brand and distrust it.
TheLogothete 11y ago
Advertising/PR and marketing are not the same thing.
witty_username 11y ago
But in this case they overdid it, and now it feels a bit like a scam/domain hijacked website with tons of stock photos. I might not have noticed a single row, but it has 4 rows!

once-in-a-while 11y ago

Nah, I take it literally: this announcement makes 28 people happy!! Good for them!

maxwellito 11y ago

The happy faces on the page are front end developers. This is a dream day for them.

uxwtf 11y ago
Such a relief for front-end people. We'll be finally free of workarounds for IE.
- _ao789 11y ago
  oh, that's what you think..
- jvehent 11y ago
  Microsoft not supporting older IE doesn't mean front-end people won't have to if their sites have users who don't upgrade. It just means Microsoft can't be bothered to ship patches for those older browsers.
  - ToastyMallows 11y ago
    It's a good first step though. This means that websites can start telling users "we don't support this browser because Microsoft doesn't", etc., and they will die off quicker.
  - mkozlows 11y ago
    Everyone using a browser that doesn't get security patches is basically a walking malware farm. Not supporting them with your site and pushing them to upgrade is the moral high ground.
    - l1ambda 11y ago
      This. In fact by supporting those browsers on your website, you're in effect complicit in allowing malware to hijack those users' logins.
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]

EvanPlaice 11y ago

Believe it or not, that's a huge improvement compared to Microsoft's past marketing endeavors. Checkout the photoshopped freaks they used for VS2008 http://www.secretgeek.net/vs2008_bugeye http://www.secretgeek.net/vs2008_bugeye

mahouse 11y ago
Haha, oh my god--I remember having taken a screenshot of that guy and shared it with the guys who worked with me.

oliv__ 11y ago

It's super creepy.

nothis 11y ago

That's almost comically standard stock image use, I haven't seen this outside of parodies in quite a while!

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

OliverJones 11y ago

The fake-grin people in the pictures are nurses and technicians from hospitals still stuck on IE6 because their late 1990s medical imaging ActiveX controls are bug-for-bug compatible with that wonderful piece of software. Behind their grins are the questions, "what now?" or maybe even "where do I want to go today." Their IT krewes are wondering, "how am I going to get the CFO to approve an upgrade to the GE medical imaging suite? we've been out of maintenance for 15 years." And their info security guy is considering seeking asylum in a foreign country.

coldpie 11y ago
> And their info security guy Who? Oh, that guy? We let him go six years ago when we couldn't figure out what he did.
- kabdib 11y ago
  It's okay. He got back into their network and is still being paid. Got a raise last month, even.

rogeryu 11y ago

When I read your comment, I thought they had inserted happy smileys in their text. It made me curious enough to open the page and see the regular marketing faces for Microsoft. That was a bit of a bummer. It would have made my day to see real smileys on that page! ;-)

XDDD 11y ago

:-)

zensavona 11y ago

Reminds me of this picture http://www.lucasthenomad.com/images/cache/img/5d/5d8664cf92e4ce604998ebc905667d3186818aee1c8786b9cfd51712eead636e.jpg http://www.lucasthenomad.com/images/cache/img/5d/5d8664cf92e...

Eric_WVGG 11y ago

no but seriously those pics are manic