Sometime ago I conjectured that Microsoft made certain changes to IE8 to force web standards forward and drop backwards compatibility as default (a very un-Microsoft move) because of the need for the web to break out of the blinkered IE6 / Desktop-Browser view of content otherwise Microsoft would find itself unable to compete in the mobile space. It's been over a year since that article and in such a short period of time it has become ever clearer that Microsoft's mobile offerings, and their overall mobile platform strategy are failing against the dominant iPhone, the newcomer Android, and a re-invigorated Palm with WebOS.
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Member since:2005-07-13
Webkit replacing Trident isn't the "only" option. For example, microsoft could just buy out Opera and then they get the new opera mini 5 AND opera will shut up about having IE bundeled into windows. 
joking aside, win mobile 6 is not as impressive as it could be. I am really looking forward to 7 (and CE 7), which should be a masive improvement. Who knows how the next year will play out, but MS has some serious catching up to do...
Member since:2005-04-01
Member since:2005-07-06
Member since:2006-07-14
Except it can't really.
Take a look at the article Kroc was talking about. It was all about how MS was ditching compatibility in its web rendering for IE 8 by default. Its large enterprise customers that had written everything to ie 6 bitched and got them to reverse that decision. The crazy features it thought were going to keep it at the top of the web browser race forever are really just going to act as an anchor, keeping it from keeping pace with innovations and standards.
Member since:2005-04-01
Member since:2005-07-06
Take a look at the article Kroc was talking about. It was all about how MS was ditching compatibility in its web rendering for IE 8 by default. Its large enterprise customers that had written everything to ie 6 bitched and got them to reverse that decision. The crazy features it thought were going to keep it at the top of the web browser race forever are really just going to act as an anchor, keeping it from keeping pace with innovations and standards.
Then ignore the big customers - what are they going to do? move to Linux? throw away Microsoft Office and their whole work flow that they've spent millions setting up and maintaining? please. Microsoft needs to locate that wonderful thing called a backbone and use it to stand upright because right now they're look like a pack of pussy whipped house trained husbands.
If Microsoft made IE 8 conform to all the standards tomorrow, removed backwards compatibility from that said browser - can you see these big customers move to Linux? if they did, they would have to re-write their whole stack anyway! it isn't as though if Microsoft did something that their customer base has a viable drop in solution that provides everything they need.
Edited 2009-09-17 11:07 UTC
Member since:2005-11-10
No they didn’t, Microsoft *was* going to support those large enterprises by making IE8 default to IE7 and below rendering, but then they reversed that decision. The article I wrote last year was about that decision to dump backwards-compatibility for the IE6-Intranets in IE8 and default to ACID2 compliance.
Member since:
2005-04-01
Well said.
You're right: Webkit replacing Trident is really the ONLY option going forward. That, or conceding the browser wars.
Microsoft often runs like small divisions unaware of each other. If they pooled resources wisely, who knows what they'd come up with?