IEBlog

hehehe, I think I still have my IE 3 "midnight madness" t-shirt somewhere in a box.

For many of those first years, Microsoft was working hard to unseat the market leader, Netscape, and I appreciate the technical work Microsoft's team did back then to bring the Internet experience along. Anyone doing web development with any of the Netscape browsers can probably remember how bad they were, and we're just now breaking the shackles of Netscape 4.7 compatibility requests. IE4 *was* a better browser for its time; IE5 and IE6 brought things even further. Yes, Microsoft pulled some dirty tricks with OEMs to hurt Netscape, but in the end it was probably Netscape's technical stagnation that accelerated their demise.

But that's all ancient history.

Today, Microsoft has been sitting on IE for nearly five years with no feature improvements. You justified this by saying that the browser is part of the OS, and well gosh darn, there hasn't been a new consumer OS since XP so we don't need a new browser. (Yet somehow we really need Media Player releases, even though that's part of the OS--except in Europe.) XP SP2 contained very few feature enhancements, it was all about security. It was a bunch of security patches, some of which affected the UI.

I think everyone who watches this blog is awaiting the next IE7 beta since it is supposed to fix so many of the problems that have plagued IE4/5/6 for all these years. But I'm concerned that the "part of the OS" mantra will mean that any unfixed bugs in IE7 that survive to Vista won't be fixed for many more years to come.

"XP SP2 contained very few feature enhancements, it was all about security. It was a bunch of security patches, some of which affected the UI"

Really? Ok, yes the popup blocker was security related, but I consider that a "feature enhancement." I also consider the revised firewall to be a "feature enhancement." Just because they were enhancing security features doesn't mean they aren't features!

"But I'm concerned that the "part of the OS" mantra will mean that any unfixed bugs in IE7 that survive to Vista won't be fixed for many more years to come. "

To MS's credit, that really lacks all basis in facts. I can't count how many patches have been made for IE6 since it was originally released. Just because they aren't rewriting the browser every 2-3 months doesn't mean they don't release bug fixes.

codemastr,

1) I said few, yest and that includes the popup blocker. I think that that qualifies as few. The firewall isn't part of IE.

2) I am not aware of any unfixed bugs in anything except SECURITY that have been taken care of since IE6 came out. Sure, Microsoft will release security patches ASAP. But they seem to be unfazed by CSS bugs that are five years old.

3) Okay to make you happy: "But I'm concerned that the "part of the OS" mantra will mean that any unfixed bugs in IE7 that survive to Vista won't be fixed for many more years to come unless they are related to security. "

Dang it all, after reading this I feel so guilty for using---ugh---another browser. I can remember a lot of those 'firsts' that you mentioned. I can even remember the first (and only) time someone stole my credit card number at CDUniverse.com (along with a bunch of other customer's numbers).
I remember a long (long) time ago when I signed up for a hotmail account and only needed to add one number to my user name in order to create the email address :)
I can also remember when my dad signed up for Prodigy when it was new and, for the heck of it, my mom ordered the groceries one time from Kroger...just to try out the service. Needless to say when she went to pick the order up at the store, they had the order all wrong. But, mom half expected this, brought her list and did the shopping herself :) It was a neat idea but just didn't seem to take off at the time because not a lot of people were online to get a service like that going.

Like a lot of things lately, my memory also isn't what it used to be and I don't know how I ever found this weblog. But I do keep checking it from time to time to see what's going on with IE7.
It's funny (and sometimes sad) that the internet has partly made us into what we are today...an 'Instant Society'. We demand our information now, now, now (snap, snap, snap). I can remember the old days of message boards and posting a question or comment (or whatever) and sometimes it took days to get a response (lack of people online). Now it's like if I don't get an answer to a question (in a forum) within a half hour, I begin to get antsy :)

Despite the (sorry) truth that I use (hopefully temporary) another browser, I honestly believe we all would have less of an experience here online today if it weren't for IE and how it all began 10 years ago. Thanks IE team!

Now if FireFox could actually get some momentum going then MS might consider putting in the type of effort it used to put in when they had Netscape to compete with.

The amount of changes that happended from IE3 -> IE5 were incredible (Active Desktop, Speed, Look & Feel), imagine what IE would be doing now if that pace had been kept up!

I stayed up until midnight to download IE3. As part of the "midnight madness" introduction of IE3, a certain number of downloaders were supposed to receive a glow-in-the-dark "midnight-madness" T-shirt. I got an email indicating I was one of the lucky who were to recieve the T-shirt but i'm still waiting. I have not lost hope, however, that one day it will show up.

Dave,

"The firewall isn't part of IE"
Indeed, but from your post you said, "XP SP2 contained very few feature enhancements," which to me sounded like you implied XP SP2 didn't have any new features, not IE for XP SP2.

