IE8 Soon to Play Nicer With Other Browsers

[Marcus Yam]

Express means that Microsoft got to choose for you.

IE8 Soon to Play Nicer With Other Browsers : Read more

 

[htoonthura]

How hard is it to change your default browser? Why people are making a big deal out of it?

 

[dman3k]

Just a bunch of whiners...

 

[IzzyCraft]

Don't all browsers try to trick you into getting on your default list anyways.

 

[apmyhr]

I was affected! It took me two whole seconds to fix the situation and make Firefox my default browser again. It was horrible! Darn you M$

 

[ckthecerealkiller]

Wait.... People are actually downloading IE8?

 

[zerapio]

[citation][nom]ckthecerealkiller[/nom]Wait.... People are actually downloading IE8?[/citation]
You REALLY don't want to stick with IE 6 in your computer. Even if you use another browser (like I do) you must update and patch IE to keep it from being a vector for malware to infect your computer.

 

[jimmysmitty]

[citation][nom]htoonthura[/nom]How hard is it to change your default browser? Why people are making a big deal out of it?[/citation]

Because if people didn't do you think a lawsuit against MS would ever work? Not really.

The fact is that people claimed they couldn't use another browser other than IE. These people are gold diggers.

MS has never forced anything upon ppl per say. People are just too stupid to know how to change the simpleist of things.

 

[ckthecerealkiller]

[citation][nom]zerapio[/nom]You REALLY don't want to stick with IE 6 in your computer. Even if you use another browser (like I do) you must update and patch IE to keep it from being a vector for malware to infect your computer.[/citation]
I guess I forgot the /sarcasm

 

[maigo]

People are installing IE because they DON'T want to use it?
OR
They added a check box to the installer, that took 30 seconds?

 

[skykaptain]

I have always used the custom settings whenever possible. Never had a problem.

 

[Guest]

The crybabies that made this possible just granted me the freedom to forever living without the abomination of Firefox.

It's the same group of shitheads that will sue someone at a restaurant for farting audibly, and I refuse to use a crippled OS where failfox or some other lackluster, broken-source piece of junk browser is forced upon you.

 

[seatrotter]

Let's face it. A lot of "computer/internet users" are really not that savvy to use one. I'm sure a lot of you are shouting that they be taken back to the stone age. But in reality? You'd be the one who'd be pissed as hell when constantly being asked questions by family members, and would be the first one to suggest to them to buy a computer and search for the answers themselves in the interweb tubes. Heck, you'd even be the one to set them up yourselves.

Stop making it seem like a clear-cut issue of "people who can't change their default browser in less than -1s" are lazy/stupid. Ok, so maybe some of them are

 

[zerapio]

[citation][nom]ckthecerealkiller[/nom]I guess I forgot the /sarcasm[/citation]
oops

 

[eddieroolz]

Firefox and Safari and others have this same default behavior, I don't see them getting dinged.

Anti-Microsoft sentiment wins again. Microsoft then has to make public "amends" to try to make people happy. What a world.

 

[hemelskonijn]

The problem is not that the default setting is to turn IE8 in to your default browser since all major browsers suggest this.
The problem is or was at least that IE8 did not ask or suggest it but just went along to do it.

Yes it only takes 2s to change back the default browser on your computer but here is the kicker its your computer should not have to change it back in the first place.
Ultimately you should be in control and not by being able to set things back the way you want them but by keeping them the way you want them for you are the Person in Personal Computer.

 

[mitch074]

@eddieroolz: Firefox does ask at install time if you want to install it as default: there's a (checked) checkbox on the third install screen that says so (meaning that you can choose not to during a default install run).

In IE 8, if you chose 'express install', the default choice, only your previous search engine would be kept, the rest would be overwritten - including your default browser.

Apple got quite a lot of flak for forcing the install and defaulting to Safari whenever iTunes got installed, and that is indeed true.

 

[eddieroolz]

[citation][nom]mitch074[/nom]@eddieroolz: Firefox does ask at install time if you want to install it as default: there's a (checked) checkbox on the third install screen that says so (meaning that you can choose not to during a default install run).In IE 8, if you chose 'express install', the default choice, only your previous search engine would be kept, the rest would be overwritten - including your default browser.Apple got quite a lot of flak for forcing the install and defaulting to Safari whenever iTunes got installed, and that is indeed true.[/citation]

Thank you kind sir for you through explanations. I was wrong about Firefox but my statement about Safari stands true, then.

