We will definitely provide Chrome Frame as an option to Internet Explorer users who want to start up the editor. We think it’s a great solution for people who might be unable or uncomfortable to switch browsers but open to using a plug-in.

Again, although those browsers are better, we can’t force a user to switch. We throw up modal “unsupported” dialogs, we put information the top of the page, whatever. This doesn’t change the fact that the majority of people currently using IE are using IE because they don’t care enough to switch. They don’t care about our wars for standards, they don’t care about HTML5 compatibility. They want something that works when they go to it.

What Microsoft has done with IE is horrible. It’s an abysmal excuse for a “browser”. But that doesn’t change the fact that ignoring 58% of users is something that very few people can do.

If I’m not mistaken, Chrome (chromium) is cross-platform, and is available in both Windows, OS X, and Linux. Same goes for Firefox. Developing cutting-edge technology or software doesn’t mean it’s platform-specific, it’s as open as any other software can be, if you have the right tools. And the tools are generally *free*, and I’d argue that they’re also more secure than IE.

That’s true, but that’s whats _standards_ are for. When a browser deliberately ignores existing standards, the moral value “accessible by anyone” doesn’t apply anymore. It’s the browser’s creator, _not you_, who decided to break that principle, so it’s _not you_ who is not obligated to restore it.

Of course, there’s also the principle to “be conservative in what you send and liberal in what you receive”, but that applies to _minor derivations_ from the standard. Is does _not_ require you to deal with every _broken_ client application.

(As an analogy, the principle of tolerance in society does not require you to tolerate fanatism and violence.)

You’re right…
Internet Explorer is not the popular browser on my site and hasn’t since I started it. Firefox continues to dominate the the stats on my site as the preferred browser.

For Microsoft the single most embarrassing application they have ever made is Internet Explorer; it’s symbolic of everything that’s wrong at Microsoft. They think they know everything, how everyone is supposed to do things and they try to create the rules, but all they do is succeed in showing how lackadaisical and shortsighted they are.

Internet Explorer is 1% of Internet browsers that is just absent and a complete reject of web standards. And at this point, I could care less if they have a ‘compatibility mode’ in v8. Just by offering an alternate mode they conceded they’re completely mucked up. And regardless of changes they would make now, I’d never go back to Internet Explorer…

The numbers of users using Internet Explorer are diluted by the fact it’s pushed to every Windows PC in the world by ‘auto updates’; that doesn’t mean it’s the default browser. Or if they _have to use it_ for work- like me.

When the US government wants to use FireFox over Internet Explorer; that’s really saying something.

I think the decision you’ve made was not taken lightly, and from a business standpoint, I think you’ve made the right decision. When 95% of the browsers out there support standards, you should go with what works consistently.

Nice post.

Thanks,
LHenryJr.
http://www.lehsys.com

But as a rebuttal- not meant to be argumentative, but thought-provoking: isn’t one of the big strengths of the idea of the internet to be accessible by anyone, anywhere? If you’re making a desktop app, it’s one thing to constrain yourself to a single OS, because you’re targeting a specific need by a specific audience; why bother making a web app at all if you’re limiting your reach? Save yourself time and make a desktop app that can leverage the power of a lower-level programming language.

I wouldn’t buy a Mac solely so that I could use, say, a specific Video Editing software; I’d rather find the best PC alternative. People aren’t going to understand why the product doesn’t work, and if you give them a helpful “here, try an alternative” dialog, they’ll go elsewhere. The people who are using IE are the people who don’t care about browser wars; everyone who does already knows that IE is the worst browser.

Demo? We haven’t released anything public yet. Maybe you’re talking about Xopus, but that’s another product (and Xopus works on Internet Explorer). Our own product will work on Google Chrome.

Regarding the lost potential market: that’s obviously the biggest risk we’re taking here. There are lots of profitable companies creating applications for the Mac, which has a smaller share than Firefox, Safari and Chrome combined. We feel that it should be possible on the web as well.