Just the mindless blathering of a bored nerd

Two weeks ago, Microsoft announced it’s intent to continue to support the 8 year old Internet Explorer (IE) 6 until the year 2014 (IE Blog). The response from the web was difficult to distinguish from the sound of nooses tightening around scrawny necks and bullets plowing through HTML and Javascript packed minds. But, alas, the day has been saved. Well…for those who have yet to commit hara kari, that is. Google is steping up to the plate to accomplish what the big “M” is unwilling (or incapable) of doing.

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s…Google??

Google announced the IE plugin called Google Frame. On pages that require advanced features that IE simply does not support, rather than dumb down the page or simply turn IE users away, web developers may now require users to install Chrome Frame. For pages that support this plugin, any version of IE will be able to tap into the power of one of the most advanced web browsers available today. For all other pages, IE will retain its normal (albeit, irritating) operation.

Here’s a better summary of Chrome Frame and it’s purpose straight from Google…

So Microsoft is thankful for the help…right?

Wrong. But their nay-saying is quite understandable. Googles move undermines Microsoft’s authority and strangle hold on the web in the worst way imaginable.

The official word from Microsoft is that Chrome Frame will make IE “less secure”. This is the argument from the company whose product was revealed to contain a Kanye-West’s-head sized security hole just this December. Every expert in the public eye took the opportunity to warn everyone away from the browser (Tech Flash, BBC amongst many others).

In an effort to recover from the IE security scare, Microsoft performed…er…I’m sorry “NSS Labs” peformed security tests (with Microsoft sponsorship). Guess which browser was found to be the most secure: IE…by a lot. A whole lot. A whole hey-why-does-this-ballot-chad-look-funny lot.

Now that Microsoft has established that its browser is the, *ahem*, leader in security, it is free to use this “boogyman” tactic to scare users from installing the Google product. But why, OH WHY, would they not want Google’s help in fixing their browser issues?

Once you go black…

Microsoft has a very real concern. IE is regarded by the majority of the web world to be a technologically inferior product. However, despite this and the fact that there are far superior and free alternatives (Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox, to name two), IE retains the overwhelming market share.

The reason is simple: IE comes preinstalled with Windows and people have been “eating” this product for as long as they have had ‘net access. After all, what’s the difference? A browser’s a browser. All I wanna do is read the latest Matlock blog and take my Geritol! Aside: Does anyone actually know what Geritol is???

How is one to know the joy of biting into a thick n’ juicy marinated steak when they’ve been on an Ethiopian diet consisting largely of meal worms and whatever was inside the crate marked “UN”?  And once you’ve tasted quality, it’s difficult to go back to freeze dried fruit.  Microsoft stands to potentially have the blindfold removed from their users eyes that they’ve worked tirelessly to staple into place.

Bottom line: provided the plugin reaches the popularity of other plugins, such as Adobe’s Flash player, web developers around the world will sing Ewok-ian songs of praise to the search giant for freeing us to use the moder-day advancements that Microsoft has repeatedly failed to employ.

Ah, yes. The age-old debate that’s gained new traction in the last 10 years and will likely persist to the end of days. This, my friends, is the old “Super Nintendo vs Sega Genesis” debate for grown ups.

Awe crap. Not another <blank> rules post

If you do a Google search for operating system comparisons and opinions, you will find more baseless garbage than can be found in the entirety of the series “Sex and the City”. And I, for one, am not looking to add to that steaming pile. I am more than capable of creating my own personal steaming pile!

The goals of operating systems

There’s an old saying in the programming world: “You can ask a man to change his religion, but never ask him to change his text editor”. I believe this same saying can be applied to power users and their operating systems of choice.

And it is from people with the strong preferences that you will hear many thin arguments that basically translate to “Your operating system sucks. My operating system rules!” But what these people forget is each one has its own set of operating goals.

Mac OS X
Goal – Provide stability and ease of use via proprietary control of the hardware and software.

It’s not often that you will hear a Mac user complaining about driver issues or system crashes. That’s because the strength of Apple products are that “they just work”. And for most of us, that’s about all that matters. When your boss or professor is expecting a report to be completed, they will have very little interest in your .ini file typo or printer driver conflict. All that matters is the final product.

In exchange for this protected environment, there are certain restrictions on what users may or may not do. While the options have been growing over the years, Apple still, for the most part, keeps the user on a protected path.

Linux
Goal – Provide stability and flexibility to the power user.

This free and open source OS does a great job of accomplishing it’s goal. It can do just about anything that can be done on a commercial OS (sometimes more). And due to it’s limited amount of fluff, often times, it can do it better and faster.

