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Comment by cookiecaper | Hacker News Reader

Microsoft does not want IE to work according to standard and they don't want to provide a full featureset. A lot of smart people work at Microsoft, it's not like they can't figure this out. Microsoft's business strategy involves differentiating IE in basics like rendering and performance so that you have to buy Windows, test your websites in IE, and I think they still hope that they'll return to utter dominance one day. In so doing, they want you to decide that it's only worth your time to support IE since that's what most of your userbase uses anyway, thereby also requiring Windows for the web.

They won't support HTML5/Canvas fully until IE13 at this rate. It conflicts with their proprietary Silverlight technology, so any implementation of such in IE is going to be broken and incomplete, as we've come to expect as the standard.

Microsoft wants Windows to be mandatory for web surfing. That's the goal, that's why IE still exists.

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"Microsoft's business strategy involves differentiating IE in basics like rendering and performance so that you have to buy Windows, test your websites in IE"

So. Microsoft is losing lots of browser marketshare every year to keep selling Windows copies to web developers that represent, say, 0.05% of all users?

"It conflicts with their proprietary Silverlight technology, so any implementation of such in IE is going to be broken and incomplete, as we've come to expect as the standard.

That make more sense. And I think you're right with that.

Well, developers write the applications that the masses use. The strategy is a relic from IE's days as the only significant force in browser marketshare. Microsoft wants you to consider that almost all of your users will be using IE. They want you to see that and then decide that IE is the only browser you can afford to support. And then everyone is stuck with Windows, and it self-perpetuates, because users need IE to go to the websites they like, and then more users are using IE/Windows. You see? That's why IE features are always "broken" and half-implemented. If HTML etc. worked as defined in IE, people could abandon IE at will.

IE is still the dominant browser on most sites, so maybe that strategy still has value. It's becoming less and less significant as OS X (which comes with Safari by default) and Firefox gain marketshare. I wonder when they'll decide they need to reconsider; IE has certainly cost them a lot so far, legally.

You see? That's why IE features are always "broken" and half-implemented. If HTML etc. worked as defined in IE, people could abandon IE at will.

If IE worked fine people will abandon it? I think it's backwards.

And remember we are not talking only about implementing web standards, but also security issues, stability and velocity.

It's becoming less and less significant as OS X (which comes with Safari by default) and Firefox gain marketshare

I think Chrome will eat more IE market share than Firefox and Safari in the following years, mostly because Google's massive advertisement capacity.

I think Chrome will eat more IE market share than Firefox and Safari in the following years, mostly because Google's massive advertisement capacity.

More likely because Google is big and ubiquitous, and people trust them. "Oh look, Google does one of those browser things, and they tell me it's fast. I wonder what happens if I download it..."

I don't believe it's primarily about advertising.

Chrome startup on my Ubuntu and Windows boxes is an order of magnitude faster than Firefox, and significantly faster than IE. I can open a Chrome window and navigate through two pages before FF even opens--even if I started FF first.

That's a tremendous incentive to switch, even if Youtube videos are broken sometimes. :) I haven't looked back.

I don't think they want to remain incompatible anymore. This has been true for a long time, but you have to look closely at IE8 to see the signals. They're really trying hard to change.

I suspect there are some execs who are still not so eager to support open standards, but the IE devs are very willing to change for good.

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