The worst part of Windows 7? Internet Explorer

Monday, October 26th, 2009

In the latest instalment of our experiment to see whether Windows 7 can convert a hardened Mac user, Chris Brennan tries to get to grips with Internet Explorer

A few years ago I really, really liked Internet Explorer for Mac, but Steve Jobs called Bill Gates a sissy and the Macintosh business unit in Redmond ceased making it. That’s what I was told happened anyway. So it’s been a few years since I used IE in anger.

The Internet is central to what I do professionally and, for better or worse, where I get most of my news and a good chunk of my entertainment, too. On my Mac I use Safari and, I’m not just saying this, it suits me fine. It’s not the greatest thing since sliced bread and neither is it full of magic and ponies.

However, I’ve found Internet Explorer on Windows 7 to be a pain in the proverbial: slow, stuttering and prone to crashing. In all, IE is just a bit rubbish. In fact, so far IE has been the only part of my Windows 7 experience that’s been anything less than moderately good. Perhaps it’s my Apple-centric way of working, but Internet Explorer simply isn’t a tool I’d trust to get me through the day.

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The real facts about Internet Explorer 8

Friday, June 19th, 2009

If there’s one thing you could never accuse Microsoft of lacking, it’s good old-fashioned Chutzpah.

The world’s favourite monopolist has launched a new “Get The Facts” campaign for Internet Explorer 8, that seems remarkably short on fact and a bit top-heavy on the codswallop.

You can see Microsoft’s version of the facts running down the left-hand side of the page, where the company has decided to compare Internet Explorer 8 against Firefox and Chrome. Yes, that’s right. Internet Explorer 8 wins in every single category, apart from a couple where it generously shares the honours with its rivals.

We could spend a couple of hours demolishing the argument for almost each and every one of those Microsoft ticks. Then again, we could spend a couple of hours shooting fish in a barrel or stealing sweets from children with only one arm, but we’ve got better things to do, so we’re just going to deal with the most blatant of Microsoft’s whoppers.

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How to use Accelerators and visual search in Internet Explorer 8

Thursday, March 19th, 2009

Two of the big new features in IE8 are its Accelerators and visual search facilities. Microsoft, unsurprisingly, claims that both will make a big difference to your browsing habits. But what does it all mean?

Accelerators are the headline act. Think of them as contextual searching: the ability to do a search related to any piece of text on a page. But IE8 doesn’t simply perform the equivalent of copy-and-pasting your highlighted text into Google: you can do plenty more.

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Internet Explorer blocks off Microsoft Store

Monday, June 2nd, 2008

“Microsoft today announced the launch of Microsoft Store, an online retail destination which, for the first time, brings together a broad range of Microsoft’s consumer software products to a single location,” reads the breathless press release that’s just landed in my inbox.

“Microsoft Store will allow customers to easily explore and discover the company’s portfolio of consumer products…”

Erm, no it won’t. Because when we tried to visit www.microsoftstore.co.uk we were confronted by the following error message:

The press release adds: “Microsoft’s Store ESD platform will be made available to partners in the future, following rigorous testing of the consumer experience.” Such as checking consumers can actually see the website, perhaps?