Apparently the hits on Google recently were through IE 8.
See more on this link.
BigCloset TopShelf
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Oh joy!
Another round of fixes from M$ to look forward to :-(.
I haven't regretted my decision to go with Chrome a couple of years back.
Patch Saturation
Bike Resources
Joy it wasn't
The patch, some 9MB in size, came through when I booted the computer today. I clicked on the yellow shield thingy to install it.
Even though my use of IE8 is very limited, and I wasn't running it at the time, a reboot was required. I tried delaying the inevitable, but a dialog box popping up to remind me every five minutes was just too annoying.
Obviously more than just IE was being patched. I wish they'd come up with a way to do so without requiring a restart.
Puny Stability
Bike Resources
IE - necessary evil
In terms of speed, support for add-ons, and support for web standards, IE often lags behind the competition.
Unfortuntely, as it still has a market share in the region of around 85% (due to the fact it's been bundled free with every copy of Windows for the past 15 years), some web designers tailor their sites specifically for the "quirks" of IE, thus making those sites unusable with rivals. Not to mention some web-based software products (CareFirst 6 is a prime example - can't get past the Terms of Access screen with anything other than IE).
Apparently one of the problems with Windows / IE is that each new version starts off with the codebase of the previous version - a few months ago a Microsoft programmer admitted that some of the code is so old they've forgotten what it does, but they have left it in just in case removing it would impact on other areas. Added onto which, Microsoft were relatively late to catch onto the idea of Internet security, with versions of Windows up to XP allowing any program to install software / create files / edit registry entries at will, without necessarily informing the user what it was up to. Starting with Vista, they attempted to retro-fit a modicum of security, but UAC turned out to be possibly the most hated feature of the OS...
Of course, when you have an operating system that is used by so many people, although you could theoretically build a new version from scratch, it would probably not be fully backwards compatible with previous versions - so people wouldn't be able to run any software from their old computer on it, and wouldn't be so keen to upgrade.
-oOo-
Having said that, although other operating systems are more secure than Windows (hardly anyone who uses Linux bothers with an anti-virus program - there are very few viruses that attack Linux, partially because it only has a 2% market share, partially because it's much harder to damage the system), they're not without their security problems either. Several times a week Mandriva Update notifies me of new updates to various components - usually because someone's identified and fixed a security flaw.
-oOo-
Whatever your OS and browser, it'll always be a game of cat and mouse - miscreants will spend large portions of their time finding new 'holes' they can exploit, while the developers spend large portions of their time fixing the 'holes' and pushing out the fixes.
And of course a large part of maintaining a secure system is user vigilance. Avoiding the seedier sides of the 'net, avoiding visiting sites you've never heard of, ignoring pop up windows that try and convince you to download "Windows Antivirus 2010" or a "new codec", and never clicking on links in HTML emails are all good ways to minimise the risk of anything untoward happening.
Oh, and of course keep a decent firewall running (so the site will find it more difficult to gain control of your computer through the 'back door') and don't store your bank details, passwords or sensitive personal information unencrypted on your computer (a classic tactic of 'old-school' viruses was to search your computer for sequences of numbers that looked like a credit card number or bank account / sort code details).
--Ben
As the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body, then only left-handers are in their right mind!
Not accurate
"...some web designers tailor their sites specifically for the "quirks" of IE, thus making those sites unusable with rivals. "
That has not been my experience. I never use IE unless someone reports a problem with BC using IE and I never have a problem with going to any website I want. Firefox, Safari and Chrome all have the ability to emulate IE sufficiently to work around all problems that can reasonably be expected to be encountered. The only websites that give any of those browsers continuing problems are ones where the site has been specifically coded to exclude other browsers, not just coded to take advantage of IE.
And frankly, if someone wants to insist that I use broken software to access their site, they aren't on the Internet for any good purpose.
