Windows XP came with IE6, Windows Vista had IE7 and Windows 7 had IE8 pre-installed. The reception to the browser versions also reflected how the OS was received. Just like people are not ready to upgrade from XP to Vista, IE6 users seemed to not bother upgrading to IE7 or even IE8.

Microsoft’s message with IE 10

With IE 9 being released, many felt it was the last chance for Microsoft to save IE browser. With the release being only a month ago, the preview build of IE 10 was a surprise. IE 9 was expected to be shipped as default with the next version (Windows 8?) of Windows.

With IE 10 Microsoft is telling the internet community that they will probably upgrade browser versions without waiting for newer OS to be introduced.

IE 10 Features

• It is really good at making most use of screen space like IE 9 does.
• The graphics support along with CSS rendering is pretty good, as shown by a tests like Fish bowl and Paint Ball.
• IE 9 has a good record when it comes to handling power efficiency. For Laptop users like me, that is a good incentive. I found IE 10 preview not being as light-weight but that might change when IE 10 goes into Beta from Preview version.

What Microsoft needs to do to give IE 10 a boost?

Firstly, IE 10 preview only works with Windows 7. I am not sure if that will happen with IE 10 browser going ahead but if it does, then it would be disappointing. Internet Explorer needs to offer support to Mac OS and Linux-based OS.

This will truly separate IE from Windows as a product and maybe then we might see IE browser building its own independent identity as a browser which does not only revolve around Windows.

I doubt that all this will happen considering how IE finds itself shooting in the foot, what are your view? Do drop in your comments.

Link: IE 10 Preview

Related: What all does IE 9 still not support? | [Tested] Chrome is better than IE 9 and Firefox 4

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-- This Post Microsoft Sending a Message with IE 10 Preview! is Published on Devils Workshop .

Finally IE9 was made available to all throughout the World in 39 languages by Dean Hachamovitch (Corporate Vice President of Internet Explorer) since March 14, 9 PM (PST).

With more than 40 million downloads for the pre-release versions, Microsoft has been excited about this launch.

But, is IE9 really going to prove to be a winner? Despite all the claims of IE9 being the best browser around, Microsoft must be knowing that if they do not get IE9 right, it will pretty much end Internet Explorer for good. This is literally the last roll of dice for Internet Explorer.

On one hand IE9 claims drastic improvements over previous versions, while on the other hand it still lacks the edge!

Some positive signs for IE9!

The main positive sign for IE9 seems to be that it has been appreciated quite a bit by many users. Also Internet Explorer’s fate seems to be tied to Windows OS versions. We saw IE7 bomb, thanks to Vista being not such a popular OS. IE8 was more successful thanks to Windows 7 doing quite well. IE9 and its success might finally depend on the success of the next Windows version.

Internet Explorer 9 launch video

Do post your valuable comments and thoughts whether IE9 is seriously going the leading way or just another pitfall for Microsoft!

Link: Download IE 9

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-- This Post [IE9 Launched] Last chance for Microsoft to save Internet Explorer! is Published on Devils Workshop .

Microsoft has decided to get its act together and start giving IE6 an official goodbye. TheIE6Countdown.com is a website that is dedicated to shows stats on IE6 usage. The idea being the website will watch IE6 usage drop to less than 1% of the market share. Currently it stands at 12%, so I guess it’s a long way to go.

Image Credits

What went wrong with IE 6?

Initially a lot of things went right for IE6. The first part being that very quickly it became the default browser being used along with capturing almost 90% of the browser market.

• Strangely this success led to Microsoft to stop innovating when it came to browsers. This meant IE7, their next version of IE6 was released a good 5 years later. Can you imagine a software version update that takes 5 years? It is quite mind-boggling!
• IE6 was also closely associated with the success of Windows XP. IE7 was the default browser for Windows Vista, but the problem was Vista bombed and that meant lesser people moved over to IE6 even after all those 5 years.
• In 2009, when IE8 was released the adoption was not all that successful either and even 8 years after IE6 was released it was the most used browser in the world.
• Microsoft surely did not take the removal of IE6 seriously until Google Apps, Facebook and YouTube dropped support for IE6. This probably woke the giant (Microsoft) out of its slumber.

