Let me say from the outset that I was not a fan of Opera Software program;s antitrust sabre-rattling some months back over Microsoft;s lack of requirements compliancy with its browser. But Opera;s newest complaints about Online Explorer (IE) 8 make Opera appear even extra like a enterprise that;s gone off the deep finish.Hakon Lie, the Chief Technologies Officer of Opera, airs some of his dissatisfaction with how the new beta of Microsoft;s IE eight handles the breaking of Web pages. Lie complains that Microsoft has compatibility mode turned on by default for Intranet web sites (not Internet ones,
Windows 7 Professional, thoughts you). with IE 8 Beta two. And he certainly hates the breaking page icon that Microsoft displays next to the IE eight address bar; he proposes the Acid-test smiley encounter instead.From Opera;s e-mail to me on August 29:IE 8 “breaks with Microsoft;s promise - made just six months ago - to support Internet standards by default.“At issue here is the ‘Compatibility View Settings; where all Intranet pages are set to display in compatibility mode. Microsoft is apparently fighting off other browsers from making inroads into the enterprise market.”I,
Purchase Office 2010, for one,
Office 2007 Professional, am glad that Microsoft defaults to standards mode with IE 8 for public-facign Web pages. Microsoft does it in a way that isn;t punishing users who browse non-IE-8-compliant internet sites or developers who have not updated their web-sites to handle Microsoft;s next-generation browser, which is expected to ship this November. If you hit a site that looks or behaves badly with IE 8 Beta two,
Windows 7 Starter Key, you can hit the compatibility-view icon (which looks like a broken page, clueing users in about what the icon does).If Microsoft defaulted towards the extra standards-compliant mode with IE eight without providing a way for users to continue to use non-updated web sites, there;d be mutiny. Why should users or Internet site owners be punished for the fact that Microsoft originally broke standards compatibility with IE and is now trying to undo that damage for whatever reasons — fear of losing market share, complaints from angry users and developers, or just because it;s the right thing.Opera is portraying Microsoft;s handling of standards mode as the provider being up to its old tricks. But I suspect Opera;s real reason for wanting IE 8 to break pages is so that users will throw their hands up in disgust and abandon IE for some other browser.What do you say? Do you think Opera;s complaints have merit? If so,
Microsoft Office 2007 Professional, what do you think Microsoft should do to tweak IE eight before it ships?