"I am not aware of any unfixed bugs in anything except SECURITY that have been taken care of since IE6 came out"
There have been. I've seen things where IE crashes, I submit the bug report, then it comes back telling me a fix is available. I download the patch and indeed the problem goes away.

I guess the problem is you are classifying the CSS stuff as "bugs." I classify it as "incompatibilities" which are different. Maybe to a user they seem the same, but to a programmer they are very different. One is functionality that doesn't work, the other is functionality that doesn't conform to a specification.

*When we were working on early versions of Internet Explorer we had no idea where the Internet would take the world, or how we would fit in.**PSD needs to get serious about cloning Netscape. We must have a plan to clone all the features they have today, plus new ones they will add between now and our next release. We have to make this our only priority and put our top people on the job. In addition to our planned Win32/OLE work, we have to get serious about extending and owning HTML as a format, and in the process leverage our existing assets to get ahead. *Christopher Vaughan, lead project manager for the Internet Explorer team, (in the IE blog today) reminiscing on the good old days. **United States v. Microsoft Trial - Government Exhibit 684 PDF Format (605KB) which seems to cover "how [Microsoft] would fit in" pretty well....

Microsoft Introduces Internet Explorer

Internet Browser Designed Specifically for Windows 95 Offers Customers Easy Access to the Internet

Redmond, Wash. — Aug. 17, 1995 — Microsoft Corp. today announced the Microsoft® Internet Explorer, an Internet browser designed specifically for the Microsoft Windows® 95 operating system. The Internet Explorer takes full advantage of the advancements in Windows 95 to offer customers easy access to the Internet and high performance. It is also the first Internet browser to ship with real-time audio capabilities. Broad availability of the Internet Explorer will coincide with the scheduled Aug. 24 launch of Windows 95.

“We recognize the importance of the Internet and know our customers have choices when it comes to Internet access,” said Brad Silverberg, senior vice president of the personal systems division at Microsoft. “Our goal is to provide Windows 95 customers with a solution that combines superior integration with Windows 95, great ease of use and high performance.”

The Internet Explorer is part of the Microsoft Internet Jumpstart Kit, which will offer PC users an easy way to connect to the Internet from within Windows 95, no matter which Internet access provider they choose. However, users who choose MSN as their Internet access provider have the added benefits of one-button sign-up via MSN, the ability to maintain access to the Internet and MSN simultaneously with only one connection, and shortcut capabilities enabling access to MSN content with a single mouse click. The Internet Jumpstart Kit also includes set-up wizards that let users set-up their access to the Internet with the click of a single button.

The Internet Explorer mirrors the Windows 95 easy-to-use interface, supports Windows Shortcuts to the Internet, includes an Internet tutorial and comprehensive search engine, supports full drag and drop of text and graphics, shields users from Internet jargon (such as “protocols” and “data types”), and works well with other Windows 95-based applications. It’s integrated support for Windows Shortcuts means users can go from their desktops to any of their favorite Web sites just by clicking a single icon, without having to launch their connectivity software separately, dial their service providers, open their Web browsers, and navigate to the desired Web sites.

High Performance, Richer Look and Feel

In addition to its ease of use, the Internet Explorer provides fast and full access to the World Wide Web based on its support for all popular Internet standards. It supports all industry-standard hypertext markup language tags, so users can read the broad range of Internet content. It supports proxy servers to allow protected access to the Internet through corporate “fire walls” making it compatible with corporate security mechanisms for Internet access. And it preserves the original look of Web-page text and graphics, enabling end users to view content as authors designed it to look.

The Internet Explorer is also the first Internet browser to ship with the RealAudio Player, allowing users equipped with conventional multimedia PCs and voice-grade telephone lines to browse, select and play back audio or audio-based multimedia content in real time.

“We are pleased that Microsoft has chosen to include the RealAudio Player as a standard feature of Windows 95 Internet Explorer,” said Rob Glaser, president and CEO of Progressive Networks Inc. “Users will now be able to fully experience the richness of the Internet when they access content such as special events, news and literature that incorporate audio features as part of the presentation.”

The Internet Explorer is the latest example of Microsoft’s long-standing support for the Internet, which dates to its integration of Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol/Windows Internet Naming Service (DHCP/WINS) specifications in the Windows NTâ„¢ Server network operating system and its support for TCP/IP in Windows® for Workgroups. Microsoft has expanded on that support with inclusion of PPP, SLIP, RAS and TCP/IP in Windows 95 and the Internet Explorer. Additionally, Microsoft Word for Windows 6.0 includes the Internet Assistant, which makes it easier for customers to publish documents for the World Wide Web directly from within Microsoft Word.

