Earlier this week, Google launched Chrome Frame, a plugin for Internet Explorer 6/7/8 which replaces the Trident rendering engine with Chrome's rendering and JavaScript engine for better performance and superior standards compliance. Microsoft has responded to this release, claiming it makes Internet Explorer less secure. Note: What database category do I put this in? Internet Explorer? Google? Choices, choices!
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
Member since:2006-01-19
I am also utterly displeased with Microsoft's response to this.
FUDing around never made Microsoft look good, and with motivations as transparent as here ("let's hold HTML5 back until we get Silverlight shoved down people's throats") is shooting themselves in the foot publicity wise.
Yes, dear Microsoft, it will hinder your controlling the internet protocols, but PLEASE will you give it a rest and start playing nicely?
Member since:2007-01-18
Unfortunately, FUD from Microsoft is likely to be at least somewhat effective. The less technically-inclined are likely to actually listen to what Microsoft says, and if they do and they have the say as to what plugins get installed on their corporate network, then lo and behold, Chrome Frame won't get installed on their corporate network, and Microsoft won that small piece of the battle.
Anyone who really pays attention and actually knows anything about the issue will know that it's pure FUD, but unfortunately, FUD still affects what people think - especially when the people doing the listening aren't all that well-informed. So, this move may very well look stupid, but from Microsoft's point of view, it's likely better to spout FUD than admit that Google is actually helping to clean up Microsoft's mess.
Member since:2009-06-02
In this case, like Thom previously stated, this is a slap in the face for the IE team at MS. Thanking google (a competitor in the browser market) would be like saying thank you for showing us that the work we've been doing for the last few years has been completely and utterly useless. If they had conceded that, it would have meant a restructuring of that team for sure.
Hopefully they can get this right next time around now that the've been shown a lesson.
Member since:2009-08-26
How have they been shown a lesson? They don't want people to use IE6 and they don't want an outside company to encourage its use. Did you notice that IE8 contains an IE7 compatibility mode but not one for IE6? That's because they want people to dump IE6, not use hacks to keep it working.
As I stated earlier the real problem is with IT department heads, not MS.
Even though this plug-in has obvious benefit to some it is going to allow a lot of el cheap-o companies to extend the life of their Windows 2000 workstations.
Member since:2009-08-26
What is exactly is being fixed? MS already has a fix for IE6, it's called IE8. They just aren't forcing the update because a lot of software was built around IE6.
If you want to direct your anger anywhere it should be at IT departments who refuse to upgrade or even install an alternative browser along IE6. A lot of IT departments will only upgrade if they absolutely have to.
IE6 only has about 9% share in North America and will continue to drop in the next few years as many businesses dump old xp machines for windows 7.
Member since:2006-01-16
The problem is that IE8 is also lagging behind! Its the same crap with MSIE as always. All browsers support feature X but IE. All browsers support feature Y but IE. Same old story, again and again and again.
And if there would bei IE20, and if they even would force it down everybody's ass, you could bet again on the fact that it would be missing standard features, has its own opinion on CSS, etc. and so on.
Member since:2006-11-08
It depends hugely on your customer base. If you're writing web apps for consumers, broadly speaking they're reasonably up to date.
If, like me, you're writing webapps for schools and local government (or, unlike me, for corporations) you'll be supporting IE6 and loathing every minute of it for some years.
Member since:2006-01-06
Um, dude, Chrome doesn't "fix your crap for you." Chrome has an abysmal security record.
Member since:2007-02-17
Um, dude, no.
http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/09/microsoft-google-chro...
Do try to keep up with things.
Member since:2007-05-05
Member since:2007-09-22
Member since:2005-12-04
What I'd really like to understand is the meaning of "crap" in this context.
Microsoft was criticized for IE6 stagnation, so it re-formed the team and got to work. It was criticized for not having tabs, so it did tabs.
Then it was criticized for not being perfectly standards compliant, since IE5/6 predated the standards. So it worked on standards. And then it was criticized for that not being the default, so it broke IE5/6 compatibility - a huge leap in the dark - and shipped IE8, which gave everyone what they wanted, and struggled to gain any users in the process.
Now IE is just "crap." Not a good analysis of a clear deficiency, just "crap."
I don't work on IE, but I feel really bad for those guys right now. They've tried hard to give people what they want, and the result is just dismissive, unconstructive criticism.
Really, if you, the reader, want to see further standards compliance in IE, the best thing you can do is use IE8 to send a clear message that if Microsoft embraces standards, you will embrace Microsoft.
Member since:2007-02-17
Microsoft doesn't embrace the standards.
Exactly those standards that can deliver a "rich, interactive, multimedia" performance from the web via a browser, those are the standards that Microsoft does NOT include in its browser.
Here is a short list where IE falls short:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acid3#Standards_tested
IE8 incorporates only about 20% of that lot.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Acid3ie8rc1.png
Google Chrome Frame incorporates 100%.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Acid_3_Test_Chrome_2.0.170.0.jpg
The reason why IE does NOT incorporate those standards? It is pretty simple, really. If IE incorporated those standards, there would be no need for Silverlight (or Flash for that matter). If there is no need for Silverlight or Flash, then one can run a compliant browser (and therefore fully functional) on ANY platform.
