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Even at places that supported other browsers, it used to be that once every couple years they would pick a new browser version, they would have an entire team s
by zxcvbn4038 5y ago
Even at places that supported other browsers, it used to be that once every couple years they would pick a new browser version, they would have an entire team spend 18 months testing it on all the applications in use, then roll that out and after a break for Christmas start again.
That blown got blown away completely when Chrome and Firefox started doing updates. People finally got the message that instead of for coding to browsers you code to standards.
The loser was IE because 1) they had been really loose with standards in feeble attempts to lock people in 2) they had stagnated for years while confident their market position could never be overturned 3) by stoically carrying the line that IE was actually part of the operating system and couldn’t be updated independently they locked themselves into a place where IE only got major updates along with major OS releases 4) they had a mess of their double diamond titanium partner program members that would howl every time they tried to fix anything in IE because they had internal applications that depended on the broken behavior in IE and 5) BYOD happened and IT depts no longer had authoritarian control over browsers and their versions.
It worked out for the better I think. Today IE is only used to download Chrome or Firefox though I get a taste of the IE 6 experience trying to find a security profile for IE that actually allows me to hit a URL on the public internet, but it’s all good once you get one of the installers downloaded. Set the default browser to something else and never have to deal with IE again.
- TedDoesntTalk 5y ago> Set the default browser to something else and never have to deal with IE again. Edge could become, hands-down, the best browser in the world. It could automatically put free cake, pizza, and beer into my mouth. And i still would not use it because of the pain instilled on me by Microsoft by IE 6.
- Eric_WVGG 5y agoYou don’t deserve to be downvoted for this comment. I spent over a decade getting smacked upside the head by IE 6. Until Gates and Ballmer personally drop by with a cheque for ten years of wages, I will never give any Microsoft product the benefit of the doubt, and I question the sanity and integrity of anyone who does. Decisions should have consequences, and MS deserves a fate worse than Yahoo.
- laumars 5y agoAmen to this. These days us old folk are mocked for saying stuff like this but the pain was very real and a very deliberate corporate strategy by Microsoft too. I’ll never trust another Microsoft browser again.
- mattkevan 5y agoAmen to this. The amount of money and time wasted spent chasing IE compatibility was insane. I worked at a web agency during the dying days of IE and we spent so much time fixing IE problems that we would instantly add on a third to the quote if the client wanted IE7 support, double for IE6. When faced with that, clients who previously insisted support was vital suddenly agreed that 11 was fine after all. Microsoft may be a completely different organisation now, but I’ll never forgive or forget the amount of time they made me waste.
- TedDoesntTalk 5y ago> but I’ll never forgive or forget the amount of time they made me waste. I understand. For me, it wasn’t the time but the frustration they caused me. So I won’t use their browser on any of my devices in order to keep their percentage market share one tiny tiny fraction lower.
- 8ytecoder 5y agoPeople are forgetting the history before when IE rose to the peak. It was the exact same story as Chrome. IE did play fast and loose with standards but not to lock you in (may be that as well). Thought like it was to offer better features. Then the standards improved and the entire IE team was either caught flat footed or possibly even disbanded to work on other projects. IE7 was almost half a decade after IE6