Microsoft has been working on the Internet Explorer since it licensed browser technology from Spyglass in January 1995. Since January, Microsoft has enhanced this core technology to offer improved ease of use and performance.

Availability

The Internet Explorer is scheduled to be widely available with the scheduled release of Windows 95 on Aug. 24. Users can obtain it in many ways:

As part of Microsoft Plus!, the companion product for Windows 95. Microsoft Plus! customers also receive 20 hours of access time on MSN™ free of charge when they sign up for the MSN “frequent user monthly plan”.
Download via a broad range of online services and servers including CompuServe®, MSN and Microsoft’s World Wide Web home page (http://www.microsoft.com).
Pre-installation by OEMs on many of the personal computers available after Aug. 24.
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (NASDAQ “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software for personal computers. The company offers a wide range of products and services for business and personal use, each designed with the mission of making it easier and more enjoyable for people to take advantage of the full power of personal computing every day.


Microsoft, Windows, Windows NT and MSN are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.

The Microsoft Network is operated by Microsoft Corp. on behalf of Microsoft Network LLC.

Compuserve is a registered trademark of CompuServe Inc.

For More Information, Press Only:

Pam Kahl, Waggener Edstrom, (408) 986-1140

Wow. Just as Opera turns 10 too.

Congrats guys. IE is and always be the BEST browser around.

"Just as Opera turns 10 too"

Opera - certainly the best browser money can buy (smirk).

"It’s an amazing experience to be involved in a product that’s been part of such a revolution."

Unless you worked for the Mosaic or Netscape teams then you missed the revolution and were involved in a product that was playing catch up. Mosaic was released in 1993, you guys missed the boat.

I love remembering the "good, old days" in the internet. I just migrated from an Amiga 500 to an Intel 486-DX2-66, used Windows 95 and was wasting my time in html based chats and on IRC. We split a single ISDN line with 10 people in our "computer club" every friday night till 4 o'clock in the morning - and getting that linux based router to work was a real challenge (not to mention the "parallel port hub" based Amiga network, compiling an ipx.odi for DOS based Doom games or running with a Tanja straight into your NOD headquarter...).

Honestly i used Netscape at that time, but Internet Explorer 5 was finally convincing me to migrate. I started my own internet company, worked on browser based online games management (someone remembers Meridian 59 or Subspace?) and today i do streaming media - based on activex/plugins and browsers.

Internet Explorer - like Windows - is one of the fundamentals to my entire career. Although i work with Linux/MacOS and Firefox/Safari/Opera on a daily basis, nothing gives me a feeling of "coming home" like Mircosoft products do. Sounds sentimental? Maybe it is... well, i am still waiting for my first coffee today... so better post before i change my mind...

Or to make it short:
THANK YOU IE TEAM! HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!

19. august hadde Opera bursdag og ble 10 år. Nå skal det holdes en virtuell fest for alle Opera-brukere, på festen lover Opera å komme med en stor overraskelse. Hva kan dette være for noe spennende?

I can't believe how little there has been in the mainstream tech media about the 10 year anniversary of Windows 95.

http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/asa/archives/008754.html

Yeah but do you still need to keep <marquee> in 10 years later, where everything supports CSS and DOM?
Mozilla isn't perfect either, it supports marquee AND blink - but at least it gives users a way to disable them.

How can we be excited with IE7 ?

You just fixed some bugs in the engine and that's all. No evolutions. No improvement in CSS support. No XHTML support (IE manage XHTML as HTML and that's a mistake).

Oh IE7 have tabs ! But that's the case for months with all the browser using IE engine.

Nothing new under the sun ;)

PLEASE tell me that Microsoft is going to stop treating <select> elements as windowed in IE 7.0. The amount of hacks web developers and designers have had to come up with for this issue alone is ridiculous.

Nostalgia! :)

Happy birthday ie!

I usually win all contests for first to use a web-browser. 1991, baby!

Seriously, it was once - I was looking up some obscure data on a Monte Carlo library I was coding against; the library was written at CERN (well, it was predicting LHC behaviour, so I guess that's OK) and the documentation was on the web. Sounds quite normal now, but I had to use the one-and-only NeXtStation at Imperial College to get the answer to this question; as TBL's original browser was the only one out at the time.

Do I win? If so, what's the prize?

I think I still have my free Microsoft copy of The Times from the Win95 launch, and certainly remember the incredible upgrade cycle of 1993-1997, from NCSA Mosaic to Netscape betas to Netscape 1 to Netscape 2 to Netscape 3 to a mix of Netscape 4 on Suns and IE3 on PCs to IE4 and wishing I could use it when I was on a Sun.

