Filed under: Microsoft, Browsers
You might hate it, but would you use IE8 for $10,000?
You'll have to do a few things to get in the action. First, of course, you'll have to become a legal resident of Australia. The DIAC website can help you with the process. Once you've checked that off, you also have to follow @tengrand_IE8 on Twitter to get the daily clues and then put on your Columbo trench coat and use IE8 to uncover the road to riches.
Gotta love the tagline they used: "But you'll never find it using old Firefox (So get rid of it, or get lost.)"
Oh, you crazy Aussies!
I know it's a contest to promote their own browser and it makes sense to use proprietary features to ensure people are actually using IE8, but how Microsoft is that? "This is the most compliant Internet Explorer yet, but we're running our least compliant contest ever using it! Yeeeeeeeeeehaw!"
Wouldn't we all love it if the winner used Firefox and IETab to pull off a win? To quote Bart Simpson, "The ironing is delicious."
[via NeoWin]
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So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do.
Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game.
The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
shaunisadirty said 11:07AM on 6-17-2009
Since I use IE8 normally, yeah. Safari and Chrome are a complete joke, Firefox is alright but I absolutely love the look and simplicity of IE8. And no, I never have problems with security or speed or anything..those were IE6 days.
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rcarm said 11:15AM on 6-17-2009
User Agent Switcher should also work. Hooray for add-ons!
rcarm said 11:16AM on 6-17-2009
Weird, I didn't even hit the reply button.
TruthBringer said 11:41AM on 6-17-2009
I agree 100%. IE8 is all I use. I will support Internet Explorer til the end, but I hope it never dies. I don't have security/speed issues either. It is just the IE haters who complain about it. Safari and Chrome are a joke. Do they do anything that I need them to do that IE8 can't do? Absolutely not. IE8 is simple and quick, that's why I like it. Plus, the accelerators and web slices are very cool.
Neuro said 12:40PM on 6-17-2009
Yeah, you see never any problems with IE because web developers are spending weeks and months coding ridiculous hacks and special cases for your ridiculously outdated browser (and reserving any interesting technologies for technical demos and minor enhancements, since IE wouldn't show them).
For our current private project we've decided to write editor working only in the latest non-IE browsers (since it will be used only by us) and you wouldn't believe, how releasing that feels, and how much quicker the development goes (and yes, we test Safari, Firefox, Chrome and sometimes Opera).
You might prefer the IE gui, move power to you. But if MS didn't hate all web developers, they would give up on their rendering core and replace it with gecko or webkit years ago.
Brett Bailey said 10:02PM on 6-17-2009
" I never have problems with security or speed or anything..those were IE6 days."
That YOU know of, by the way, nice pictures *snickers*
-brett
Alex M said 11:43AM on 6-17-2009
Singling out Firefox is retarded. IE6 is IE8's biggest rival.
"But you'll never find it using old IE SIX. (So get rid of it. Or get lost.)"
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a said 12:12PM on 6-17-2009
IE + Twitter = best combo ever.
not
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Quikboy said 8:20PM on 6-17-2009
It's not exactly a combo to begin with...
That's like saying a book and a page are a combo. Just because the publisher lets you view text on a certain page, doesn't really mean they're a combo. Same with Microsoft using Twitter in IE8.
Michael K Pate said 12:17PM on 6-17-2009
"Safari and Chrome are a complete joke." - shaunisadirty
"Safari and Chrome are a joke." - TruthBringer
Glad to see you two can agree in your IE love. I am typing this in Firefox and have Chrome open as well. I actually preferred Safari 3 to 4 but it is still a useful alternative when I need a third browser for something. I find IE8 really useful ... for that 1% of sites I go to that still require it. Otherwise, I never launch it.
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Crazy Serb said 1:19PM on 6-17-2009
"I agree 100%. IE8 is all I use. I will support Internet Explorer til the end, but I hope it never dies. I don't have security/speed issues either. It is just the IE haters who complain about it. Safari and Chrome are a joke. Do they do anything that I need them to do that IE8 can't do? Absolutely not."
It's not IE haters who complain about it... it's mostly web developers (like me) who need to spend twice as much time writing hacks and alternatives to code and pages developed for "normal" browsers, just so you can view those pages without any issues.
And Chrome a joke? You're not serious, are you? It's the fastest browser out there? It loads up even before you have managed to lift off a finger from your mouse after pressing on that Chrome icon. And it loads certain websites significantly faster than IE/Firefox do (I know - I use it exclusively to manage all the Wordpress blogs and client sites as it saves me hours of waiting and loading time).
P.S. - Do Safari and Chrome do anything IE can't do? Yes. They display the damn webpages properly, the way they were supposed to displayed, without having to hack them, rewrite them, make them IE compliant, etc.