Microsoft’s lack of initiative

Microsoft spends billions of dollars on advertisements and marketing when the roll out a new OS version. They really push their regular users to upgrade to the latest version of Windows. This they do with a lot of initiative and with a sense of purpose. I wonder why they did not show the same initiative to get rid of IE6 which has become obsolete over 5 years ago! I think the answer lies with the fact the Windows is a paid software while IE version are free.

Also the lack of innovation and movement on IE6 by Microsoft is because of Microsoft attitude towards the internet in general. Microsoft at least until a few years ago, did not think much about the internet and its importance to people. It is not surprise that they became serious about cloud, search and even social networking much later than the world did. This attitude is best represented in the lazy farewell to IE6 by Microsoft.

TheIE6Countdown.com website does give out reasons for upgrading from IE6. The reasons given by Microsoft are

The web has changed significantly over the past 10 years. The browser has evolved to adapt to new web technologies, and the latest versions of Internet Explorer help protect you from new attacks and threats.

Notice that they still are harping on better security, a point that many users will not take so seriously. They should have ideally said that IE6 is just outdated and not fit for the internet today.

Alas, Microsoft never learns!

Do drop in your comments and views about IE6 and the terrible nightmares it has given web developers the world over.

Link: TheIE6CountDown

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-- This Post TheIE6Countdown – Microsoft’s official goodbye to IE6 is Published on Devils Workshop .

As in Feb 2011, the usage of IE6 stands at 12% of the world total. If we hold our looks towards the Chinese percentage, it’s a rocking 34.5% followed by South Korea where about 25% people still use Internet Explorer 6. Isn’t that surprising?

It is quite surprising that Microsoft is promoting it’s new Internet Explorer 9 by creating a bad word about Internet Explorer 6. Microsoft through it’s dedicated website wants to bring the IE6 usage to less than even 1%. I have seen no other company doing so in the past, probably Microsoft is all about creating a difference

LINK: The IE6 Countdown

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-- This Post 12% of the World still uses Microsoft Internet Explorer 6! is Published on Devils Workshop .

Few facts about IE9 RC (even with a 100% W3C score)

• Dragging and dropping files from Desktop is not possible.
• JavaScript Strict mode & offline application cache is not supported.
• CSS3 transitions, Text Shadow, Gradients, Border Image & Flex box model does not work.
• HTML5 History, ClassList & File API are not a reality yet.
• SMIL animations (SVG), WebGL (3D) and FormData are not supported.

Now let us see how IE 9 survives with Chromium 11 and Firefox 5 already into news. Do turn your thoughts to words, do share them!

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-- This Post What all IE9 still does not support? is Published on Devils Workshop .

The Launch Party

Internet Explorer 9 (or IE9) is finally going to be launched on March 14, 2011 alongwith bloggers and press celebrating the launch with Free Drinks and Live music from Fences, Yeasayer and the Head and the Heart. This party is a celebration for those developers who have worked relentlessly on the IE9 project, making it a reality.

You can read the blog post written by Ryan Gavin (a Microsoft Senior Director) and apply for the event registration. Do post your comments whether you think IE9 is anytime better than the present Google Chrome or Firefox!

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-- This Post Internet Explorer 9 awaiting launch on March 14! is Published on Devils Workshop .

To make sure I do not click on a link to a site which is not trustworthy I use Web Of Trusts (WOT) addon or extensions depending on the browser you use.

About Web of Trust

• Web of Trust actually has scanned millions of websites and allows us simple warning about the sites trustworthiness thanks to an add-on of extension.
• It shows the green Web of Trust symbol as show in the above image whenever Google lists out search results.
• Individual sites also can be scanned as and when you visit them. The best way to really check out how WOT rates them before visiting the website is to search for that URL through Google.

Web of Trust is supported across Internet Explorer, Firefox and Chrome and works on Mac, Windows and Linux. For someone like me who is online and browsing literally many hours everyday Web of Trust along with Privacy Choice which is an Firefox Add-on to keep a tab on which websites track my usage statistics is a big boon.

Do look it up and let me know if you find it useful.