Since then, it's slowed down a bit; One reason I really look forward to IE7 is the reminder of the olden days of bi-weekly upgrades to the web browser.

"Unless you worked for the Mosaic or Netscape teams then you missed the revolution and were involved in a product that was playing catch up."

I understand Netscape officials missed many of the early meetings to establish HTML standards.

Microsoft instead licensed technology from Spyglass who did attend those early meetings.

In addition, Microsoft hired Chris Wilson who co-developed Mosaic 1.0 for Windows. http://www.krsaborio.net/research/1990s/93/images/mosaic10/about.htm

Hence, your comment isn't 100% correct.

More data:

http://mirror.switch.ch/ftp/doc/ietf/html/html-minutes-94dec.txt

"Netscape Things Not Already in 3.0

"Tim Berners-Lee made a quick pass through Netscape Communications' documentation of their extensions to HTML, in the absence of a
representative from Netscape, to see what additions they have that are not already in the 3.0 draft DTD. The following list of tags/attributes was compiled."

"How can we be excited with IE7 ?"

It has a pretty cool user interface.

I can't wait to have Internet Explorer 7 when it becomes available.

Feel sorrt for the Spyglass Mosaic people. They licensed their browser to MS (which became IE), and part of the deal was they'd get a percentage of the revenue. And then MS decided to release IE for free, so there goes the percentage!

"Feel sorry for the Spyglass Mosaic people."

No problem.

http://news.com.com/2100-1001-264079.html?legacy=cnet

"Browser company Spyglass (SPYG) today saw its stock more than recover from earlier declines after announcing its first-quarter results and an anticipated $8 million from Microsoft for use of its software."

Uh, funny, I remember IE being part of my Win95 upgrade that I got from Office Depot the morning it was released (yup, I was one of the many who phoned in weeks ahead and reserved a copy of win95 for the day of the release)

I did get the Plus later on, but I don't recall needing it for IE. Oh well, I gotta reinstall my 95 box running my MS Mp-900 phone here anyways (I killed it uninstalling old dead hardware, drove it insane), so maybe I'll dig out my win3.1 disks and run the upgrade version instead of 95b.

Note to IE team: find someone who used to be on the MP-900 team, talk them into releasing the project source so that the rest of us who still use our phones can upgrade them to XP, huh? I think more of the MS phones would still be in use if it wasn't for the 95/98 only problem.

Back to IE and Win95... Yes, I remember it well. Once I found it, I tossed netscape out and never looked back. I have to say, however, Firefox is getting more time on my machine than I would prefer, so get IE7 b2 done soon huh?

I'm glad sooner or later off-topic messages get deleted from this thread.

I found an article related to this discussion at http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=170100419 .

It's amazing how authors don't check the facts properly.

Gregg Keizer writes: "... Internet Explorer was based on the Mosaic browser licensed from Spyglass (but only after attempting, and failing, to license Netscape's Navigator)."

It's obvious the author doesn't know the true story.

The true story is Jim Clark got pretty anxious in late 1994. He really wanted for Microsoft to license his browser. The following e-mail tells all:

From: Jim Clark <[email protected]> [[email protected]]
Sent: Thursday, December 29, 1994 3:01 AM
To: Dan Rosen
Subject: Please forward.

Dan, I tried sending this to Brad Silverberg on the 23rd, and I guesses his email name incorrectly. Please forward it to him. I copied you on the original, so you were to read it also. Thanks.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Brad:

I'd like to convince you to reconsider using our Netscape client and apologize for the miscommunication with Paul Koontz. I was not aware of the details of his interaction with you, or I would have expressed things differently. I have had a dialog going with Dan Rosen for the last several months, and it is more in the spirit of the relationship I'd hoped to develop with Microsoft.

No one can outperform Micorsoft, but we have done a lot of good work on Netscape. I understand your worry about schedule delays, but by the time you fix the bugs in the original Mosaic and tune it for performance, you will waste as much time as you fear losing. About 70% of the connections to web servers on the not are now Netscape, because practically everyone considers it to be superior. I can send you hundreds of people's comparisons, if you are interested.

Since our team wrote the original and know its shortcomings, we never considered licensing it from the University. As much as 50% of original Mosaic is "public domain", but we discovered that some of the so-called public domain code is mixed with code that could be from non public-domain on origins. None of our code is taken from any public domain code, so there never be any question of its origin -- we created all of it ans consequently own it with no dispute.

Microsoft is the de facto standard "client" software company and we have never planned to compete with you, so we have never considered a "client" as being our business. Our business is adding value on the back-end in the form of vertical applications, currently using Oracle data bases. We intend to do this primarily on NT and Back Office very soon..

