The typical user of Windows uses Internet Explorer as their web browser just because it is there. They don’t know any better, really.
To the geekier types, Internet Explorer has, well… a reputation. For sucking. People flee to the many alternatives like Firefox, Opera, and these days, Chrome.
Well, Microsoft is fighting back in an odd way. To advertise the release of Internet Explorer 10, they came out with this:
Definitely tongue-in-cheek, and pretty cute. Also, a fairly ballsy move. Essentially, they’re admitting it sucks. And, now it just sucks less.
If anything, it amuses us because now even Microsoft is admitting their browser has been less than stellar.
Times sure do change. It used to be that IE was the dominant browser. It wasn’t long ago that, even with the popularity of Firefox at the time, the PCMech audience was still using IE by as much as 80%.
These days, only about 25% of the PCMech audience is using Internet Explorer. Firefox leads IE by just a hair, and the winner is Chrome, coming in at about 33% of the audience.
What do you think? Do you think Microsoft is smart to embrace this reputation and make light of it in their advertising?
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IE may have its moments, from time to time and under certain circumstances. MS could well run their slogan as, “When all the others cannot deliver, why not give us a try?” Or, “If you cannot get rid of it, use it!”.
(Full disclosure: My other machine has Vista.)
I never have understood your hatred for Internet Explorer. I use it because it works good, not just because it’s there. Chrome works fine for me too, and I use it quite a bit, but prefer IE. I like the layout, the speed, and the ease of use of Internet Explorer. I use Firefox when I’m using Linux and sometimes on Windows, but it’s slow on both. It seems to me that you hate IE because it’s there. I miss Rich Menga. He wrote useful, interesting articles. Now it’s back to the “windows Sucks” stuff from the past.
No, I dislike IE because it is historically uncompliant with web standards. As a person who used to do a lot of web development, Internet Explorer has always been the most difficult browser to work with. And, I’m not alone in that assessment.
If its getting better, then awesome.