4 ms·

Microsoft is intentionally holding back the web? I think that's attributing a lot of malice to their actions, especially when you consider that MS basically inv

by larrik 15y ago

Microsoft is intentionally holding back the web? I think that's attributing a lot of malice to their actions, especially when you consider that MS basically invented AJAX, or what they tried to achieve with ActiveX (despite the security nightmare it became). It seems much more likely to me that they are developing IE just like they develop the rest of their software: slowly and with big tentpole releases. I can't imagine you think they are intentionally holding back Windows and Office as well?

dantheman 15y ago
Ask yourself why development stopped after IE6? I remember reading an article that mentioned they had started to build a web based office and it was stopped as soon as someone from the office team saw it. Why risk the office profit machine. Couldn't find the article now, but I don't recall how well sourced it was.
evangineer 15y ago
I disagree with your first point about Microsoft intentionally holding back the web. There has been at least one civil war inside Microsoft over whether or not to embrace the web. Breaking Windows is a book that documents this conflict: http://www.breakingwindows.net/ http://www.breakingwindows.net/ The Internet doves lost and scattered to the winds, many of them eventually landing at Google like Adam Bosworth (who has since departed).
bad_user 15y ago
You need to look at the big picture. Microsoft added the Microsoft.XMLHTTP wrapper in 1999 in IExplorer 5, which was for its time a kickass browser. But when IExplorer 5 got released, Netscape Navigator still had over 50% market share and IExplorer 5 was the version that broke the camel's back (so to speak). what they tried to achieve with ActiveX The only thing they tried with ActiveX was IExplorer lock-in. Also at that time Java applets got really popular and ActiveX was the alternative. Suffice to say ActiveX was not working in Netscape Navigator, but 1997 was also the year Microsoft was sued by SUN for breaching the contract they had on Microsoft's alternative Java 1.1 implementation, so investing in ActiveX was a no-brainer. Also, after IExplorer 6 most of the team moved to work on XAML / WPF / Silverlight, so development practically grinded to a halt. For reference IExplorer 6 got released in 2001, while IExplorer 7 in 2006 (5 years later) and it took another 4 years or so for IExplorer 8. I'm not counting IExplorer 6 SP2, which was a release intended for security fixes. So basically once the war with Netscape was over, Microsoft lost interest in IExplorer and now they've picked up development again, but constantly lagging behind the competition in features and you can clearly see their bias for all things non-Microsoft - for example IExplorer 9 does not ship with WebGL, even if it is a complete spec, since that would undermine their efforts with Direct 3D and Silverlight, 2 technologies which will never be web standards.
- huherto 15y ago
  I couldn't agree more. Microsoft dominated the browser market just to slow the adoption of any internet applications. Google tried to break their lockin with partial success by helping Firefox and later on by releasing chrome. Then Microsoft had to catch up again.
JonnieCache 15y ago
>Microsoft is intentionally holding back the web? I think that's attributing a lot of malice to their actions Unfortunately, it's pretty well documented. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embrace,_extend_and_extinguish http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embrace,_extend_and_extinguish

by larrik 15y ago

dantheman 15y ago

Ask yourself why development stopped after IE6? I remember reading an article that mentioned they had started to build a web based office and it was stopped as soon as someone from the office team saw it. Why risk the office profit machine. Couldn't find the article now, but I don't recall how well sourced it was.

evangineer 15y ago

I disagree with your first point about Microsoft intentionally holding back the web. There has been at least one civil war inside Microsoft over whether or not to embrace the web. Breaking Windows is a book that documents this conflict: http://www.breakingwindows.net/ http://www.breakingwindows.net/ The Internet doves lost and scattered to the winds, many of them eventually landing at Google like Adam Bosworth (who has since departed).

bad_user 15y ago

You need to look at the big picture. Microsoft added the Microsoft.XMLHTTP wrapper in 1999 in IExplorer 5, which was for its time a kickass browser. But when IExplorer 5 got released, Netscape Navigator still had over 50% market share and IExplorer 5 was the version that broke the camel's back (so to speak). what they tried to achieve with ActiveX The only thing they tried with ActiveX was IExplorer lock-in. Also at that time Java applets got really popular and ActiveX was the alternative. Suffice to say ActiveX was not working in Netscape Navigator, but 1997 was also the year Microsoft was sued by SUN for breaching the contract they had on Microsoft's alternative Java 1.1 implementation, so investing in ActiveX was a no-brainer. Also, after IExplorer 6 most of the team moved to work on XAML / WPF / Silverlight, so development practically grinded to a halt. For reference IExplorer 6 got released in 2001, while IExplorer 7 in 2006 (5 years later) and it took another 4 years or so for IExplorer 8. I'm not counting IExplorer 6 SP2, which was a release intended for security fixes. So basically once the war with Netscape was over, Microsoft lost interest in IExplorer and now they've picked up development again, but constantly lagging behind the competition in features and you can clearly see their bias for all things non-Microsoft - for example IExplorer 9 does not ship with WebGL, even if it is a complete spec, since that would undermine their efforts with Direct 3D and Silverlight, 2 technologies which will never be web standards.

huherto 15y ago
I couldn't agree more. Microsoft dominated the browser market just to slow the adoption of any internet applications. Google tried to break their lockin with partial success by helping Firefox and later on by releasing chrome. Then Microsoft had to catch up again.

JonnieCache 15y ago

>Microsoft is intentionally holding back the web? I think that's attributing a lot of malice to their actions Unfortunately, it's pretty well documented. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embrace,_extend_and_extinguish http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embrace,_extend_and_extinguish