Re: Article ie 7: just say no

Guys,

I wanted to make this article more friendly. I didn't want to be
antagonistic - but seriously, how frustrated has IE made you? On nt4 it
was a pain. On win2k it is a pain. And on xp it has been a pain. I just
don't have the energy - I have to move to other projects - like applying
os and sql server patches for my customers.

I just think msft should give up on the browser, like it did for mac os,
IE 5.2 was the last realease (do you that mac users - you can delete it
now - stop asking your tech staff to support it already). Msft needs all
it energy just to focus on shipping vista.

No one is good at everything. It is not humiliating to suck at making
browsers. It is time to grow up and acknowledge that every company has
limitations and oppurtunities. It is enough to have an amazing os and
great office apps, and a sql server, and a development ide and hosting
cluster. So forget about the browser - google (cough) I mean firefox can
have it.

Author: joshua paul

Article ie 7: just say no

After 2 decades of fixing computers, I decided
to adopt a zero tolerance policy towards non performing software
solutions. Non performing software solution is a fragrant euphemism for
stinky software - software that no one should have been allowed to
ship.

In the case of IE, unaffiliated computer scientists research in
demonstrating numerous buffer overflow vulnerabilities have been
unfairly demonized. Specifically these selfless researchers have been
characterized in the mainstream press as miscreants, when in fact they
might be public service giants.

Regardless of the opinions of the ethics of these scientists, the flaws
are real and serious, and patches have been released on a monthly, if
not weekly basis. It is the number of years, the volume and the severity
of bugs and security flaws that have eroded my belief that IE will ever
be safe.

Of course, resonable people would question adopting such a draconian
'one strike your out' system regarding IEs security vulnerabilities. But
of course I am being facetious - I have applied endless security patches
to IE for over 8 years.

For me the question of trying the IE 7 beta or not trying, isn't so
complicated as it maybe for other people. I simply can't afford to use
products that fail and require me to fix them.
If my toaster or my printer break, I don't spend hours trying to fix
them, or hours applying vendor supplied patches. Can you imagine a
coffee maker company sending you patches you have to install?

If my coffee maker or my toaster or my printer get viruses [virii] or
spyware (why they don't do they) I don't buy another appliance to
prevent my existing appliances from
getting infected. I also don't return it to the store for an upgrade,
ie. Product recall. And I if I did decide to bring it back once, I
can't
imagine being happy if I had to it once a month, some time even once a
week, every month for the past 10 years since 1995 or 94 pr 96 when
win95 was released.

I just take it back for refund or I through it in the trash AND NEVER
BUY A PRODUCT FROM THAT VENDOR AGAIN. I think is reasonable. I do that
with software.

Just say no to the ie7 beta, stick to firefox.

Joshua Paul