Friday, September 17, 2010

Windows Internet Explorer 9 is getting the Windows 7 treatment: Forcing simplicity on everyone

Another example of a browser dumbing down to compete with Google Chrome. In the not-so-distant future, we will have nothing but a bunch of Chrome clones around. Apple never gave that choice with Safari and I fear Firefox 4 going the same way though I haven't counted it out yet as addons are like magic. Maybe Opera will still remain powerful and full-featured. I guess no one but Opera can build a full-featured yet fast, performant browser which, with even software rendering is impressive. Just look at Opera's market share and it shows how much in minority, power users are. I fear the day when I will have to abandon Microsoft platforms for Linux if this simplifying trend in their software continues.Maybe the time has come already but there's no better alternative than Windows where users found the sweet spot between simple and advanced in the 90s and abundant choice. Every Microsoft product shipped since Windows Vista is limited in customizability or missing features found in its predecessor: Windows 7 and major parts of the GUI (such as the shell, Windows Explorer, Windows Search, taskbar, Start menu) are dumbed down as are Windows Media Player, Windows Virtual PC, Office 2007/2010, even Visual Studio 2010, Encarta, MapPoint, the Windows Live suite, Windows Phone 7 and now Internet Explorer 9. It's time to realize where this company is going.