IE7’s Feature List
The web is abuzz with nothing this morning. Not that everyone isn’t talking about the IE7 announcement yesterday, just that nobody has anything important to say. Obviously people feel FireFox pushed Microsoft into this. Which unnerves me. Not because FireFox isn’t a fantasic browser, just that it had nothing to do with Microsoft announcing IE7, except maybe the timing of the announcement.
Let’s be clear: the IE team never died. It was reprioritized, but it never died. Roughly 8 months to a year ago, it started building and growing. Currently the IE team is one of the crack ones in Microsoft. Believe it or not, some of the best PM’s, devs and testers are now on the IE team and they’re ready to kick ass.
Think about that: 8 months ago. Where was FireFox at in May of last year? It was barely a blip on the radar of browsers. Sure, the writing was on the wall, but IE development was restarted for 2 reasons: customers asked loud enough (and often enough), and Longhorn is coming so a new browser needed to be started.
Okay, rant over. Back to the purpose of this post: what will IE7 include.
Obviously I can’t claim I have any inside information. The IE team is being tight lipped, which is good. But, they’ve never really been blabber-mouths.
That said, they have been talking for the last 8 months, and that means something because as I sit here collating some of that data a few things are clear to me. In no particular order, here are the things that are obvious to me about the next version of IE. Please remember this is just my perception, and could quite likely be completely wrong:
1. Microsoft is going to seriously tackle standards. I say this, because the IE team recently stopped being defensive about things they weren’t doing. In fact, just a week ago one of the evangelists recommended people use a CSS attribute that IE doesn’t support to achieve a result they were looking for. I’m sensing a shift towards “what’s real” in the current builds coming out, as it’s not the first time.
2. IE’s security model will be completely redone. It was already given a major overhaul in XP SP2’s IE version, but it’ll get another one. That said…
3. ActiveX will not be dropped. The problem is that people perceive ActiveX in a certain way. I could see Microsoft relabelling the objects to something like ASO’s (ActiveX Secure Objects) or something. But ActiveX is valuable, and is inherently (as a way of implementing instant page-specific plugins and applets) fine. It’s no worse than XUL in that way. So, no, it’s not going away.
4. They will attempt to redefine tabbed browsing. Honestly. Believe it. They’ve been hinting at this for more than 6 months, including in a Channel 9 interview. I’ve heard of early builds which are very sweet, though not as smooth (yet) as other tabbed browsing interfaces.
5. IE will be further modulized (is that a word?). IE is going more places. They made XP more modular so that it could go more places, and IE will be the same. As a platform, it has to be.
Now, that said, it won’t be perfect. So you’ll get the standard “they didn’t do enough”, “they’re just copying everyone else”, “this is all in reaction to FireFox” types of things. And that’s fine. It’s to be expected and it’s deserved considering how little has been done on IE in nearly 5 years. But, there will be some fairly big innovations (notice the small ‘i’) and changes to IE. Will it be better than FireFox? Who knows. But, really, if it got tabbed browsing, support standards more than any other browser and had a completely revamped (and secure) security model, that would basically change the dynamics of this browser war.
The problem is that IE does need to do more than that. The question is “what?” What would actually swing 25 million people back to IE? If anyone could answer that, FireFox would be working on it already.
Heating up? Yep. Watch this space, as I’m heading down to Microsoft tomorrow and I’ll be poking and prodding. I’m not sure anyone’ll say anything. But, like the last 8 months, it might be what isn’t said that’s more important.
POSTED IN: IT News & Thoughts
16 opinions for IE7’s Feature List
The Newest Industry
Feb 16, 2005 at 12:40 pm
Some hints on MSIE 7.0 Features
Jeremey Wright hints at some of the features we might/will see in MSIE 7.0. [here]
Again, composition and design standards are important; but do not forget the networking standards as well. It will take a lot for me to switch back to MSIE, but it wo…
Vinnie Garcia
Feb 16, 2005 at 1:12 pm
I have to see it to believe it. I’m willing to give the IE team the benefit of the doubt when it comes to everything you’ve said, but I’m reasonably skeptical.
Aaron Brazell
Feb 17, 2005 at 1:42 pm
Quite frankly, I’m not.
Xscott
Feb 18, 2005 at 12:54 pm
Nice summer of information for IE7, but a bit MS biased IMO.
Microsoft has not been perfect in dealing with some of the issues related to IE, but they have put out a pretty good browser when they are pushed a bit or things get more competitive.
With your statement, “IE team never died. It was reprioritized” that just shows that MS was sitting on their ass when they felt they had enough market share to “ride it out” till something was better or people start complaining. It maybe didn’t die, but was set to “fix the holes” mode along with other prioritiezed projects.
I am not saying FireFox is perfect, but I would say it is better than the current version of IE(until you hit a site that is built to work with IE not standards and a page may break apart). Opera is another Good alternate browser and I think a selection is the best for everyone.
Jim
Feb 19, 2005 at 4:27 pm
You are being a bit unfair to the people saying that Firefox had something to do with this announcement.
The Internet Explorer team were reformed to work on the new browser for Longhorn and perform the XPSP2 alterations to Internet Explorer 6. Microsoft stated unequivocally several times that there would not be a new version of Internet Explorer for XP or below.
Then Firefox started getting major press coverage and jumped in market share. Suddenly Microsoft announce that they are going to release a new version of Internet Explorer for XP. That wasn’t months in the making, as you claim. Back then, they were still saying that their next browser version would come with Longhorn.
PS: The word you are looking for is “modularized”, and there’s no such thing as a CSS “attribute” - CSS has properties, it’s HTML that has attributes.
Mark
Feb 19, 2005 at 9:07 pm
You almost had me, until this:
“ActiveX is valuable, and is inherently … fine. It’s no worse than XUL in that way. So, no, it’s not going away.”