We want to make this company a success, but not at Microsoft's expense. We'd like to work with you. Working together could be in your self interest as well as ours. Depending on the interest level, you might take an equity position in Netscape, with the ability to expand the position later. Considering all of the things we're doing in the financial area, there should be tots of room to work together in setting standards that accommodate your Intuit acquisition. Lots of banks are worried about Microsoft, and none of them have expressed concern about us.

We have begun to build a team out of Oracle and related companies who understand the systems consulting/database business model, and it is something that you could learn from. Given the worry that exists regarding Microsoft dominance of practically everything, we might be a good indirect way to get into the Internet business.

Sorry about the tone conveyed to you by Koontz -- he is not known for subtle words, and at SGI where he came from. Microsoft is considered an enemy. One of the reasons I left there is that I concluded that you should be able to put the workstation companies out of business.

If you have any interest in opening a dialog, I will be checking my mail daily over the Holidays and would be happy to quietly share some of my thinking with you. No one in my organization knows about this message.

Thanks for consideration.

Sinncerely

Jim Clark

It would have been nice to see some new beta of IE7 get released today to commerate...but I guess not. I still enjoy beta 1 anyway.

Happy Birthday to IE!

I did not have the chance to use the first IEs. To me, 3.0 was the first IE, even though the 2.0 shipped with NT4 would also be brought up before I upgraded it to 3.0.

From a programming viewpoint, 3.0 can also qualify as a "1.0". If I understand and remember correctly, 3.0 was the first to COM-ize everything, and put WebBrowser as a reusable control. This greatly enhanced the architectural power of IE and advanced reusability.

I actually would like to see the internal architecture of IE gets more explaination in the recently launched Internet Explorer column. Instead of mostly talking about "Web Development with CSS", I think talking about "Software Development with IE" would be refreshing and serve as a good change.

One key question would be how the architecture affects security. For example, many exploits used HTML Help. I hope somebody could give a cleaner explaination of how this works, not just from an exploit viewpoint, but more from a programmer/designer's angle. I have been doing research on this topic, but I would like to see explanations from the insiders, and those who know how this architecture/security has evolved in the past ten years.

Happy birthday to Internet Explorer and thank you Christopher! ;-)
Ciao!

Vincenzo Di Russo
Microsoft® MVP - Most Valuable Professional
Windows - Internet Explorer/OE 2003/2004/2005
http://support.microsoft.com/newsgroups
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/

Happy Birthday IE.

Here's another IE history on Microsoft.com, hot off the presses:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/IE/community/columns/historyofie.mspx

I love IE! MSFT,You are best!
-------------------
http://www.phonebell.net/

"That’s more or less 1 new version of IE a year for 6 years."

More less then more that is. It has more or less 1 new version NUMBER of IE a year for 6 years, but you can't actually mention that much improvements, can you.

"... but you can't actually mention that much improvements."

Have you tried to update a PC using the Windows Update in the Tools tab?

Updating PCs via Internet Explorer is getting easier and easier every day. It's getting so easy that soon my grandmother will be able to do it herself without my help.

Or have you tried the Search button next located next to the Favorites and History buttons?

It's pretty nice to have spelling support on the fly specially if it's set on MSN search.

Have you tried the fabulous interaction between Internet Explorer and Media Player?

If you have a broadband Internet connection, you'll discover there's a lot more out there than just browsing regular HTML pages.

If you look carefully, you'll find many interesting features in your Internet Explorer. I'm not going to describe all the features because I'll make your discovery experience less exciting. :)

I agree completely with youir cogent analysis of the IE Explorer and its relative pluses and minuses. But what we really need is to replace Bill Gates' benevolent dictatorship with a malevolent one, headed, for example, by me. Read details about my brilliant genius plan for Worls Revolution at--

http://beninski.blogspot.com/

Firefox is better!

Waiting for IE7 to smash FireThing back where it belongs, along with "standard complianters". Ever since I tried NN 3 and threw the CD far in a box, I use IE and I love it. No other browser is that smooth, fast, clean and everything else I love in a browser. Go on, IE team, give us the new champ! Maybe after that we will be seing less of that FF little "different-thinkers" all alike newcomers flock.

Anyone know if you can shrink the 'links' button size?

Where are the refresh and stop buttons?

Every book I've ever read said that you needed Plus! to get IE. It was IE 1.0. The Microsoft demo on the Win95 CD called IE3 "the Internet Explorer". I never used Win95 RTM, so I can't say, I got OSR2 and used IE3.

For WinXP they changed the stop button to look like that in IE1.

