Microsoft users to choose their own Internet browser

Since SA markets very closely follows many European markets I's agree: SA should be part of that rollout. But when it comes to MS, SA is disproportionately tethered to MS, and shamefully ass licking the behemoth.
 
Still too many corporates in SA who persist in the use of IE (and probably most still use IE6 :wtf:).

Is because their IT support don't have the expertise to support other browsers or are the roll out costs the impediment?

Bottom line is that in SA my perception is that we lag in making the right decisions. Pity.
 
A separate thought on this thread... if the EU make the move from M$ & IE the market share percentages in the browser war is going to really hot up.

I guess we'll see Chrome and FF making huge leaps in the stakes. Any others likely to reach for gold?
 
McT said:
Still too many corporates in SA who persist in the use of IE (and probably most still use IE6 :wtf:).

Is because their IT support don't have the expertise to support other browsers or are the roll out costs the impediment?

Bottom line is that in SA my perception is that we lag in making the right decisions. Pity.
Click to expand...

Your smartphone is bound to be more HTML5/CSS3 ready than your average desktop. These devices ship with the latest browsers already installed, but the average corporate desktop is still bound and tethered (and not in a kinky way) to IE6.

Case in point: Telkom IT policy says Only IE6, so here we are in 2010 and Telkom are issuing brand new laptops to their execs with IE6 as the browser... ( F%&#$!ng hell !! ... Go-figure: this is why SA cannot kill the bloody buggy browser. Telkom: screwing you every which way, and more. )

( http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthr...growth-in-SA&p=3652179&highlight=#post3652179 )
 
South Africa lacks competent IT skills hence the reason for the MS dominated server industry here.
 
what about windows update? how will it work as currently it doesnt without IE installed.
 
I use FF and Chrome as my browsers but is it fair to ask MS to not include their browser in their OS? It is like buying a Merc and then complaining that it has Mercedes mags on. You don't want to replace the mags, you want the car without any wheels when you get it.
 
Just tried 'Sleipnir' - it's badly translated, works poorly and is generally a piece of crap. Can't imagine why anyone would use it as a browser.
 
SA will likely not follow. We seem to have a love for one-entity rule. Be it politics or software.
 
Uli said:
what about windows update? how will it work as currently it doesnt without IE installed.
Click to expand...

vista and 7 don't explicitly use IE for updates...it's a separate app
though I'm sure parts of IE will always have to exist in the OS for other programs to use...just not as the traditional browser
 
Ja, I'm so mentally challenged that I don't know how to go to any of those websites and download a browser for myself, or even use google to find an alternative browser and read reviews on them, or even ask my friends or computer guru if he can install an alternative browser for me. I need a special web page that aggregates everything for me into one place so that I can make an informed choice based on the colour of the icons. In fact, I would also like a web page that puts Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, Buzz and all my social media apps into one place.

The European Union just basically told Microsoft that their users are too dumb to be using computers in the first place, but please can you make it a bit easier for them. :rolleyes:
 
Garyvdh said:
Ja, I'm so mentally challenged that I don't know how to go to any of those websites and download a browser for myself, or even use google to find an alternative browser and read reviews on them, or even ask my friends or computer guru if he can install an alternative browser for me. I need a special web page that aggregates everything for me into one place so that I can make an informed choice based on the colour of the icons. In fact, I would also like a web page that puts Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, Buzz and all my social media apps into one place.

The European Union just basically told Microsoft that their users are too dumb to be using computers in the first place, but please can you make it a bit easier for them. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

+1
 
McT said:
Still too many corporates in SA who persist in the use of IE (and probably most still use IE6 :wtf:).

Is because their IT support don't have the expertise to support other browsers or are the roll out costs the impediment?

Bottom line is that in SA my perception is that we lag in making the right decisions. Pity.
Click to expand...
It's usually because a lot of their internal applications are coded to use IE6. It's a poor business decision to write an application to be browser specific.
 
Hi gurus, I have been in the web development industry since before 1990 when the "internet" was still an academic buzz-word. Everyone will have their own favourite browser; those who use Microsoft Office products naturally tend to IE rather than bother with anything else. As a developer, I had to write IE-specific code and Netscape-specific code - argh - it was painful - why? - because the greatly ass-licked behemoth thought their interpretation of the code was correct and "as long as it displays properly, who cares about what code crap exists behind it" mentality. I fought with M$ for years about it. They didn't give a damn, and I am a purist. My code was exemplary and worked 100% correctly all the time.

Browsers are browsers, operating systems are a different story. Google Chrome does not work on Windows 2000, but Mozilla's Flock (FF subset) does. Apple Safari also does not work on W2K, but does on Vista. I run IE6, Netscape 9.0.0.6, Flock, Firefox on W2K. I run Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Flock, on XP-Home, Vista Business 32 and Vista Ultimate 64-bit. I have stopped using IE8 simply because it's a Microsoft product, and the eternal oxymoron "Microsoft Works" still exists.

I would hate to be a website developer these days with all those new languages around. I can barely handle JavaScript let alone C#, C++, Oracle, MySQL, PHP, and the rest. Far too much intellectual pressure for a white woman in Africa.
 
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Nice free distribution platform for all the other small browsers who didn't make it out there. :rolleyes:
 
another dose of hand-holding from the mother of all nanny states, the eu.
there's a very fine line between creating equal opportunity and enforcing equality.
the increase in popularity of alternative browsers and operating systems shows that the market is already self-regulating.
so just leave it alone and have some patience.

through forced, artificial equality, you're effectively doing affirmative action on the os front.
it's cosmetic, and doesn't deal with the real issues.

if people choose something and are happy with it, it's their democratic right to do so.
let the market dictate what it wants, who wants it and how it is delivered.
otherwise people will make the wrong choices next time and the next time...
come on eu, let your people grow up, stop treating them like children.

EDIT: okay, let me clarify - consumers have always had a choice of an alternative browser.
if a vendor wants to bundle free software with their os, that's their prerogative.
the eu court is engaging os issues on the wrong front.
 
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g-d-zilla said:
Hi gurus, I have been in the web development industry since before 1990 when the "internet" was still an academic buzz-word. <snip>
Click to expand...

Interesting. You managed to "be in the web development industry" before there was a html standard, a browser or a even a industry.

Do you own a time machine?
 
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