Evolution is a natural thing…unless you’re Microsoft
by Rob Mason ~ January 24th, 2008 Filed under: Rant, Web standards.
Many people have already commented on Microsoft’s announcement regarding backwards compatibility in Internet Explorer 8 (IE8), some with far more legitimacy than me to provide their opinions (A List Apart for one).
But I have an opinion so here goes: to me it all boils down to evolution.
Breaking the web
The issue that Microsoft have presented themselves with is one of “breaking the web” with the forthcoming IE8. By building a new browser based on current web standards and pushing it out into the world, means they could end up breaking older sites that were built with Internet Explorer 6 (IE6) in mind or by developers who didn’t or care about web standards. IE6, just ask any web developer or designer, is the bane of our lives. We have to hack, slash and rip code around just to make our sites work in what is currently the dominant web browser in the world (see here and here for stats).
The main sites that fall into this hacked / slashed category are corporate intranets, which do not have an established or loving relationship with web standards. Who are Microsoft’s biggest customers base? You guessed it…the corporate market. So understandably Micrsoft don’t want to annoy these people.
However, corporates are also the slowest organisations (traditionally) to adopt newer versions. Believe it or not, there are stillsome firms out there using NT4 as their primary operating system, which is like trying to run your business with a typewriter and blotting pad by today’s technology standards! So the likelihood of these organisations actually adopting IE8 anytime soon is relatively low (ironically Microsoft falls into the category of a big corporate behemoth that’s slow to react). In their defence they did at least consult the industry, namely The Web Standards Project and other well known developers. Credit where credit’s due. They are trying, rather than just not bothering.
Just move on!
But the whole thing about releasing newer versions of kit is that they get better and better as time moves on. In other words they evolve. It’s a natural thing, one we see all around us. In the world of technology things get faster or smaller or lighter or slimmer all of the time. Just watch TV for a few hours and you’ll see what I mean - Intel, Apple, Nokia, Philips. The web has changed so much since the bug ridden and unfriendly IE6 was born unto the world in many different ways. Not least of which is the rise of newer, friendlier browsers such as Firefox.
Microsoft are so scared of upsetting the apple cart that it is clouding their judgement and ability to build a browser that evolves on its predecessors and pushes the boundaries of web standards adoption. But more importantly for them it needs to keep up with or even, dare I say it, overtake it the competition.
Accept the past is the past, box it off and move on, as not doing this will seriously stifle their ability to keep market share for browsers. As the old adage says: evolve or die.
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