I think I still have my IE 3 "midnight madness" t-shirt somewhere too

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/anthonyyiangou/

Thanks for sharing. I enjoyed reading that, no matter what the other losers around here say.

i don't use InternetExplorer, and i can swear i'm not a loser. I've been using it (shipped with Win95) until I found better... you, guys should really try those firething : alone, it's better than ie, with a few extensions, it beats it from far (not only for gadgets).
This birthday is a great day : i've seen for the 1st time the timeline of IE : it's pretty funny... 10 years to develop a web browser that can't browse the web, since it doesn't respect web standards (it seems as an evidence but ...). My web browser is 1 and 1/2 years old, it's useful, free, opensource (it has its importance), it can browse the web : happy birthday ie!

I'm a very happy user of Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2). Obviously, I have a legit license for it.

I really enjoy the opportunity to update my computer every month with fabulous free software from Microsoft.

Every month, Windows XP SP2 users obtain a special tool to remove malicious software.
And it's easy to use.

To get the tool, early each month I click on the Tools tab located on the upper menu of Internet Explorer. Then, I click on Windows Update. Internet Explorer does the rest while I simply follow the instructions on the screen.

And there's even more free software for legit users of Windows XP.

Once my computer is fully updated, I go to http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx . In this Microsoft Web address, I'm entitled to use a completely free anti-spyware software. This tool makes my computer even more secure.

These are only a few features of Internet Explorer in its 10 anniversary.

Opera Software celebrates its 10th anniversary today with an online party and free registration codes for a day.
I first discovered the Opera web browser in college, probably 1998 or 1999. A friend who worked with me at the Artslab showed it to me, ...

Forgive my english, which is not my native language.

IE 7 is certainly exciting news for whoever works in the web development field, no matter at which level in the hierarchy ladder.

I must say that much of the hype that has been put by detractors upon the fact a new release wasn't delivered earlier, rings flawed. Here's why.

First of all, one doesn't need to release a new version of anything, unless one worships fashion, as long as the old version of the same thing still does an excellent job.
Of course, many argue exactly about this point: they say IE 6 doesn't do such a job because it has security problems.

I must say that I never understood the real nature of such obviously and thoroughly fictional a representation of facts.
In fact (for I am speaking of facts, and not of subjective preferences), from today's eweek dot com we learn from the headlines (which I reproduce faithfully below, though not in their page long integrity) that:

1) Microsoft Investigating New IE Hole
2) Download Problem Interferes with IE Patch Release
3) Safari Flaws Fixed in Monster Mac OS X Update
4) Opera Plugs Three Security Holes
5) Netscape Patch Fixes Two Critical Flaws
6) Mozilla Updates Firefox to Fix Security Gaps
7) Spoofing Risk Returns to Mozilla Browsers
8) AOL Botches Netscape Security Makeover
9) Zero-Day Firefox Exploit Sends Mozilla Scrambling
10) Netscape Upgrade May Not Fix Critical Flaw
11) Apple Ships Mac OS X Kernel, Browser Patches
12) New Firefox, Mozilla Versions Plug Critical Security Holes
13) Firefox Plugs GIF Security Hole
14) Firefox Gets Major Security Makeover
15) Microsoft Confirms IE Phishing Flaw
16) Holiday Attacks Target IE Browser, PHP Servers
17) Google Patches Desktop Search Flaw
18) New IE Exploit Spoofs Web Sites
19) Apple Zaps 16 Mac OS X Holes
20) Emergency IE Patch Fixes Critical Bug
21) Firefox Flaws Flagged, Fixed
22) IE May Share Shell Hole Found in Mozilla
23) Mozilla, Opera Plug Security Holes
24) IE vs. Mozilla on the Shell Hole—Whose Bug Is It?

From this panorama, I can't see whence the idea that security is a specific IE problem derived - if not as said by sheer fictitious figments and fertile imagination.

Of course, as long as among the facts we have to register too the one that says that IE is used by 85% of the surfers, any statistical calculation that deduces a higher degree of vulnerability in IE rather than -say- in Mozilla, WITHOUT at the same time taking into account the indispensable mathematical proportion to perform in order to get the exact functional-ized figures, is mere self delusion.
Whatever browser would ever have the venture to be used by 85% of the surfers would inevitably be more subject to attacks and thus more prone to reveal otherwise unnoticed (read: exploited) security holes.

But from the list above, security is not a IE problem only in the least - and not even mostly.
I am much more surprised at seeing that browsers with a 6% share already show so many security flaws and need so many fast paced fixes, than at seeing that a platform used by 85% does.
Under the above mentioned proportional statistical point of view, we could even dare argue the situation is rather to be supposed as reversed: it is blatantly more insecure the platform that has to fix ten problems having 6% of the share than that which has to fix 20 having 85% of the share.

