Google Spits Its Dummy Out

Internet Explorer, the decreasingly omnipotent web browser from Microsoft with its old version 6 has been causing Google some issues recently and as result the search giant has spat its dummy out and is phasing out support for the old browser.

The story started earlier last month when many of Google’s gMail accounts, run by Chinese human rights campaigners, were hacked using a security flaw in IE6. This led to Google threatening to withdraw from the Chinese market following the “sophisticated and targeted” attacks, which it said originated in China.

Microsoft, who apparently had known about the issue “since early September” 2009 reacted quickly to issue a security patch update. However this wasn’t good enough for Google and they’ve now stated that they’ll no longer be supporting version 6 of the browser after the 1st March 2010.

In otherwords, if you use Google products (gMail, Google Docs etc) or visit Google websites which includes not only their main search site, but websites such as YouTube (a Google company), Picasa and Blogger.com to name but a few, then don’t expect them to work or display correctly all the time if you continue to use Internet Explorer version 6.

Here’s what they’ve emailed their Google Apps users with on this matter;

“Dear Google Apps admin,

In order to continue to improve our products and deliver more sophisticated features and performance, we are harnessing some of the latest improvements in web browser technology. This includes faster JavaScript processing and new standards like HTML5. As a result, over the course of 2010, we will be phasing out support for Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 ​as well as other older browsers that are not supported by their own manufacturers.

We plan to begin phasing out support of these older browsers on the Google Docs suite and the Google Sites editor on March 1, 2010. After that point, certain functionality within these applications may have higher latency and may not work correctly in these older browsers. Later in 2010, we will start to phase out support for these browsers for Google Mail and Google Calendar.

Google Apps will continue to support Internet Explorer 7.0 and above, Firefox 3.0 and above, Google Chrome 4.0 and above, and Safari 3.0 and above.

Starting this week, users on these older browsers will see a message in Google Docs and the Google Sites editor explaining this change and asking them to upgrade their browser. We will also alert you again closer to March 1 to remind you of this change.

In 2009, the Google Apps team delivered more than 100 improvements to enhance your product experience. We are aiming to beat that in 2010 and continue to deliver the best and most innovative collaboration products for businesses.

Thank you for your continued support!

Sincerely,

The Google Apps team”

Oh dear! Toys definitely out of the cot on this one then!

Who Can Blame Them?

For those not in the know, version 6 of Internet Explorer is pretty old hat when it comes to web browsers and even though it was only launched in August 2001 and replaced by version 7 in October 2006, it is ancient technology when it comes to the Internet and as such it produces some strange results when used to view some modern coded websites.

So on one hand, a company like Google trying force the User to drop useage of version 6 of the browser is a good thing in mine and many peoples’ books. However on the other hand, as my day to day experiences demonstrate; IE6 is very much alive, well and kicking in many organisations such as government departments, the NHS and many large corporations and academic institutions.

Rolling out a software upgrade across such a large User network as the NHS is no mean feat and if such organisations are still running Windows 2000 as many of them are; then the browser upgrade will on the whole, only come during an operating system upgrade. A big job.

However I would say kill IE6 regardless!

Isn’t it time your Users were able to benefit completely from the full “Internet” experience? If the answer is yes, then it’s time for a change. At best switch to Firefox but at least get an upgrade, flaws and all, to the current version of Internet Explorer which is version 8.

You know it makes sense!

Over the last couple of years or so, Internet Explorer (IE) has been steadily losing market share to upstarts such Firefox, Apple’s Safari and more recently Google’s Chrome browser, all of which are able to offer a more feature rich, secure, faster and easier web browsing ‘experience’ than Microsoft’s ubiquitous IE.

Figures published by Net Applications, a company that monitors the different number of browser types that are being used at any one time; tell us that the various versions of IE being used dropped to 67.4% of the market in February from 74.9% the previous year.

Mozilla’s Firefox leapt to a 21.8% share from 17.27% in the same period whilst Apple’s Safari rose from 5.7% to 8%. So clearly the “playing field” is being levelled as far as browser usage is concerned, if not the method of distribution (IE comes bundled free with the world’s most popular operating system, unlike other browsers).

From a business user’s perspective, what does this latest version of IE8 offer?

Well according to Chris Wilson, Microsoft’s chief architect for IE in an interview with the BBC; IE8 is placing a lot of emphasis on speed, a USP of the current Firefox and Chrome browsers. This means that Users will be able to download and view pages quicker any previous version. However I suspect that the average business User will not necessarily notice any difference and as such will not list it amongst a ‘must have’. The ‘tabbed browsing’ feature from IE7 is still in there and is a useful tool that we Firefox users have enjoyed for sometime. Tabbed browsing does allow one to keep the desktop tidy when surfing multiple websites simultaneously which in itself is a useful, but not new is has been adopted in some form by many other browser types.

