IE8 Changes Stance on Super Standards Mode
by Al
The IE team has just blogged that they are going to reverse their stance on the super standards mode not being the default rendering mode for IE8. They actually got Dean to write this post for the blog (he only gets to write the really important posts…) The reasoning does seem a bit..odd. The blog post states:
Why Change?
Microsoft recently published a set of Interoperability Principles. Thinking about IE8’s behavior with these principles in mind, interpreting web content in the most standards compliant way possible is a better thing to do.
We think that acting in accordance with principles is important, and IE8’s default is a demonstration of the interoperability principles in action. While we do not believe any current legal requirements would dictate which rendering mode a browser must use, this step clearly removes this question as a potential legal and regulatory issue. As stated above, we think it’s the better choice.
By all of this, the official stance is not that the IE team is changing their mind because of the near universal condemnation that their previous decision to render as IE7 by default received when they announced it. Instead, it is because of their support for interoperability? I’m sorry but I call "bullshit" here. I don’t believe it. If that is how it is spun, ok, but don’t expect me to buy the bridge just because you say that you’re selling. :-)
I’m not sure if this is some kind of veiled reference to the recent Opera lawsuit or the EU decisions against Microsoft that were announced this last week but the legal focus in the above excerpt makes one wonder. I definitely don’t buy the official reasons and I do think that the huge reaction against their decision from web developers and others is really the driving force behind this reversal on their part.
In any case, as far as the web is concerned, this is good news. IE8 (apparently) has much better standards support than IE7 did. We’ll know more once their techbeta is out and reports roll in. For those of us who do create web content, this will hopefully mean less work for content creation over time and a gradual improvement of web quality for those Windows users which don’t move to Firefox or other browsers. Since every Windows computer still ships with IE in place, ignoring it still isn’t an option as much as some would like it to be.
In case, in spite of the motivations or reasons, this is a good announcement for the web and its future openness. I expect that I’ll have more to say once I’ve had an opportunity to play with the IE8 beta in the near future.
Comments
My guess is that they are attempting to portray their new Office format OOXML as being “interoperable” with other formats. It also seems to play nicely into the patent “interoperability” agreements they have been signing with various open-source distributors.
Yes, your theory on the BS sounds about right. Just like when they launched the development of IE7 and said that it had *nothing to do with the success of Firefox*… :)
You know what? Who gives a shit what their motivation is. Do we ever really think we are going to get pure truth out of any corporation, let alone MS? Why nitpick about justifications? Store their spun (il)logic / excuse / justification / blah blah. Leave that for using against them the next time we have to pound them into submission.
Today is for celebration. By the end of this year we might have the first ever browser market with half decent markup, styling and behaviour across the board.
Let’s be happy and move on to more important things, like why the flip is editing text, or providing a means for others to edit text, on the web so flucking hard? WYSIWYG editors today suck big time. It’s way overdue that browser developers pulled their fingers out and turned tags into tags, if you know what I mean! Fluck SVG, Fluck more animated annoyances like APNG. This is supposed to be the read/WRITE web and it’s a complete farce!
errr, see what I mean, I can’t even write an HTML tag in an editor if I choose! Was meant to be:
“It’s way overdue that browser developers pulled their fingers out and turned <textarea> tags into <tags>, if you know what I mean!”
ahhh
textarea in to texteditor tags, FFS!
You know, the last time I looked, I worked for a corporation, the Mozilla Corporation. The anti-corporate sentiment is only going to get you so far.
At least they made a mention of the community’s feedback:
“In light of the Interoperability Principles, as well as feedback from the community, we’re choosing differently.”
The silly part is that they wrote anything at all, it should have been more like this:
Title of blog post: IE8 will behave as IE8 by default
Body text: The title says it all.
That would have been enough. :-)
Btw, did you see this drivel? http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2008/mar08/03-03WebStandards.mspx
I just can’t read more than two lines of it.
Rowan, my eyes quickly glazed over and I’ve just read 70 pages of a 8th century Buddhist Tantra for a class so that is saying something (lists and lists of deities and descriptions of mandalas). I generally avoid Microsoft PR announcements. They are pretty vapid.
You gotta love how they write:
“Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.”
…hoping that some dumb journalist (I’m one myself … a journalist that is) will actually quote that. :)
@al:
Fully understand Mozilla is a big corporation like any other, exploiting free labor arguably makes it a more dodgy corporation than many others out there. Hence I tend to refer to it as MoFoCo. Bit of a play on FoMoCo (Form Motor Company) except it’s also completely appropriate since Mozilla is neither a coporation or a foundation, it’s both. It’s Mozilla Foundation Corporation or MoFoCo. It’s even shorter to type.
I wouldn’t take anti-corporate sentiment too personally though if I was you. Often it’s aimed at truly evil corporations like Enron and MS.
However maybe you might want to watch some of the anti-Corporate documentaries that have been made recently. Do you really think it’s a good thing that Corporations in the good ol’ Yew Es of Ayyy have the same rights as people? Do you think it’s a good idea that Corporations have an obligation to self-preservation rather than promoting community sustainability?
Anyway, that’s all waaaaay off topic :)
“Big?” Dude, MoCo has about 120 people. Microsoft has around 75,000 (or more now). Hardly “big” in the grand scheme of things, especially given the average in the tech industry and also that MoCo probably had 60 people a year and a half ago.
“Exploiting” is a very strong word that I take issue with more than anything else that you said. That’s like saying the local food bank is exploiting my labor when I spend a Saturday volunteering there. If people volunteer to help because they want to do so as part of the Mozilla community, they are not being “exploited.” If they feel they are being exploited, they will choose to volunteer their time and skills elsewhere. Not everything in the world comes down to a monetary arrangement.
My opinion of how corporations are constructed in the United States (or Europe) is hardly relevant here though since, regardless of my opinion, they are going to be set up following whatever the legal framework allows.
Having a corporation *entirely* owned by a non-profit foundation is hardly the same as, say, Apple or Ford Motor Company. I have no stock options and those of us working at MoCo receive a salary, not an opportunity to cash in on the tech industry. Compare that to Google, Facebook, etc. where much of the motivation is the chance to get rich through stock options.
I take it that your paycheck doesn’t come from a corporation then? :-)
I thought he was being funny with the exploiting comment.
Ah, that is always a possibility and humor is so very subjective (or at least it is when I try to be funny).
If so, then I retract my bitchiness. You wouldn’t believe (or maybe you would) the amount of “You guys are tools! Fucking tools!!” that I hear from the anti-Mozilla crowd. It’s almost as bad as Microsoft (except it was kind of justified there…). It makes me a bit pissy when it comes to it.