I am not inclined to use "foul" terms, but when it is said in spite of such a list as the one above that IE is more insecure than the other browsers, either it is said out of bad faith or out of stupidity - I think it was Napoleon who said never ascribe to malice what can be adequately explained through incompetence.

IE 6 is a good browser, neither less nor more insecure than any other, and neither less nor more compliant than the others. True, it does not interpret correctly css fixed layers. But then, what about this in Mozilla (I replace brackets with &amp;lt and &amp;gt hoping it works out, if it doesn't replace them with < and >):

&lt;div style="border:#000000 1px solid; width:200; height:20;overflow: visible;"&gt;
a&lt;br&gt;b&lt;br&gt;c&lt;br&gt;d&lt;br&gt;e&lt;/div&gt;


Load that in Firefox: although overflow is declared as visible and the default should be to adapt the layer height to its contents (is any going to argue that is not a standard?), Firefox shows the contents as outside the div container. Visible accordingly to Firefox.
Firefox evan at its last current version fails at such a triviality, and YET it is acclaimed as fully compliant- fully compliant with WHAT?
And given the list above: fully secure against WHAT.

So, this is why I do not understand the IE blaming for all. Not because I have an ideological stance in it, but simply because it DEFIES logics. And I can't live with a persuasion that defies logics sponsoring it around. I can't champion a lie.

All browsers have problem. Firefox is a great browser to my eyes DESPITE its shortcomings, Netscape is a great browser to my eyes DESPITE its shortcomings, Opera is a great browser to my eyes DESPITE its shortcomings, and SO does IE despite its.

Those who complain about the lack of an earlier IE new version, while sporting the anti evil capitalism mood that sees in Microsoft the incarnation of all evils and in IE the chattel to mock at in the name of such allegedly "just cause", completely fail to see that, while sponsoring a lie, they EVEN fall prey of the most typical traditional and mainstream "free market" or "evil capitalism" expectation: that of having new versions as often as possible just in the name of consumption and fashion.

Honour to IE 6 that resisted this trend, or that of naming a product #6 with a leap gap from #4, thus skipping #5, just to strut around a cosmetic trick as a substantial feat.

As for me I put on my site a banner: Time to end this senseless IE blaming for all.
Netscape is good: to acknowledge it is such or even EXCELLENT as it is, I do not need to trash other things that are, to say the least, as good as it is. The good reputation of a product cannot feed upon the predation of the reputation of the others via slandering, if it wants to be reputable indeed.

"That’s more or less 1 new version of IE a year for 6 years."

Well duh. And you wonder why people are jumping ship? ;)

Sorry. Sarcasm over. I'm actually looking forward to Microsoft upping their game, even though I find it hard to believe that I'll leave Firefox - I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Microsoft for opening my eyes to Open Source Software. Thank you Microsoft :)

Internet Explorer is piece of crap.

Internet Explorer - HTML Standard Chronology

1995/08/17 Internet Explorer 1.0
1995/09/22 HTML 2.0
1995/11/27 Internet Explorer 2.0
1996/08/13 Internet Explorer 3.0
1997/01/14 HTML 3.2 Recommendation
1997/10/01 Internet Explorer 4.0
1997/12/18 HTML 4.0 Recommendation
1998/04/24 HTML 4.0 Revision
1999/03/18 Internet Explorer 5.0
1999/12/24 HTML 4.01 Recommendation

"Some versions of Netscape Navigator 4.0X crash upon reading Chapter 3 of previous versions of this specification. Netscape is aware of this bug ..." Source: http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/appendix/changes.html

2001/08/28 Internet Explorer 6.0

Alberto: Where'd you get "fully" from? No one paying attention to the facts is going to claim Firefox or Opera is "fully compliant" with standards or "fully secure." Both are measurably <i>more</i> standards-compliant than IE6, because they implement more of the specifications -- particularly in CSS -- and deviate from the published specs in fewer places. Either is arguably <i>more</i> secure than IE6, though there's obviously disagreement on that score.

Hi Kelson

I normally don't reply on blogs but you seem a person who can make sense, so in your specific case I do.

Although I do not like providing linking notoriety to some type of blatantly absurd websites, yet we have online stuff like this:
http://toastytech.com/evil/index.html
YET, seeing it can help ascertaining who's who and who's, at least relatively, right or wrong. I think that link speaks for itself and discredits itself and speaks of the dangers of those who trail along.

True, that is an example taken out from the edges. But as such, it is symptomatic of an overall mood and of where such a mood may lead astray many, though by lesser degrees.
As a person who loves programming, I say that those type of things do not belong.

I can assure you that although you are a person who can see things also under a relativistic point of view, others don't.
There exist _really_ persons who believe that "fully" you contend. I was addressing them, rather than you. For they exist.