IE8 does however, feature something called “The Accelerator”, which lets users highlight text on a page and automatically search for those terms on sites such as Facebook and eBay, or blog them straight into Microsoft’s blogging services. What the benefits of this are remains to be seen, from the perspective of the business User. The feature can be “turned off” so I suspect that IE8 Users within an office network will have the feature disabled by their network administrators rendering it pointless.

Security improvements over IE7 are stated to be one of the major benefits for all Users in the form of a feature called SmartScreen Filter which will block web pages that may contain malicious spyware, a feature which will be welcomed by network administrators and stand alone desktop users alike. This assumes it works as it should. Having downloaded IE8 on Thursday, I’ve already had an issue trying to access this blog’s editing interface which IE8 perceived to be a malicious web page. Which it isn’t of course!

The new Web Slices feature could be useful, particularly if like me, you have hundreds of regularly visited web pages in your bookmarks. Web Slices allow the User to add a self-updateable ‘snapshot’ of a webpage to a toolbar, thus allowing the User to keep track of the site without actually visiting it. However this feature seems to rely on a particular website being “compatible” with “Web Slices”. What’s wrong with RSS feed technology which is now common place and accepted technology which does a similar thing?

IE7 and its predecessors are notoriously poor at rendering W3C standard web pages. What this means is that a web developer will design and build your company’s website according to the accepted coding standards of the W3C consortium (the international body that tries standardise standards of production across the web), but because IE isn’t standards compliant, the web page will display differently to IE Users. A big issue since 67% of web surfers use IE. This in turn makes the job harder for your web developer to build your web site that can be viewed correctly in all browsers.

Some even say that IE forces web developers to build websites that are below internationally accepted standards.

So the big question with IE8 that will help everyone, developers and Users alike; is IE8 W3C standards compliant? Or have Microsoft decided yet again, to go their own way?

Here are some comments I’ve pulled from other IE8 review blog posts over the last couple of days, which illustrate the industry’s concerns on this matter:

“… lots of browsers on the market may be “good” for users’ choice, but it’s an absolute pain in the proverbial backside for us web developers, who not only have to test, retest and rerereretest our pages in not only several different browsers, but several different versions of several different browsers.…. it’s a nightmare!”

“It would be nice if Microsoft actually adhered to the W3C standard. Pages rendered in Firefox, Chrome and Safari often differ when viewed in IE. If Microsoft can fix all the little ?bugs? in IE it would make web development a lot easier.”

“Biggest problem with IE — lack of standards supports. MICROSOFT — YOU DO NOT MAKE THE STANDARDS — you should adhere to them like everyone else — once that happens, the standards can be progressed and then we really will see internet application technology progressing rapidly.”

“Firefox, Safari, Chrome and Opera are all superior browsers that work to standard-compliance (thanks to the three engines from Mozilla, WebKit and Opera). Microsoft would rather ignore standards to push for dominance, then set their own standards.”

“Thankfully the majority of the web development community are wise to this and program for standards, then fixes for IE later. Shame they don’t ignore the fixes though. It would force users to use better browsers and Microsoft to meet standards compliance.”

So, will I be sufficiently motivated enough to switch my default browser from Firefox based upon what I’ve seen to date in IE8? I think not! Ultimately though IE8 it’s still going to be the browser of choice for the average business User as many people will just accept what comes preloaded on their computer, what gets downloaded in their next Windows Update and what their IT manager gives them to use.

That’s the battle Firefox and Chrome have to win.

Now I’m sufficiently travelled to have seen that most societies display similar kinds of behaviour towards each other; the French for instance, have a particular knack at displaying snobbish tendencies to just about everyone and anything that isn’t ‘French’. However I feel we Brits, having conquered half the known world at some-point: have a particular talent for it across the board and can still master the ability to place people into a ‘class’ even in today’s so called class-less society (yeah right!), without a second glance. Still I suppose that’s what makes us what we are and the lack of our former ‘empire’ ain’t gonna stop us now!

This nice little comedy sketch from late 1960’s TV — demonstrates the idea and our ability to laugh at ourselves, quite nicely I think.

The art of snobbery is not just limited to real world communities: the on-line world of the web and the Internet falls under its spell and is no exception. So prompted by Stephen Fry’s recent interview with BBC Radio 4 (to admit that I listen to Radio 4 in the first place, probably displays some sort of snobbish tendencies I’ll wager); I began to ask myself:

Am I an Internet Snob?