Install Web of Trust: Internet Explorer | Firefox | Chrome Browser

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-- This Post Check if you can trust a website before you click on its link with WOT is Published on Devils Workshop .

Free PDF convert is one such service which allows your to convert different types of files into PDF format.

About Free PDF Converter

• This website is quite handy as it support many file types. I can convert PPT, JPEG, Excel sheets, Lotus Sheets and Word Documents into PDF files. It supports 68 files formats to date.
• It also has a reverse file converter where you can convert PDF file into an Excel file.
• While looking up services online I always feel happy about websites where I do not have to register or sign-up and this web service needs no sign-up either.

I like this site for its versatility regarding the types of File Formats it can handle. If you liked this serivice you might like to read up on how to convert PDF files to Word Doc, HTML and Txt format. Also there is a similar service from Comet Docs for converting Excel and Word files to PDF.

Do let me know your view by dropping in your comments.

Note: Thanks to John71 for the tip.

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-- This Post Free PDF Converter: Convert your Word and Excel files to PDF is Published on Devils Workshop .

Now Internet Explorer 9 is out and will have some interesting innovations and I thought I should try it out and see how good it really is.

About Internet Explorer 9

• There are many changes expected with IE 9, and one of them is to make it safer and more compliant to the dominating web technologies in present day. For this reason IE 9 will not work on Windows XP. This will have a double fall out as many customers with XP will one more reason to upgrade to Windows 7.
• I took a peek at it’s testing environment for IE 9 and found it much faster than IE8. Internet Explorer seemed to be no where in the league as far as speed was concerned but with IE9 they seem to want to deliver that.
• IE 9 will be highly compliant to HTML 5 technology and that is apparent considering it is aimed at scoring high on tests carried on browser with respect to HTML 5 technology. One of the main criteria it will face will be the Acid3 test which Chrome. It did not do as well as Chrome is doing now but remember IE9 is still in early development mode.
• In doing a bit of exploring it seems to have some novel graphics features which will allow easy text zooming and image exploring. On early usage of Image exploring it looked like a similar version of CoolIris add-on with Chrome.

I will be writing a detailed post on Internet Explorer 9 version’s platform preview soon which allows you a peek at IE9 and some of it’s feature.

In the mean time you can visit their test drive page for IE9 and drop in your comments here with what you think IE 9 needs to address if it has to compete against browsers like Firefox and Chorme when it comes to performance.

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• [IE9 Launched] Last chance for Microsoft to save Internet Explorer!
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• Browser Wars: Internet Explorer’s pie shrinks.

-- This Post Microsoft finally takes browsers seriously with Internet Explorer 9 is Published on Devils Workshop .

Mircrosoft has lost a anti-trust case in Europe and has paid a fine along with informing customers of other products. Here is a screenshot of what XP, Vista and Windows7 users will see if their OS has been purchased in Europe.

About Microsoft’s anti-trust issues

• I touched on Microsoft’s anti-trust issues briefly in my post about if Google is turning evil. But the main issue here is that Microsoft used its dominance of Operating system markets to indirectly force people to use Internet Explorer.
• This is true but does it not open a can of worms. I mean can Twitter and Facebook claim anti-trust movement against Google for introducing Buzz through Gmail in which they are dominant. That will not happen probably as supposedly Gmail has to own about 80 percent of the market which it does not.
• So now Microsoft has to come up with this option for it’s windows users and inform them of other browsers. I personally feel that is wrong. Rules should be equal to all. No one requires Apple to put up such a message on its Mac OS. In the case of Google Chromium they claim their browser is the OS or rather the other way around.
• These anti-trust motions do have uses but still feel intent of dominating a market should not be illegal rather practices should be. Google has not been unscathed from the anti-trust motion as when it tried to buy Yahoo Search, it was not allowed by US courts claiming they already are dominating the search domain and cannot buy out competitors.

What do you think about anti-trust? It might have breathed a new life into open-source technologies being more available and that is a good fallout but does it actually go against the notion of doing business in a organized way. Should actions be made illegal or intent be made illegal. Do let me know your thoughts on this through your comments.

Link: Gizmodo

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-- This Post Microsoft goes anti trust friendly is Published on Devils Workshop .