February 1, 2006

my thoughts on the preview of ie 7 beta 2

I've downloaded the preview of IE 7's second beta release. (I am correct, aren't I, that this isn't actually Beta 2, but rather a preview of Beta 2? Please correct me if I'm wrong. I'm seeing a lot of reporting that calls this Beta 2.)

It's really nice to see Microsoft come around to the growing public sentiment that IE 6 and below have been in desperate need of an update. The web has changed pretty dramatically since the late '90s when Microsoft was still trying to make a better browser and IE users are suffering all of the changes for the worse and missing out on some of the changes for the better. I'm particularly gratified that it was Firefox that forced this realization on them and to see Microsoft following Firefox's lead when it comes to end-user features is a solid indicator that we're doing good work.

There's no doubt in my mind that the IE 7 project is a direct result of the work we've done to provide people with a better web experience through Firefox, and IE's inclusion of Firefox features, from tabbed browing, to web feed (RSS and others) support and pop-up blocking, is a validation of the pioneering, user-focused work we've done in building Firefox.

Yes, that was a lot of self-congratulations, but I think it's completely warranted. We've done some pretty amazing work here at Mozilla over the last few years, and causing the largest software company in the world to get up off its butt and start thinking about users again, I count as a major accomplishment. (I do hope it is the case that Microsoft is indeed thinking about the needs of today's web users and not just responding to the significant erosion in their marketshare over the last year. Whether it's the former or the latter, users will benefit, the question is just how much and for how long.)

OK, so what do I think about IE 7 Beta 2 Preview, you ask? I haven't been using it very long but here are my initial thoughts:

So there are my quick thoughts. Le me know what you thought of the IE preview, or what you think about my post here here. I haven't actually used it enough to make a lot of comments on what I like and what I don't like about the actual UI. Initially I'm bothered by the removal of the menubar and the location of the buttons scattered on the tab bar, as well as some other issues, but I'll hold off on that until I've had a couple of weeks to use those features and see how they wear.

Oh, and like any other pre-release software, be careful using this. It isn't very stable and there is already a known exploits in this IE 7 pre-release that could allow an attacker to take over your machine (and found in the first 15 minutes! wow.)

Posted by asa at 12:57 PM

 

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