At this point, the only reason to use IE is inertia. There are at least six good free alternatives, and three that are excellent. More sites work correctly with Firefox than with any other browser and Safari and Chrome are nearly there and are faster besides.
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Just personal experience
Being on LD dial-up, it has been my experience that IE loads faster than FF or Chrome. I still have IE6 on this, my new computer (not bleeding edge but pretty decent) specifically to load webcomics that take forever to load using FF 3.5.7. Possibly if I had DSL or cable, this wouldn't be true, but for now I've got what I've got.
YMMV,
KJT
"Being a girl is wonderful and to torture someone into that would be like the exact opposite of what it's like. I don’t know how anyone could act that way." College Girl - poetheather
"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”
George Carlin
IE6
IE6 is two revs back, it may actually load faster in such a situation. The newest browsers are built to take advantage of speed edges in newer processors. There are exceptions to everything. :)
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
IE6 (Boo, Hiss)
At a tertiary academic institution where I'm an enrolled student, IE6 is all that's available on campus with my login for web browsing.
At home, I've used Chrome for quite a while now, and IE8 for those situations where Chrome doesn't worksome library databases seem to choke when delivering pdf content.
When I'm forced to take the retrograde step of using IE6, the thing I miss most is tabbed browsing. I really hate the mess of numerous windowseach of which seems to need resizingcluttering the limited screen real-estate on institutional machines.
Prefers Singularity
Bike Resources
Well, IE6 is going away soon
so good luck with that. even microsloth have decided to abandon support for it come july, so most websites will stop supporting it too.
the big problem with ie6 is that it represented microsoft's final attempt to dominate the web, by doing things in a completely non-standard way. almost everything ie6 does, it does differently to other browsers, including other versions of internet exploder. if you've ever developed a website with css, you'll know that ie6 is the bane of web designers, because nothing you design that works for ie 7 or ie 8 or firefox or whatever will look the same in ie6. i know designers who go so far as to auto-detect browsers so they can do redirects to different css for ie6.
how much do i loate internet explorer 6? hate hate hate hate find bill gates and kill him and his dog hate. that much hate. it's the most loathesome browser in the universe.
please do the web developers of the world a favor and upgrade to a different browser. please!
not as think as i smart i am
Internet... exploder?
I've noticed this in your comment, and it's sooo hilarious! ^_^
As it is, I am torn between labelling it as an astonishingly appropriate mistake and a stroke of genious!
Faraway
Big Closet Top Shelf
Where you can fool around like you want to and most you get is some bemused good ribbing!
Faraway
Big Closet Top Shelf
Where you can fool around like you want to and most you get is some bemused good ribbing!
definitely deliberate
i used to work for a (failed) e-book company. our designers used the term a lot, and it stuck with me.
not as think as i smart i am
Been around a while...
Back in the First Browser Wars, it was a competition between Internet Exploder and Nutscrape.
Then there's Orifice...
Of course, in the UNIX world, programmers actually call their programs by such humorous names...
TWAIN (the old-style interface between scanners and computers) - depending on who you ask, it's either "Never the 'twain shall meet" or Technology Without An Interesting Name.
Perl (a scripting language) - officially Practical Extraction and Reporting Language, however if you look at the manual, the creator claims it actually stands for Pathologically Eclectic Rubbish Lister.
Pine - Program for Internet News and Email. Was originally Pine Is Nearly Elm (as it was derived from Elm - Electronic Mail), then once they'd developed it to such an extent there wasn't any Elm code left, Pine Is Not Elm.
GNU - GNU's Not Unix.
Oh yes, and recursive acronyms are considered doubly "cool", so when the chaps at GNU developed an alternative to the UNIX kernel...
GNU HURD - HIRD of Unix-replacing daemons.
And what does HIRD stand for? HURD of interfaces representing depth.
Yup. Mutually recursive. Oh dear.
