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Microsoft Taps Evangelist to Push IE

By David Worthington, BetaNews

June 23, 2004, 5:37 AM

After being criticized by pundits for resting on its laurels and letting its technology stagnate, Microsoft is reportedly reinvigorating the pace of Internet Explorer browser development.

Dave Massy, a technology evangelist at Microsoft has been reassigned to promote IE, which remains a fundamental part of the Windows operating system despite not having had a major revision since Windows XP was released nearly three years ago.

Windows XP Service Pack 2 breathes life into the browser, delivering a long-awaited configurable pop-up blocker, a new download manager to combat the growing threat of spyware, and support for P3P (Platform for Privacy) to inhibit intrusive tracking cookies from being unwittingly deposited on users' systems.

Otherwise, Microsoft is sticking to its June 2003 edict that no new standalone version of Internet Explorer will ship outside of a significant upgrade to Windows.

The next generation release of Internet Explorer is still slated to be included in Longhorn; Massy and his team are merely soliciting more public feedback.

Commenting on Microsoft's renewed interest in browser development and how it affects developers, Jupiter Research senior analyst Joe Wilcox wrote in his Web log, "As for software development, since Microsoft made IE part of Windows and exposed application programming (APIs) to developers, the company has an obligation to make sure its partners have the best technology. That's sound business practice and consistent with Microsoft's renewed focus on providing software developers with better tools."

While Internet Explorer has sat on the shelves at Redmond and taken the brunt of Microsoft's security woes, browser innovation has come not from Microsoft, but from the grassroots.

For instance, the Mozilla Foundation has been developing Firefox, what it deems as a faster and more secure alternative to IE - complete with additional productivity features such as tabbed browsing, as well as an extensive plug-in architecture. Likewise, Opera 7.50 risks a different take on the Web browser by integrating e-mail and IRC chat into browser windows.

"I just hope that competition isn't Microsoft's reason for putting more resources into IE (again, assuming misreporting or wishful thinking hasn't made something out of nothing). I'm not surprised that Longhorn evangelist Robert Scoble uses Firefox," commented Jupiter's Wilcox.

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By wcspaulding

posted Jul 5, 2004 - 2:29 AM

WebSpeedReader is a good browser with unique features, including a loading and reading model that is better than tabbed browsing, in my opinion. Not nearly as customizable as Opera, but works pretty good.

As for Microsoft and IE, or Windows, for that matter, it shows why we need to get rid of monopolies and prevent them in the 1st place. When Microsoft had to compete with Netscape, it was coming out with all kinds of innovations. Now that they own the market, they stopped. Nothing to propel them forward, especially since they don't sell it as a separate product. Even the development of Windows moves at a glacial pace. That's why we need competition.

And what about monopoly prices. 37 private antitrust suits and a federal lawsuit that spanned years alleging that Microsoft overcharged for Windows, and now, Microsoft charges more for Windows than it ever has, even after consolidating it to 1 code base with Windows XP! This shows you what a complete waste the American legal system is. The lawyers get their fees, then they decide that it’s too much risk to litigate, to force Microsoft to lower the prices on Windows. But, of course, being able to charge monopoly prices is the reason Microsoft has worked so hard to become one, and thanks, to the American legal system with its emphasis on plain, old-fashion extortion, Microsoft will continue to gouge the public of billions for many years to come.

Score: 0

By Eeyan

posted Jul 3, 2004 - 7:54 PM

MS needs to look at the likes of MYIE2

If you want a good browser use MYIE2 it rocks.
Forget this java s*** (Firefox ...etc)

Score: 0

By iamtux

posted Jun 27, 2004 - 1:08 AM

MSFT NEEDS to put tabbed browsing in IE, a good popup blocker (well see how that works out in SP2), skinning and plugin support (like in mozilla and firefox). I'm quite certain this shouldn't be too tough for MSFT to do, so why don't they just do it already and take back the market for the browser? What are they waiting for?

Until they decide to come out from under the rock they're sleeping under, use Mozilla or Firefox.

Score: 0

By DJGM

edited Jun 24, 2004 - 10:39 PM

How anyone can successfully evangelise Microsoft's browser dinosaur is simply
inexplicable. MSIE is as dead as a digital dodo. Time to wise up. Use Mozilla.

Score: 0

By distinguished

posted Jun 23, 2004 - 12:02 PM

How ominous. Even Benny Hinn can't heal microsoft.

Score: 0

By bleedingpegasus

posted Jul 1, 2004 - 6:45 PM

who is benny hinn? i heard he is just another $ucker just like bill gates?

i use firefox .8 a lot, and in my opinion, let IE befriend with kerio personal firewall to block activeX and popups, and disable all java features, is a pretty good Winblows software.

Score: 0

By wormeyman

posted Jun 23, 2004 - 6:05 PM

Firefox > IE

I can hear it now "surf the net using IE! we haven't innovated in the browsermarket since 1996!"

I can't wait to try service pack 2 and see how it's spyware protection works but i doubt it will be sucessfull.

Score: 0

By jrepin

posted Jun 24, 2004 - 1:43 PM

Exactly. The only thing they can also use in their propaganda is the absolute worst internet standards support, a lot of security problems and lack of cool features. People do yourself (and others) a favour and dump this IE crap. use some real and modern browser like Firefox, Mozilla or Opera.

Score: 0

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