That is worth repeating: One can run a compliant and fully functional browser on ANY platform. This was always the design intent of the web in the first place.
One doesn't need Windows or IE to view the web in all its glory.
Edited 2009-09-25 03:06 UTC
The Verge pointed me to a blog post by Leap Motion - which reveals how their Kinect-like motion control works with Windows 8. "From the second you plug in your Leap Motion Controller, you'll be able to browse the web and interact with your computer just by moving your hands and fingers in the air. With Leap Motion technology and Windows, you can do everything that's possible with multi-touch inputs - without actually touching anything. This also means that existing applications in Windows 7 and 8 will respond to your natural hand and finger movements. Soon, we'll show you how Leap Motion will work with Mac OS X." Quite cool.
PocketNow interviews Marc Dillon, and there's an interesting note about why Jolla is keeping the display properties under wraps: "We're leaving some of those details out because we do understand that there are a lot of really big players in the market and they tend to take certain components in the market and dominate them. We created the ability to actually be able to run Sailfish on multiple hardware displays and be able to swap components, so this is part of the demand and supply planning phase. We are committed to this industrial design which is a 4.5-inch display, an 8 megapixel camera on the back and a front-facing camera at the front, and the exact specs of the display we'll provide when we're close to delivery." Something you rarely hear anything about.
"This is my NeXTstation Turbo Color booting the Mac System 7.1 Operating System using a hardware add-on called 'Daydream'. The Daydream has a Mac ROM and a few custom ICs in it and hooked up to the NeXTs DSP port. Turns your NeXT into a full fledged 68k powered Mac." So cool.
"The NetBSD Project is pleased to announce NetBSD 6.1, the first feature update of the NetBSD 6 release branch. It represents a selected subset of fixes deemed important for security or stability reasons, as well as new features and enhancements. Please note that all fixes in the prior security/bugfix updates (NetBSD 6.0.1 and 6.0.2) are also in 6.1."
"At the end of a week in which Electronic Arts confirmed it wasn't developing a thing for the Wii U, one of the software engineers in EA Sports' Canada studio, in a series of since-deleted tweets, disparaged the console as 'crap' and suggested Nintendo should give up on hardware altogether. 'The Wii U is crap. Less powerful than an Xbox 360. Poor online/store. Weird tablet', tweeted Bob Summerwill, listed as a senior software engineer at EA Canada, in a reply to a tweet posting a link about EA's no-Wii U news. 'Nintendo are walking dead at this point'." The Wii U is turning into the 21st century's Virtual Boy.
"In NixOS, the entire operating system - the kernel, applications, system packages, configuration files, and so on - is built by the Nix package manager from a description in a purely functional build language. The fact that it's purely functional essentially means that building a new configuration cannot overwrite previous configurations. Most of the other features follow from this." Interesting approach. A Linux distribution, sure, but with some very refreshing ideas about system configuration.
Appfour added, among other features, C/C++ support to its new version of AIDE. From Android-IDE, "Now you can write parts of your app or your whole app in C/C++ on your device. AIDE supports the Standard Android NDK toolchain (GCC 4.6 + Bionic, STL, ...). No changes are necessary if you want to build an app developed on a PC with Eclipse. C/C++ development is fully integrated: Build errors appear in the error list and files can easily be navigated to with Go to file. The editor supports C/C++ syntax highlighting."
Ars nails it: "The answer is that Google did announce what amounts to a fairly substantial Android update yesterday. They simply did it without adding to the update fragmentation problems that continue to plague the platform. By focusing on these changes and not the apparently-waiting-in-the-wings update to the core software, Google is showing us one of the ways in which it's trying to fix the update problem."
"It is good for programmers to understand what goes on inside a processor. The CPU is at the heart of our career. What goes on inside the CPU? How long does it take for one instruction to run? What does it mean when a new CPU has a 12-stage pipeline, or 18-stage pipeline, or even a 'deep' 31-stage pipeline? Programs generally treat the CPU as a black box. Instructions go into the box in order, instructions come out of the box in order, and some processing magic happens inside. As a programmer, it is useful to learn what happens inside the box. This is especially true if you will be working on tasks like program optimization. If you don't know what is going on inside the CPU, how can you optimize for it? This article is about what goes on inside the x86 processor's deep pipeline."
"It was the only moment I heard regret slip into Otellini's voice during the several hours of conversations I had with him. 'The lesson I took away from that was, while we like to speak with data around here, so many times in my career I've ended up making decisions with my gut, and I should have followed my gut,' he said. 'My gut told me to say yes.'" The world would've been a much different place - Apple would have been less dependant on Samsung for its chips, which probably would've meant less money for Samsung to develop its Galaxy business.
Member since:
2005-11-10
When someone fixes your crap for you, you thank them. And Google Chrome Frame is basically a copy of Chrome, sans, er... the chrome. It uses the same automatic, silent update system as Chrome. Any security flaws can literally be fixed for all users within 24 hours. You have no argument left Microsoft. Get your act together and instead of scaremongering, fix your crap.