RSSExpect crash recovery features in new IE8 builds
By Scott M. Fulton, III | Published June 11, 2008, 7:25 PM
Late Wednesday, a Microsoft spokesperson told BetaNews that a TechEd session in Orlando today summarized some of Internet Explorer 8's key new features for administrators, one of them being crash recovery.
One much improved feature added to the earliest public betas of Mozilla Firefox 3.0 is its ability to remember and recall open pages on a forced exit or a crash -- a feature which was originally integrated into Firefox 2.0, but which frankly didn't work all that well. That version crashed more often, in our experience, and only sometimes recalled its previous state.
Similar functionality is likely to be added to IE8, BetaNews was told today by Microsoft. The list of additions also included three other items which, we were surprised to note, were more confirmations of what we already knew rather than indications of new things to come. First of all, administrators will be able to add IE8 to their image-based deployments of Windows Vista, using System Center Configuration Manager. (If they couldn't, that would be a problem.)
How IE8 manages the rendering of Web pages standardized for IE7 and earlier versions will be controllable via group policy. For example, suppose an enterprise uses an intranet whose appearance was geared for IE7. Under IE8's more standards-compliant rendering defaults, that intranet could end up looking ghastly -- like an entirely different kind of acid test altogether. Group policy could conceivably ensure that when IE8 is deployed, the intranet looks as it should, while the rest of the Internet comes through in standards-compliant mode.
That's a welcome addition, though the first hints of it coming to IE8 were whispered back in January.
Finally, Microsoft has acknowledged it will update its Internet Explorer Administration Kit (IEAK) in time for IE8. This is so administrators can create a customized installation image for IE8 alone, and that's useful in cases like the intranet-endowed enterprise above, or when an organization uses a VPN to enable its employees to log on. Security settings and bookmarks may need to be standardized to ensure all employees are seeing the same image of IE8 on their laptops.
Another way to customize IE8 to accomplish the very same purpose may be through that System Center Configuration Manager deployment, although not all organizations are comfortable yet with making the move to Vista.
Way back in the days when virtually the only browsers we had to chose from were Internet Explorer and Netscape my choice was Netscape. In the last couple of years, now that there are a few other browsers to select from for surfing I have grown partial to IE. Since all of you seem aware of the pros and cons of IE I won't go into the reasons for my preference; except to say that I am genuinely fond of the ability to work with graphics in the browser. Hand in hand in that are tables, tables, tables. All in all I have had no headaches brought on by my web browser. I'm looking forward to the offerings of IE 8, and I really am telling the truth.
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|I don't think it will even come close to firefox 2. This is the worst product of Microsoft. I use firefox RC 2 on Vista and it's final version will be released on 17th June
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|Big deal, Opera has had it for long time. Any other "new features" in IE8?
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|hahahahaha, they need it lol
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|This is probably going to be the most used stolen feature on IE8. LOL
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|and if you ask Microsoft, I am sure they will say: This is not a new feature at all! Office applications have it for a long time.
For tabbed browsing they said they didn't copy any one but Excel itself :)
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|Wait a minute...don't we already have the "crash recovery features" in beta 1? They work very well.
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|Yeah, I was thinking the same thing.
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|Has this crash protection actually helped? Microsoft just eventually abandons the version. rinse, repeat.
Right now I'm using a laptop that occasionally crashes due to its out of date Intel vid driver. I can't update it from HP, they haven't branded it, and I can't from Intel, they say go to HP. Meanwhile Microsoft crash continues to whine...
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|What does this HP/Intel issue have to do with MSFT?
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|Uh, duh...when will a downloadable beta version of IE8 come out for us regular folk?
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|It's already out: http://www.microsoft.com...ecaf&DisplayLang=en
http://www.microsoft.com...91DE&displaylang=en
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|haha... so IE is copying firefox... who copied Opera... "History doesnt repeat itself, it rhymes"....
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|So what about who copies who? If it is a useful feature then it should be added, no? I hate all of the "this person copied this person, and that program copies off of that program" nonsense. Useful features will be added by companies who see that it has actual use and is well received. Period. Nothing to gripe about really.
You don't hear people saying Firefox is a copy of IE, in that IE rendered webpages first and Firefox copied that functionality do you? Or IE had bookmarks first then Firefox added it when it came out. Absolutely not, because they are useful features that people need.
Im out!
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|it may not matter that a feature was integrated into ie that came from somewhere else, but when you are mentioning other browsers, for the simple fact for ACCURACY it needs to be corrected, especially from a party who is writing about software and not writing software. if anything, its a good common courtesy to acknowledge where ideas came from. a good portion of features for firefox came from opera, and unfortunately either the article writers don't know where these ideas came from initially or only know it was a firefox feature and end it at that.
and yes opera does mention where they got some of the features in its browser. i believe that soon after either the aol brand browser or firefox came up with the idea of screenshotted tabs, opera introduced the idea with proper credit. same cannot be said of firefox who when introducing their speed dial feature, never mentioned opera had it first.
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|They never denied it either. Or are you saying every software package should provide a list of ideas used?
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|I agree. We don't complain that every car works the same and when one gets a new option most likely other will follow. But when an OS or a web browser has the same features people freak out like its the end of the world.
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|I was simply just saying... in this article it seems like IE was picking up a feature in FF... Credit should be given where credit is deserved.
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|Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the MyIE browser invent tabs? MyIE was built on top of the IE6 browser. So, even if MyIE wasn't the first, it certainly beat Firefox.
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|...taken from Wikipedia website:
"In the last few years, tabbed document interfaces have also become quite popular in web browsers, where they are used to switch between different webpages without having to switch top-level windows. Opera 4 introduced tabs as part of its multiple document interface, and tabs are now supported by all major browsers."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tab_(GUI)
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|...which was the point i was trying to make. i don't have any problem with them integrating features from other browsers, but what i do have a problem with is that articles are this inaccurate when talking about where the idea came from in the first place. all this shows is some very sloppy reporting.
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