--Ben
As the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body, then only left-handers are in their right mind!
love it
heard a few of those, but not the perl one. thanks :)
not as think as i smart i am
Humourous names
My favourite would have to be:
PCMCIA: People Can't Manage Computer Industry Acronyms
Pseudonymous Stuff
Bike Resources
Not forgetting...
Used (unofficially!) in Tech Support:
PEBKAC - Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair.
Not that you'd ever mention that phrase to a real customer, but you can imagine someone doing so, then hanging up before the customer works it out...
"Your password has been reset to CHANGEME123, all in upper case."
(For compatibility reasons, their username has to be entered in upper case, so we reset the password to U/C as well, theoretically to make it easier for them...)
"Is that capitals?"
"Yes."
"What about the numbers?"
--Ben
As the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body, then only left-handers are in their right mind!
PEBKAC
Instead of PEBKAC (bit of a mouthful that), I like PICNIC better:
Problem In Chair, Not In Computer!
Problem Solved
Bike Resources
Actually...
...a couple of years back, when I was still in classes at the University of Utah, the school was still using a web package to deliver online class content that mandated IE. After numerous attempts to use Firefox, including both the basic, out-of-the-"box" browser and using various add-ons, I resorted to asking the administrator of the Physics department networks (a personal friend), a programmer for iomega (an acquaintance), and a Masters student in the Computer Science department (another friend) for help, along with several other friends who are fairly savvy. None of us could make the system work using Firefox, Opera, or Safari (which really surprised us, given the predilections of the CS department). It turns out that one of the University Veeps who was over that sort of purchase had come to somewhat more of a private understanding with the vendor than was strictly ethical, without actually violating the law (so far as anyone I've spoken with has been willing to say...)
As far as it goes, once you got over the extremely bad functioning of IE, and the massive holes in security it opened up, the content provision software did work reasonably well...
...
...
Of course, they evidently did replace it the year after I left... >.>
-Liz
-Liz
Successor to the LToC
Formerly known as "momonoimoto"
I suspect that's not unusual.
'Apparently one of the problems with Windows / IE is that each new version starts off with the codebase of the previous version - a few months ago a Microsoft programmer admitted that some of the code is so old they've forgotten what it does'
When microprocessors first became widely available (MC6800/Intel 8085) we were early adopters though we were all really hardware designers with no software training other than reading the data sheets. A piece of test kit was designed and installed widely throughout the company. It was so useful that new ones were being made and installed long after the original assembler was lost. So EPROMS bearing the original machine code were regularly copied and installed. We were using a critical piece of kit that no-one knew any longer how it worked - and that included the original designer who wasn't well-known for his documentation skills.
I'm sure there are pieces of undocumented micro code installed and loaded into ROM in every personal computer that no-one knows either what it's for or who designed it let alone how it works.
I'm no fan of Bill Gates either but at least he's made his billions by actually producing something rather than merely shuffling money around and inventing vapour-like profit generators.
Robi
Knee Jerk Reaction
For those of you that can not think on your own and instead have an automatic negative reaction to any mention of Microsoft or Internet Explorer - so what? I like the user interface of IE 6, never made the switch to IE 7, and have reluctantly allowed IE8, Firefox, and Chrome on my new computers simply because I have no choice. As a plain old street-variety user, I like the look and feel of IE 6. I don't care for tabbed browsing or any of the other bells and whistles that are supposed to be hallmarks of these "better" browsers. While I reluctantly accept that eventually I will not be able to use IE 6 and have started learning to navigate with FF, I don't like it. Period. It is ugly, clunky, nothing is in the right place, and I am constantly have to search for functions I can easily locate in IE 6.
You'll get my IE 6 when you pry it from my cold, dead fingers. ;-)
Karen J.
"Being a girl is wonderful and to torture someone into that would be like the exact opposite of what it's like. I don’t know how anyone could act that way." College Girl - poetheather
"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”
George Carlin
MS Released a Patch for the Latest IE Issue Yesterday
Patch released Thursday 1/21. Get it through MS Update if you haven't already.