The draw back to this is the lack of fluff. It’s much like a chunk of meat with no fat: very dry, very little flavor, and gets caught in your teeth. While this may be ideal for the health nut, the average person would demand to know where they would be able to find a bucket of grease to flavor this bad boy up.

And this leanness is not necessarily a bad thing. Personally, I’m not a fan of the bubbly interface trend of modern day applications. Linux provides me and other tech-head’s a retreat from the large cutesy-wootsy worlds of OS X and Windows.

Windows
Goal – Provide balanced ease of use to the general user and flexibility to the power user

Ah, the largest, and therefore the most targeted of the operating systems. This idea of being “everything to everyone” is what I believe has garnered so much resentment towards Microsoft over the years. Linux is largely geared towards geeks. Mac has traditionally been geared towards the general user (though, in recent years, it’s been working to appeal to power users).

But in the case of Windows, it’s just always been there. And as long as it works, we as users are, for the most part, happy. It is not until we run into problems that we make the change. The general direction of market share traffic is from Windows to another platform. This makes it statistically easy to find anti-Windows bias among these crowds. Not very many are raised with a Mac or Linux and transition to Windows

That being said, the question remains “does Microsoft accomplish it’s goal?” In my opinion, as of XP, the answer was a definitive “yes”. However, I think, it’s been well established, that they dropped the ball with Vista. Despite this failed product, the overarching goal of the “Windows” brand remains the same. With this current iteration, we can say “Vista is broken” and cite several specific reasons, but we cannot make the blanket statement “Windows sucks”.

Aligning with your needs

It is important that a person selects an operating system based on what tasks need to be completed and how well it helps you accomplish these. Unfortunately, there are many OS zealots out there (on ALL sides) who simply need a finger jab to the eye.

What these rabid masses need to understand is that when it comes to a selection of operating system, there are different fits for different people. And though that time won’t come soon, hopefully you will be one less person touting the “your OS sucks!” rubbish.

One last thing…

This post didn’t leave me too many opportunities for bad jokes. So I’ll leave you with a picture from FrenchFriends.info of a guy hitting another guy’s knee with his crotch…

Man... Looks like the guy in red is in pain.

My mission today is simple. As a web programmer, I am here to beg you all to please, please, PLEASE stop using Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE)! It is a web programmer and developer’s worst nightmare of a browser!

We are the nice people who give you things like YouTube and internet porn. All we as in return is that you stop using IE.

What prompted this sudden geek spasm, you ask? This article from Yahoo! explains it all. There is yet ANOTHER ginormous security hole the size of Kanye West’s ego in IE that is being exploited.

Going down with the ship

Unfortunately, since Windows comes with IE preinstalled, many people do not even know that they’ve been using is a crap (to put it nicely). Do bug eating people from the jungles of Idaho know what prime rib taste like? Hell no.

If you want to give your computer a health boost , start by cutting its junk food intake. There is an unthinkable about of custom code written out there just to work around IE’s bugs and deviations from standards. This particular security hole is just the latest in a long history of such happenings. Sure enough, Microsoft will patch this hole and sit back waiting for the next leak to spring. Hell, everyone chained to IE is practically riding in a quilt boat.

Yes... I'd rather web browse with poo than IE.

Let me put it this way: if IE were to disappear forever, the internet as a whole would fast forward about 5 years in technology and security. It’s kinda hard to explain the reasons why unless you’re a programmer as well, but here are two other browsers that if you try, I PROMISE you’ll love. They are faster, more stable, less of a security risk, and will extend the good health of web developers everywhere by 10 years.

Real quality browsing for zero cost

Take a look at these two browsers: Mozilla Firefox and my personal favorite Google Chrome.

Firefox has been around for quite a while. It was what popularize the whole tabbed browsing thing WAY before IE 7 (the one that you are probably using if you are an IE user). This one has a crap load of freakin’ sweet plug-ins that let you do neat things like download videos from sites like YouTube and god only knows what else. Developers love it for the Firebug plug in. This is the swiss army knife of browsers.

If you don’t care too much about extras, the Chrome is definitely the one for you. Chrome just came out of beta recently. It is to IE what a Ferrari is to a shopping cart. The performance of this thing is amazing and it has an awesome, low profile interface.

A final plea

Please everyone…do the WORLD a favor, and use any browser but IE. If you like either of the ones above (and I KNOW you will), use it at work. If your computer is locked down, pester the hell out of your office network admins until you can bitch-slap some sense into them. Then, start a chain and get everyone else you know to drop IE….PLEEEEASE!!!!

Ok….i’m done. Back to work using Chrome and Firefox!