Give Microsoft a Pat on the Back
If you haven’t just crawled out from under a rock, you know about Microsoft’s version-targeting proposal for IE 8. If you have just crawled out from under a rock, welcome back, and go read:
- Beyond DOCTYPE: Web Standards, Forward Compatibility, and IE8
- From Switches to Targets: A Standardista’s Journey
- Compatibility and IE8
- The Bruhaha of the Meta Declaration
- Standards mode is the new quirks mode
- Version targeting in IE 8, and an alternative path for Microsoft
I am not going to express my opinion on the topic just yet. I have some ideas, but I want to think them through and put together a considered opinion. However, I did have something that I just had to get out.
I think Microsoft really deserves a pat on the back for allowing this to be an open process. It is wonderful that all of this discussion and debate is taking place now, before even a beta of Internet Explorer 8 is available. That gives the web development community an opportunity to influence how it is implemented and, perhaps, even if it is implemented. It gives other browser-makers a chance to implement the same functionality in their browsers, if they choose. It shows us that they are listening and they really are trying. Think what you will about the way they are trying to do it, but it seems to me they are trying to do what is best for developers and users alike.
So, kudos to you, Microsoft. Here’s hoping you are truly listening.
January 26th, 2008 at 8:54 am
It’s not an open process - the non-Microsoft employees involved had to sign NDAs. And Chris Wilson has said in the past ‘And because we do that, because there are so many people who rely on us, we have to be very, very careful to be 100% confident when we announce things like “that’s exactly what we’re doing,” or “that’s the date that we are aiming for.”‘ so now that it’s announced, there’s very little possibility of change.