And just for the record, after 8 years of web development I've given up on IE - now I simply design for standards compliant browsers and include a little custom piece of code that displays a message for IE users notifying them if they happen to experience issues with displaying the pages to actually go ahead and upgrade their browser from broken IE to something more "reliable". Problem solved. I save a few days of frustration on my part, and the visitors to the site, if they have an issue with it - well, f@ck them - I don't want ignorant people browsing my sites anyway. Get with the times or get out.
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B said 2:27PM on 6-17-2009
So in other words, the websites you develope only work well for 2 out of every ten visitors? And the remaining 8 out of 10 can f- off?
Crazy Serb said 2:40PM on 6-17-2009
No.
That's not what I said.
I said that I design them according to what works on all other browsers.
And since most of it works on IE as well, there usually are no problems. But if there are, I don't fix them anymore and don't spend days hacking them anymore.
It's really not my problem that a certain company goes off the path, develops their own browser and standards, then preloads and forces that browser on everyone's computer even though it works on totally different (if not messed up sometimes) standards than everything else out there, and then ignores calls to fix all that from pretty much everyone who notices and goes along fixing whatever they regard as worthy of fixing.
Sure, I'll go and hack the hell out of code for IE and whatnot... only if I'm getting paid for all that time though. And since I'm usually not, well, guess what - an "upgrade to a better browser if you don't like the experience" message is there instead.
Sanskrit said 2:06PM on 6-17-2009
I agree with all the problems with IE, but can't help but notice when someone says how much they love it. I wonder if someone were to Frankenstein the IE GUI around, say, Chrome, you'd see people chirping about "MS' greatest browser ever!"
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Saint Seminole said 6:28PM on 6-17-2009
I think that's the first time I've heard someone say "I love Internet Explorer." Go ahead and enjoy it.
Personally, I don't love any browsers, but some of them are more useful and less glitchy than others -- for my personal and business use.
I wouldn't say "Chrome is a joke," because it certainly has its place, as does Opera. Neither is my cup of tea, but I don't hate them. Goodness.
As to the original post, I have to say that contest is a little off-putting. I'd keep away from the contest just because of its wording. That's okay, MS, I've got better things to do with my time, and when I need a browser, I'll use one that I chose based on its merits, not because of tricky advertising.
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whiskey said 7:40PM on 6-17-2009
Loving Internet Explorer is a complete joke, right?
What's there to love? Lack of standards? Lack of support of some pretty basic stuff? No useful Addons? The fact that even creating a new tab takes too much time? Slow Javascript? No CSS3? No HTML5? No really useful addons? The fact that it's keeping it's lesser alternative versions (IE6 and IE7) still alive?
The list is too long for this humble web designer to keep on going.
I want to use this opportunity to thank those dedicated to help us keep our sanity by devising the hacks so IE users don't feel much the difference on their substandard browser. :D
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whiskey said 7:41PM on 6-17-2009
So I guess the answer would be ... umm ... NO!
Quikboy said 8:15PM on 6-17-2009
I don't love it either, but that doesn't mean someone can't prefer using it.
It doesn't do perfect standards, but I think IE8 has caught up with a lot in standards so no need to go berserk about it.
There are useful add-ons, but not as many as some of the other browsers you see. I'm not even sure why there aren't as many. (which you repeated 2X!)
How is it keeping its lesser alternatives alive? It's made to replace IE7 and IE6, is it not?
But I guess for just us plain regular users, it's fine. I do feel for you and other web developers though.
Quikboy said 8:26PM on 6-17-2009
I don't really see a reason why anyone would 'hate' IE8, unless their your usual anti-MS freak or a web developer that's been doing hacks to make websites work for a long time (that I can understand).
I also don't see a reason why anyone would 'love' a browser either. It's just a browser! Though I can see preferences with certain ones.
Perhaps this promotion will encourage those that have not used IE8 to use it for at least the duration of promotion, to let them test it out a bit, and I guess Microsoft is hoping they'll like it, or see it's not as bad as they think.
I use IE8 right now, and it works fine for me. I don't need unnecessary add-ons to slow me down, and even though IE8 is not perfect with standards, it's been much improved since the days of IE7.
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Haze said 2:23PM on 6-19-2009
FIREFOX is ALRIGHT?
are u people going nuts
firefox is the best and ahmmmm thanks to me
all people around me started using instead of this crappy IE thing
IE is just a nice cake stuffed with rocks inside
firefox is that beast to break it , some people complian that firefox is still slow
do u knw why cuz u hav to do 4 speeding up methods u will find them if u google it
and by the way Chrome and Safari , r not faaaaaaaaaast for god sake people open u r eyes , people who says that i dont knw maybe i think they r drunk , cuz it doesnt make any sense when they say it,
firefox is the best and microsoft is just jealous , cuz firefox is more flexible , but IE is just software u would like even to remove it from windows,
Microsoft plz find somebody else than us to fool
as even this 10000 r real?
Microsoft has lost its pride since........ u knw when?
since Bill gates left
and not they hav no job but to try B****S*** stuff
hhhhhhhhhhhhhh very funny part When LEE Mathew , said abt the IE tab extension for firefox nice one LEE
..................
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