In his interview Mr. Fry quips about the social death attributed to having a MySpace account if you’re over 14 and the leper qualities associated with an @aol.com or @hotmail.com email address. I agree with both of these points (awful aren’t I?) but I’m not the only one. I once came a across a UK based web design company who stated on their site’s feedback form that they “would not answer enquiries” from people with “free web mail email accounts”. Whatever the reasons behind this instruction, it can be said it’s blatant snobbery. At least I’m not that bad.

As for the MySpace thing. Yes sure — I’m with Stephen on this, same goes for Bebo and Friends Reunited in my book. But not Facebook I feel (well not yet anyway).

Extending this attitude onto other web related stuff. In the same vein as the MAC/PC hierarchy (you ask a MAC owner what he thinks of PCs), I feel there’s a good case to be had for ‘browser snobbery’ of which I’m guilty of I do admit. We Firefox browser users tend to ‘look down our noses’ at Internet Explorer users. Why is anyone’s guess, as IE is a perfectly good web browser, but I suppose it’s the ‘marginal user’ community thing that is so prelevant amongst MAC users that tends to breed an aloof attitude amongst such people. Incidentally I’m actually a PC user but am aspiring to be a MAC user. It’s the “Apple-Tax” that’s putting me off!

I’ve also come across people who, when declared that I bought my CDs/Books/Games etc from Amazon, responded with a distinct intake of breath as if I’m contributing towards the extinction of the White Rhino personally. “You use Amazon!” I was asked, before being lectured on the virtues of some obscure Internet site alternative that whilst being perceived to be “cooler”, was in fact more expensive than my trusted portal! Huh! How does that work then?

There’s even a snobbery element, especially amongst geeks, about which on-line music player software is THE one to use. Microsoft’s Media Player might as well be contaminated with Ebola (mainly because it’s Microsoft to be honest, which in itself is a snobbish thing) whilst RealPlayer is cool and Apple’s QuickTime is considered to be pure aristocracy.

Hopefully you get the idea and can see how snobbery knows no bounds when it comes to the Internet. Post your own examples — I’d like to hear them.

Oh, by the way; in answer to the question “Am I an Internet Snob?”

Well perhaps a little bit!

One of the cool things about Firefox that makes it a great browser to use is the ability to enhance its functionality with “Plug-ins”, “extensions” or “Add-ons” as they are known.

Basically these are little software applications that bolt-on to the Firefox software on your computer that either allow you to do more stuff or to help you to personalise your browser.

These ‘plug-ins’ are developed by a whole community of independent software developers using Firefox’s Open-Source coding platform. This allows these people to develop their own product enhancements in the form of “add-ons”. Many of these plug-ins are offered free of charge or very little cost.

Some of the more common plug-ins allow the User to support different software such as Adobe Acrobat Reader, Apple Quicktime, Adobe Flash player etc, whilst others are more specialist. For example, I recently posted about Twitterfox – a Firefox plug-in that helps me manage my Tweets.

There are literally hundreds of Firefox plug-ins, many of which are free to download. It’s just a matter of knowing where to start. The Add-Ons page on the Mozilla site (the people behind Firefox) offers a useful categorised directory of them all and is a great place to start.

Try downloading a few that grab your attention. It’s easy enough to uninstall them later if you want.

New ones are added all the time, so it’s worth keeping an eye on this site.

If you don’t have Firefox installed on your machine, download it here.

Twittering is getting a lot of press attention at the moment with notable celebrity Twitters such as Stephen Fry and Jonathon Ross proclaiming its virtues on national tele so being an individual thinker, I thought I’d jump on the bandwagon and suss it out for myself.

As I’m a newbie to Twittering, I’m still getting to grips with the idea including the ability to easily keep my Tweets updated. Being a Blackberry fiend this is a lot easier than most would make it as I can either use the mobile Twitter site via the Blackberry web browser or the “Twitterberry” application for BBs. Having said that though Twitter allows yo to update your Tweets by SMS messages from any mobile, however I understand this doesn’t work for every network here in the UK.

To help me keep track whilst I’m sat at my computer on the web I’ve been experimenting with a couple of update methods. I posted the other day about the Flock browser that helps me Tweet away through a single window, however today I’ve resorted to my normal Firefox browser and have instead downloaded and installed Twitterfox which is a Firefox browser plugin that runs in the background in the status bar.

This little application allows me to keep a track of people I am following with “auto-pop-ups” whilst allowing me to post my own Tweets with a simple keyboard short-cut (CTR + SHIFT + P). So far this is my preferred tool of choice.

If you want to follow me; sign-up for an account at: http://twitter.com and then follow me at http://twitter.com/inetengineers. If you want to follow someone famous, go for Stephen Fry who comes out with some witty Tweets at http://twitter.com/stephenfry