Recently, Microsoft offered the development community a test drive of its forthcoming Internet Explorer (IE) 9 web browser.
Some developers saw Microsoft's overture as an attempt to win back a web design and development community that has come to dislike its web browser—or at least dislike working with its web browser.
"We want the developer community to have an earlier hands-on experience with the progress we're making on the IE platform," said Dean Hachamovitch, general manager of Internet Explorer, in a blog post. "The platform preview, and the feedback loop it is a part of, makes a major change from previous IE releases."
While this is seen as a huge step—given that Microsoft has almost completely ignored feedback in the past and still has not participated in the HTML5 standard—it may not be enough to win back developers unless IE 9 goes much further than the test drive suggests.
For example, even developers that use Windows, Bing, and other Microsoft products tend to dislike and distrust IE. In this post, I have put together a list of several examples of the sort of animosity that developers have for IE—particularly IE 6. This is what Microsoft must overcome if IE is going to have a chance in the long run.
Mashable Says IE 6 Must Die
No doubt that most of the anti-IE venom is aimed at the much older IE 6. In this article, Ben Parr described why killing IE 6 was essential for the Internet to progress. That is a lot of blame to place on a browser's narrow shoulders.
David Walsh Says IE 6 Must Die
Nearly three years ago, developer David Walsh, who enjoys a large following, was calling for the end of IE 6, which at that time was six years old.
IE is Being Mean to Me
One AJAX developer's hatred for IE spawned a song that has more than 47,000 views on YouTube.
Which Browser for Me
Although Which Browser for Me does include a link to IE 8, the fact that two influential developer-related companies, Wuit and Envato, felt compelled to encourage folks not to use a particular version of IE is telling.
IE Is Easy to Crash
Others in the community have pointed out that IE has large security holes and is easy to crash. Specifically, Crash IE brings down IE7 or earlier with a single line of code that has no effect on modern browsers.
Summing Up
IE 9 might actually be a great browser, but it may not go far enough to catch up with the rising stars of the browser industry, Firefox and Chrome.
