Does Microsoft care about Webmasters

[wyrickj]

Does Microsoft care for Webmasters



It’s always been a problem with websites appearing exactly the same on different platforms. As a web developer / webmaster it is extremely difficult to make user experiences rich by having the site look the same in any OS / Browser. The biggest problems they have with there famous Internet Explorer browser is security issues and W3C Standards compliance issues.

Does Microsoft have a vision of having the world’s most popular browser still? Yes but currently IE is dropping it’s rate pretty fast as Mozilla and Firefox support CSS2 and PNG Transparent Alpha where’s IE does not support. What’s really interesting is IE 5 for Mac supports both CSS2 and PNG Transparent Alpha but IE for Mac development has been discontinued. Makes me think Microsoft likes Apple more then there own Flagship Product “Windows”.


So why is it important for Internet Explorer to follow the W3C Standards?

• Makes it easier on a developers end to produce 1 website that looks great on other browsers besides just IE
• Provides developers with more choices for design formats a.k.a. PNG24 with Transparency, CSS2, etc. that want to develop for Internet Explorer.
• Make IE continue to be the worlds #1 web browser


A look into Microsoft’s next generation Longhorn with IE

I am sure you have heard of the next big OS that is a few years away from the final release. As IE is only up to version 6.05 there’s not much difference besides the new Longhorn look. I see one day Microsoft will have a fully supported W3C Standards browser. Most people’s wishes on the next version of IE are basically Standards support.

The main issue with IE as far back as IE 5 on a Windows platform has been rendering CSS2 and Transparent PNG24 images. IE does not support Transparent PNG24 files as it will display a grey background with the image.


My list of things Microsoft needs to support/fix

• W3C Standards Support
• Security
• Full HTML 4.01 / XHTML / XML / XSLT support


People may think I am crazy for not being Anti-Microsoft but even though they ether have tons of flaws or don’t support something like W3C Standards in there products I still love Microsoft and there products and always will until the day Microsoft falls or I die.


What happens if Microsoft does not support W3C Standards in there next version of IE?

Well there are ways to fix the compliance problems they have with the W3C Standards. Tonight I thought of a possible development of a plug-in that allows IE users to render content currently supported by other browsers but not IE. As for previous versions of IE that don’t render content the plug-in would be basically be compatible with IE 5.x to the latest in Longhorn as people may not have money to buy a new high-end computer for just Longhorn. I am sure there are other ways besides a plug-in to make IE render correctly but a plug-in is the only thing I could think of.

[Pyrrhonist]

Makes me think Microsoft likes Apple more then there own Flagship Product “Windows”.Maybe it's cause even M$ knows that Windwoes is crap:D
Most people’s wishes on the next version of IE are basically Standards support.Personally, I just want to see tabbed browsing AND standards support - but I know exactly where you're coming from here.

wyrickj,

I'm not an anti-microsoft feind either, but I'm not as pro-MS as you are either. MS has their place in the world, and there IS a reason that they're the most popular desktop software in the world, but IE has NEVER been a class A product. If you never had the "privilage" of using IE 2 and 3, I think I have a copy floating around I can send you to illustrate my point. In my opinion, MS should throw in the towel on browsers and try to fix Windows... ThEN give it a try.

[rizla]

I'm with Bob on that one, the stability of the WIN-OS is as worst as my grandfather's.
though - MS is doing (as always) huge effords to bring a Class A browser & search tools along with the LongHorn and will probably constrain to the consortium's standarts, unless if they will decide to make their own consortium and kick our butts 4ever.

[Pyrrhonist]

Why would it be to MS's advantage to make something that conforms? Think about it - they can't do anything in their software to impede competing products (well... go with me on this for a second) but they know that IE is still bundled with every Windows installation. That means that all the users that don't know how/ don't want to download a new browser are going to use IE. Therefore, as long as Windows is the dominant desktop platform, all of those people will have IE on their comps.

Now, I'm an evil corporation set on world domination, but I'm not allowed to kill the other guy... So knowing that most developers are going to write for the dominant platform, you make the browsing experience as difficult as possible for everyone else that wants to use a different product.

In order to complete the facade, you have to have "technical difficulties" in implementing the standards - the PNG issues.

Muahahahah

(I'm feeling rather pessimistic today)

[Pyrrhonist]

Oh yeah,

I don't know if MS is still doing this - but i remember a couple years ago they were proposing to replace TCP/IP and its communication standards with their own proprietary standard.... Goodbye Internet.

And searching? All they care about is beating Google to the punch with effective desktop searching.

Muahahaha again.

[wyrickj]

Yup I read an article on Microsoft wanting to buy google even lmao. Well I have used all versions of IE since 2.0 with Windows 95 and I know what it's like. IE 4.0 was the greatest upgrade but IE 5 and 6 has not had much change. But IE in Longhorn I think will bring IE's marketshare right up again as it's already has some really neat stuff to it. I hope in the final version Microsoft supports full CSS2 or even CSS3 and PNG24 Transparency as that is what I use a lot. I will admit that Windows 9.x was pretty unstable but only because Microsoft designed it to be backwards compatible with the freaky 16bit applications. Windows 2000 and beyond is very stable. I run 2003 and it's very stable. It would be more stable if I had a plain install (Clean Install)

[owlcroft]

CSS and PNG may be big issues, but they're far from being the sum of IE's noncompliance. And yet, there are really no "trivial" noncompliance matters. I rarely see any of my pages in IE, but the other week I was down at the town library and took a peek, just for fun.

Yikes! Just off the top, all my ordinary flush-left text in a table that was most of the page was centered, because there was an open <center> tag above the table. Sacre tetes de merde, Bat-homme!

But Bob nailed it in one: whyever would M$ want to be standards-compliant? Till those who know better can communicate to the non-tech world exactly how big a shafting they're taking, and make it really, really, easy for them to de-couple their trains from the Redmond engine, nothing will change.

[wyrickj]

I am saying Microsoft does not need to fully go by the W3C Standards but atleast they should make there browser fully compliant with HTML 4.01, CSS1,2,3 PNG24, etc. Basicly most of the creative stuff and security Microsoft needs to work on. I am sure a lot of webmasters want PNG24 support without the grey BG in the image. I am one of them.

[Pyrrhonist]

But my point is that they SHOULD decide to go with full standards compatibility. If 2k, xp, and the upcoming Longhorn are as high quality products as they are touted to be, no one needs the "advantage" that they've put themselves in by not conforming.

lol Owlcroft, you're the most anti-MS guy I know in this forum :D

[wyrickj]

Well part of the reason for not being W3C Standards compliant is they want to make there browser work with there other products. But maybe I am wrong but what you could do is make your browser work with your other products & make it compliant.

[Pyrrhonist]

Wyrickj,

I honestly fail to see how the ie engine that parses html has anything to do with interoperability with the rest of the o/s. Standards compliance is the one place that there shouldn't be any dispute.

Microsoft has plenty of amazing programmers that I'm sure would be capable of making it work properly. But the fact of the matter is that M$ won't fix things until it hits them in the pocket books, and the longer that the average user stays ignorant, the better.

[Arizona Web]

the ultimate "me too" post.

I agree with almost everything said on this thread and that article. I just don't understand why miscrosoft won't step up their flagship browser to make it compliant.

Then again I don't understand why they wrote their OS so that to shut down a windows computer you have to click "Start".