I actually have a speculation as to why Microsoft’s browser stinks so bad. It is because they do not have to fix it. Their browser is so deeply embedded into every Windows operating system on the planet, which is the most widely used home operating system. Looking at the statistics for this site the browser usage is actually split almost equally between Firefox and IE, but I believe that is because users who browse tech sites tend to be a bit more savvy when it comes to being on the internet. I also administer a couple of non-tech sites and I have checked the statistics for those sites. 90% of the users access the sites using Internet Explorer.
Have you ever heard the saying, “Why fix it if it ain’t broke?” Well, in Microsoft’s mind their product is not broken since it is so widely used. Geez Jonathan, what are you so worked up about? I’ve been working on getting some other sites/blogs updated this weekend and trying out different WordPress themes. I cannot tell you how many themes I had to switch out because of IE incompatibilities. Plus I found a few that I liked, but then when I started the tweaking process to fine tune things in the stylesheets… IE was the major pain in the arse of course. For getting something in CSS to work in Firefox takes about 5 minutes. Then add another half hour to get it to work in IE. Then there are those sites that I’ve gone to that are completely optimized for IE only and do not even work on Firefox. What’s up with that? Let us not also forget the multitude of security holes that MS has generously allowed into our lives via Internet Explorer. Thanks Bill.
If you get anything out of this rant… please for love of all things sacred and holy! Change to Firefox now!