J
Jonty
Guest
Hello 
Just thought I'd post this slightly buried news which Microsoft announced recently. Basically, if you want an improved version of Internet Explorer from now on, you're going to have to purchase Microsoft's news operating system, code-named Longhorn. IE6 SP1 will be the last, official, standalone release of the browser. Whilst security updates may be released, core features and browsing standards support will remain unchanged and no further releases will be made for non-Longhorn operating systems.
If you own a IE5 on a Mac, it seems, in an even more buried announcement, you will at some point have the chance to upgrade to an MSN-based service in order to gain any future upgrades (although IE5 Mac is more recent than the now ageing IE6 SP1).
This raises some interesting questions. Firstly, AOL has recently settled a lawsuit against Microsoft and has chosen to stick with IE as its browser, rather than using the Netscape/Mozilla alternatives which it owns. However, as IE will effectively not be updated, this means new web standards are going to have a hard time of things, as AOL, like them or loath them, do have a large market share. Furthermore, all non-Longhorn operating systems, of which, until at least 2005, there will be many, will also hamper matters due to their lack of standards support.
It would be nice to think that alternative browsers such as Opera and Mozilla-based clients would take off, but sadly, for all their benefits, that seems unlikely. Opera has the potential, but sadly the price tag, albeit a small one, puts a surprising amount pf people off (or so it seems). And Mozilla, although Firebird may be an exception, is still really aimed at power users rather than Joe Public.
Well, I know quite a few of you don't much care for IE, but nevertheless, it's quite interesting news
Kind Regards
Just thought I'd post this slightly buried news which Microsoft announced recently. Basically, if you want an improved version of Internet Explorer from now on, you're going to have to purchase Microsoft's news operating system, code-named Longhorn. IE6 SP1 will be the last, official, standalone release of the browser. Whilst security updates may be released, core features and browsing standards support will remain unchanged and no further releases will be made for non-Longhorn operating systems.
If you own a IE5 on a Mac, it seems, in an even more buried announcement, you will at some point have the chance to upgrade to an MSN-based service in order to gain any future upgrades (although IE5 Mac is more recent than the now ageing IE6 SP1).
This raises some interesting questions. Firstly, AOL has recently settled a lawsuit against Microsoft and has chosen to stick with IE as its browser, rather than using the Netscape/Mozilla alternatives which it owns. However, as IE will effectively not be updated, this means new web standards are going to have a hard time of things, as AOL, like them or loath them, do have a large market share. Furthermore, all non-Longhorn operating systems, of which, until at least 2005, there will be many, will also hamper matters due to their lack of standards support.
It would be nice to think that alternative browsers such as Opera and Mozilla-based clients would take off, but sadly, for all their benefits, that seems unlikely. Opera has the potential, but sadly the price tag, albeit a small one, puts a surprising amount pf people off (or so it seems). And Mozilla, although Firebird may be an exception, is still really aimed at power users rather than Joe Public.
Well, I know quite a few of you don't much care for IE, but nevertheless, it's quite interesting news
Kind Regards