 

[apmyhr]

[citation][nom]hemelskonijn[/nom]The problem is not that the default setting is to turn IE8 in to your default browser since all major browsers suggest this.The problem is or was at least that IE8 did not ask or suggest it but just went along to do it.Yes it only takes 2s to change back the default browser on your computer but here is the kicker its your computer should not have to change it back in the first place.Ultimately you should be in control and not by being able to set things back the way you want them but by keeping them the way you want them for you are the Person in Personal Computer.[/citation]
Yes it is your computer. But it is also their]/b] software that you choose to install. It's perfectly reasonable for a company to assume that when you install their browser, you intend on actually using it, therefor I don't see anything wrong with them setting it as the default browser when you select "Express Settings." And Microsoft does ultimatley give you control by letting you easily choose "Custom Settings." You don't have to be an advance haxorz to know how to use Custom settings during software installs. If you don't know how to do this, then you probably aren't tech savy enough to care about what browser your using in the first place.

 

[jgiron]

it's a marketing strategy, IE8 gets downloaded, sets itself as a default forcing users to use it. Imagine everyone who downloaded IE8 and were forced to use it, or run it just 1 time. Now they say Opps, we'll make it more friendly. The marketing goal of IE8 has already been met.

 

[hardwarekid9756]

kinda sorta yeah? I'm a pretty solid IE lover (I know, hate me) simply because it does what I want, and good judicious browsing techniques and a solid platform outweigh all security risks for everything, always. So, I just use what's packaged and it launches fast, browses at adequate speeds, and does what I want. When a web page doesn't work, I open FF, so I'm not a purist. But, i had FF as my default for a while because my GF likes it and when IE8 auto-installed and i configured it (I'm incredibly lazy and just used express because they looked ok) it switched it back to IE8 and I didn't know. My Girlfriend got a little ticked and gave me a frowny face when i came home the next day, but it didn't do any damage, and I don't necessarily care what browser i use as long as it's not chrome (Google is fail).

 

[hemelskonijn]

apmyhr:

They are allowed to assume i am going to use their browser though like more and more people i use multiple browsers they should at least consider that and as long as they set their browser to be default without asking the end user first it is intrusive.
If you install in example itunes and quicktime becomes your default video player i bet you would be itchy about it.
Setting back the file types to the player of your choice is not hard to do but, it should not be needed.

As you say so yourself you don't need to be an elite h4x0r to make an educated choice between browsers and that makes it the more obvious that the checkbox should not be only be in the advanced installation.
Its not like they break laws by not offering every one a choice its just not polite.

For the people like you who just don't care it should not matter any way since if micrsoft does there job right you don't even need to make the extra click while the rest of us gets the feeling we are back in control of our systems.

 

[kentlowt]

If it's a marketing strategy then what is the strategy? Bragging rights? Cause they are not making money off it. To me it's a waste of resources for MS to continue to make a free browser. Spend the money on windows or something you pay for and try to make it something you want to spend money on.

This whole free browser war thing has never made sense to me from a money making perspective.

 

[hemelskonijn]

kentlowt:

Some believe that the one holding the biggest share of users on the browser market will be able to conquer the biggest share of the operating system market.
Though this was mostly stated in flames during the windows 95 era it has proven to be at least half true.
The other half can only be proven if another browser gets the number one position for sufficient time.

MSN messenger Mediaplayer and IE are important for Microsoft because of this simple reason if you use alternatives for them the step to an alternative system is getting smaller and smaller.
This is the reason Apple Mozilla and Google would prefer you to use their respected products.

And here i wrote a whole block about in essence what was maybe even is the way to snoop away users from microsoft while i do believe it to be truth personally i think now days the platform holding the games wins any war not the browser media player or whatever.
Kids play games and grow up with any system that plays their games if all games ran in linux BSD or solaris those kids would not pirate or pay their operating system they would just download a FOSS distribution of whatever they like.

 

[fulle]

@Kentlowt

When you search for a url that doesn't exist? It goes to Bing (probably searching for keywords)... and Bing generates advertising revenue. There's definitely money in it for MS... I know less about how other browsers make their money, but I know that Mozilla Firefox generates a lot of click through revenue (from google), and makes a something like a hundred million dollars a year (could be more, I haven't checked in a while).

You didn't think they were developing browsers out of the kindnesses in their hearts, did you?