Dvorak On Internet Explorer
By Gerard McGarry on 25th April 2006, filed in Internet Technologies. You can leave a response below.
It’s a well known fact that most Web Standards advocates deplore the Internet Explorer browser.
Because IE has been bundled with every version of Windows since Windows 98 (I think it was an add-on pack for Windows 95), IE has become synonymous with web browsing. Most people don’t even know that there are alternative browsers out there that they can download for free.
Which is a shame, because IE is actually a terrible web browser, and fails to support the web standards that make life easier for Web users and designers alike. Also, because of IE‘s dominance, many sites have been built around the bugs and issues in the software, which means that they often don’t work properly in other browsers.
Cue a fantastic article by John Dvorak of PC Mag, outlining how Internet Explorer has cost Microsoft in terms of security and reputation:
Microsoft’s entry into the browser business and its subsequent linking of the browser into the Windows operating system looks to be the worst decision???and perhaps the biggest, most costly gaffe???the company ever made
He goes on to suggest that most – if not all – of Microsoft’s public relations and legal problems have been largely down to Internet Explorer. He certainly has a point in that if IE hadn’t been bundled, Windows would have been a much more stable product.
I loved his proposal that they should drop support for IE permanently and start to bundle FireFox and Opera with every Windows installation. Maybe one day….