If in our ranks, whichever browser we prefer, we can find a common ground, it is in mutual respect: if we are really concerned with enhancing professionalism in our field, those type of ideological approaches MUST go challenged, _not_ undisturbed, and rejected and condemned openly by us all - not tacitly overlooked.

We cannot sponsor adherence to the standards in the same line where we want their impassible objectivity complied with AND yet we also allow to go unresisted those entirely subjective furors. Many of the IE complaints we hear are like life accordingly to Shakespeare: "a tale told by an idiot -- full of sound and fury, signifying nothing".

If we want the standards, we can't want the furors. If we want the furors, we can't lay any longer any claim to the standards.

Once entered the relativistic playground you suggest, then IE is neither worse nor better than many other browsers, not even comparatively. It's an excellent browser, come on. And as far as security is concerned, the headlines of my previous post speak for themselves.

There was a line in a Raymond Chandler short story: "Secure. A word that in my business we never use".

Those who use it referring to a browser as more or less secure than another, simply miss the point: secure, that is a word that in our business does not exist. So we cannot even use it as a SOLID criterion you see.

So, a flaw in IE does not detract on the reputation of IE but in the land of those (not you) who believe that security can be attained once and for all: and that the fact IE has not attained that definitve security of Wonderland can be blamed on it endlessly and at leisure, whereas the fact that Mozilla has not succeeded as well into attaining that very same security once and for all should, on the contrary, be either condoned or go hypocritically unnoticed.

A browser which is secure does not exist.
And it is in the evolutive nature of technology itself that it will NEVER exist: every step forward in technology entails a potential new exploit. Where would it ever end if nowhere? It is a self fulfilling prophesy, it is a recursive function that feeds itself and never stops.
Full security belongs to the grave.

As for the standards, we'll have one day DOM 18. The browser that implements DOM 16 should not be treated as uncompliant laying at the same time a claim to faireness of judgement.
The standards, we ALL want them: and in a vast degree we have them. I don't see in IE any real problem. It never prevented me from viewing a 2005 anno domini website, as neither Mozilla did.

But I cannot accept that, as so frequently we see, teenagers (or so) who want to implement the whim experimental css (that of course they regard nothing less than mission critical) for a silly blog of theirs, would end up placing more importance upon the success of their apprentice wizardship's experiments rather than in the content management of their otherwise empty and utterly meaningless blogs, and then place in their useless blogs slandering comments on IE. We can't value cosmetics more than contents. So those guys should be told so, rather than letting them go with the reputation of a fabulous browser as IE is.

Standards are like the Sabbath: they were made for men, not men for standards. Also the w3c at times implements absurdities; think of the deprecation of innerHTML - what is the net gain I cash from a standard, if the gain it gives to me by producing the standard, is continuously eroded by what it takes away from me later on by deprecating what was not indispensable to deprecate?

Those who respect the w3c for the sake of the standards, should also be able to criticize it when it takes a wrong turn - or we MIGHT one day end up with a w3c that would look like the UN: if you wipe out 10 floors out of the 20 of its magnificent building, nothing happens.
You don't want this. I don't want this.

10년이면 IT업계에서라면 강산이 변해도 여러번 변했을 만한 기간일텐데,&amp;nbsp;IE가 벌써 10년이나 된 기술이 되었다는&amp;nbsp;IE팀 블로그의&amp;nbsp;10주년을 기념하는 포스트가...

I feel so guilty for using---ugh---another browser. I can remember a lot of those 'firsts' that you mentioned. I can even remember the first (and only) time someone stole my credit card number at CDUniverse.com (along with a bunch of other customer's numbers).
I remember a long (long) time ago when I signed up for a hotmail account and only needed to add one number to my user name in order to create the email address :)
I can also remember when my dad signed up for Prodigy when it was new and, for the heck of it, my mom ordered the groceries one time from Kroger...just to try out the service. Needless to say when she went to pick the order up at the store, they had the order all wrong. But, mom half expected this, brought her list and did the shopping herself :) It was a neat idea but just didn't seem to take off at the time because not a lot of people were online to get a service like that going.

I love remembering the "good, old days" in the internet. I just migrated from an Amiga 500 to an Intel 486-DX2-66, used Windows 95 and was wasting my time in html based chats and on IRC. We split a single ISDN line with 10 people in our "computer club" every friday night till 4 o'clock in the morning - and getting that linux based router to work was a real challenge (not to mention the "parallel port hub" based Amiga network, compiling an ipx.odi for DOS based Doom games or running with a Tanja straight into your NOD headquarter...).

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What does this have to do with IE turning 10?

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