In other words, Microsoft has learned nothing at all.
Foo Bar
Feb 19, 2005 at 9:48 pm
IE Windows integration = monopoly
Monopoly = complacency
It’s pretty obvious and that’s why I’ve “reprioritized” my choice in browser.
I hate it
Feb 20, 2005 at 9:46 am
OK.
First you start out with, as you admit yourself, a rant angainst the folks saying this announcement has to do with Firefox. Plainly MS has been positioning the next IE as part of Longhorn for some time. After continueing delays with that OS, and encroachement on their market share MS completely reverses that decision. I’m sorry, I’m not stupid enough to believe it was because “customers asked loud enough (and often enough)”.
Then you go on to indicate that IE7 will include standards improvements, though MS has given no clear indication of this, and you have no evidence of it (which you also state yourself). I, like many developers I know, will not be holding my breath for MS to support web standards at least untill I see serious evidence from MS that this is the case (Bills recent speech regarding supporting standards holds little wieght till I see some evidence).
Matthew Cox
Feb 20, 2005 at 9:51 am
At least someone finally has a sprinkling of info about what MSIE is up to, but after reading the if’s, and’s, & but’s, I have to say this:
Perception is Reality.
If IE7 is intended to win back Firefox users, and thinks the way to do this is to be standards-compliant, more secure, and have tabbed browsing, then it will fail. MS will appear to be copying Firefox, will be accused of copying Firefox, as you stated in your article.
What is IE’s “killer plug-in,” if you will? Some new rich multimedia content that is browser exclusive is a possible thought but will probably lead to a bigger online backlash from non-IE users. Also, how many companies will want to grant exclusivity for a brand losing market share?
I think MS might need to scrap the IE name. It’s too staid, too stigmatized in the minds of folks who have switched. It’s all well and good to have simple self-explanatory names for people who have never used computers before, but there aren’t many of them left, and Firefox gets plenty of media coverage (with obligatory references to the failings of IE) to make it’s name memorable.
Extensions will be key. The things I love best about Firefox is BugMeNot, JustBlogIt, Gmail Notifier, and Abe Vigoda Status. Extensions and Live Bookmarks aren’t just neat add-ins, they are massively useful features that make it easier for me to do the things that I do on a daily basis.
Opening up the source - at least opening up enough to allow users to create custom skins and themes. A huge reason why FF is so popular is the amount of interactivity a user can have with it. It’s not just a browser, it’s a product anyone can create content for, in the form of extensions and themes. That being said, those facets appeal primarily to computer-proficient web aficionados, and doesn’t mean much to a home user looking for weather reports. FF needs to innovate to snag the non-techy/geeky users, and IE needs to innovate to snag back the webheads. Whoever does it first and best will win.
Elliott Back
Feb 20, 2005 at 11:57 am
Will IE7 be better than Firefox?
Ensight asks the seminal question, “Will it be better than FireFox?” Then he lists the top four features he thinks that the new browser will include:
Standards compliance
Security (especially with regards to plugins)
Tabbed browsing
Modu…
eat at joes
Feb 20, 2005 at 12:19 pm
i really hope ie7 improves it’s standards support. i don’t like microsoft, but as a web designer, i spend hours banging my head against the wall trying to get my sites to work properly in ie.
but i don’t think ie7 will deliver on the promises everyone except microsoft has made. just look at the transparent png issue. “customers” have been asking for this for quite some time, yet the dev team has turned a deaf ear. actually, they acknowledge it, but say something to the effect of “aww, come on guys, that would be really hard”. too damn bad. if there really was this cracker-jack team working on ie, this (among many many other issues) would have been resolved a long time ago. why didn’t this show up in SP2 (at the latest)? how many sites are going to break if you support transparent PNGs?
i read an article from one of the devs a few months ago saying that they were hesitant about adding full CSS 2 and 2.1 support to ie because the specification was “not yet finalized”. does the w3c need to wipe your ass for you? how close to done does it need to be? WebCore and Gecko are already supporting CSS3. once again, how long does it take to support :hover on all elements, or fixed positioning, or generated content, and how many sites would break by supporting these things that it currently just ignores?
and now, you really expect us to believe that 1. this announcement is not prompted by Gecko browsers gobbling up to 20% of the web and 2. standards support is coming? maybe ie7 will include tabs, but they’ll be called tabz and ms will say “we’re the first browser with tabz”. and perhaps it will include RSS support, but will they use some slightly bastardized (and incompatible) form like they’re doing with SVG in longhorn and make sure to let asp.net generate this “MSS” crap for general consumption.
Elliott Back
Feb 20, 2005 at 2:51 pm
The example you cite for transparent pngs at: http://blogs.msdn.com/dmassy/archive/2004/08/05/209428.aspx is just a dev’s blog and in no way represents the actual decision made about the new IE 7. It could even be considered a daring marketing strategy to deny every feature, and then pump out an IE 7 with ALL of them. Surprise is good.
Will IE7 be better than Firefox? - Elliott Back
Feb 20, 2005 at 5:57 pm
[…] Will IE7 be better than Firefox?
Ensight asks the seminal question, “Will it be better than FireFox?” Then he lists […]
Read/Write Web
Feb 21, 2005 at 4:06 am
Web 2.0 Weekly Wrap-up, 14-20 Feb 2005
A look back at the week that was in the world of Web 2.0. This week: Google’s AutoLinks feature, IE7, NY Times buys About.com, blogger companies coverage in media, Bloglines hacks…
bhouston
Feb 21, 2005 at 12:19 pm
I hope IE7 includes a download manager — that is also a large benefit that FireFox currently exhibits.
Pedro Fayolle
Feb 25, 2005 at 2:56 pm
The name is Firefox, not FireFox.