An add on to my angry post about Internet Explorer 8; having accessed my company’s Outlook Web Access application – the webmail side of the Exchange server we use (Exchange 2003), I was unable to forward an email using IE 8.
Google at least claims to have Chrome tested before unleashing it unto the world. Microsoft apparently does not even test its own products. Trashing mercilessly. I know.
I was stupid enough to believe all the offhand mentions like on the Wall Street Journal that said that Internet Explorer 8’s beta actually worked nice. So much so that having not been burnt by installing Chrome, I felt bandwagonesque enough to also install IE 8.
First, IE 8 *overwrites* and *replaces* IE 7. That is as uncool and unacceptable as it gets. You (Microsoft) are replacing a WORKING, STABLE program with a BETA in an all-or-nothing move without too much warning. That’s a load of crap. Suppose you have so much faith in it that you are fine with that.
Next, Security so high it is outrageously stupid. File again, under ‘unacceptable’: on my Windows XP machine, IE 8’s default setting disable JavaScript *ENTIRELY*. I repeat, no f-n JavaScript. Never mind Flash, but you know, it 2008. JavaScript is an unproven, new tool, yup yup. Fail fail fail. Anyway, they tell you that your add-ons are disabled. You click the link to the add-on manager and lo-and-behold, ALL OF THEM APPEAR ENABLED. WTF?
So how do you solve this? According to Microsoft’s support, it is as simple as changing an f-n REGISTRY KEY?! As user friendly as entering a class id to the registry. ARE THEY NUTS? DO THEY EVEN CARE?! Is it possible to goof off even more?! A beta means ‘on the verge of release’. This is plain dreadful, Microsoft. Look in the f-n mirror and like, think again. I am so selling my miserable 10 stocks of yours. You suck beyond belief. Really. Done. Indefensible.
I am proud to put my happy fanboy glasses on and say that I installed Google Chrome on its first day. Better yet, I am writing now using it. Can you believe Firefox is no longer the cool kids’ browser. So sad. So what do I think of it having used it for precisely 10 minutes:
Yay:
Wicked Fast
Sorta cute looking
Search in the address bar works very well
Design outside of Mozilla’s reach
Process-based design is interesting, maybe it can actually work, hey think outside the box, yo
Download manager looks like the Firefox Download Bar extension, only looks waaaaay better
No Mac version. Please talk to the genius at the genius bar. I am bitter.
Nay:
No ad blocking. Yeah, Google – the ad people – will let you f- with that. I bet that is like, motivation #1 for this whole adventure
A remarkably sad day for web developers. Not only are companies going to want to test for another browser like Safari or god have mercy, Opera, you really need another pain in the but in the form of Chrome. And yeah, it renders like Safari, but its JavaScript is all new. Wheee
No integration yet with del.icio.us and web developer tools that make Firefox sing
Google needing to support users on Windows. Welcome to hell.
Only god know which nameless, oh-so-private stats are being collected on us when we use a product from a company that makes money off of that. Yeah, it’s open source, but did you read a million lines lately?
Facebook not like, 100% with Chrome: The next/previous links in the Facebook image gallery don’t work; the comment on news feed stories do not work; photo tagging is a fail too; the more I try the list gets longer – in short, FB is shafted in Chrome. Petty, I know, but I am sharing. Doubt Facebook, on the Microsoft side and a Google wannabe anti-Christ, wants to care.
Regardless, I root for Google. Another ballsy, way beyond uber-cool idea. Seems to be running. Was a pain to download because apparently they are so deluged with requests it hurt their servers.