Openness and IE or “Talk to us!”
September 27, 2007 at 6:02 am
Filed Under Mozilla, Technology
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It came to my attention that comments started to be posted about my Borgzilla blog post over on the IEBlog on an unrelated post there.
They haven’t really said anything phenomenal but the points made here were noticed. Dave Massy, also formerly of Microsoft and the IE team, has also had some things to say about Internet Explorer on his new blog lately. Without my knowledge, he had also posted about the old Connect site (aka “Borgzilla”) in mid-August. I recommend checking him out for another perspective.
One thing that I see that is really missing from this conversation is any commentary for any member of the Internet Explorer team. There hasn’t been a peep in response to the comments on their own blog (always bad form and something discouraged when I was involved with it) and none of the members of the team who blog on their own seem to be saying anything. This needs to change, in my own special opinion.
IE7 was done, really done, by the end of the Summer in 2006. Heck, it was done except for bug fixes when I left in May, 2006. It is now, officially, the Fall of 2007. It has been more than a year since work finished on IE7. More than 200 people work on Internet Explorer (heck, if you count “contingent staff” as well as employees, there were more than 120 QA people on IE in mid-2006 and I bet over 100 developers). They’ve all been working on something for a year now. You wouldn’t know it by any public announcements, demonstrations, or posts on their blog. Most of what gets posted there is a retread on IE7 features and not terribly often at that.
Hey, Dean, Tony, and the rest of the IE leadership, what are you guys doing? Hello? Is this thing on? I know you don’t want to spill the beans on your next big thing, especially to avoid your next great ideas being copied (and more quickly shipped) by competitors, but you could at least give us a hint as to what the IE team has been doing for a year. I know you guys and you aren’t unintelligent or inarticulate. Please start talking to the web community about what you are up to with IE8. You have good people working on IE. Don’t be afraid to let them post something to the IEBlog about future work and ideas. The world is curious.
For others reading this, I know that the IE team is active again with the W3C and its working groups (and good for them for doing so!). Can someone give a summary of what they seem to be up to there? I’m not going to go through a few hundred pages of e-mail from lists from Japan to figure it out but I am curious.
On that note, I’ll go back to my vacation. I figured that I should post something more than photos of Japan and lists of places that I’ve been or to which I am going. Hardly riveting fare for most people, I am sure. It make my mother happy, though. :-)
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9 Responses to “Openness and IE or “Talk to us!””
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All original work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
It’s a shame; they were roundly praised during the IE7 launch for the change in mindset which saw them open channels of communication with the community. Post-launch, however, they’ve become completely opaque.
Since I joind the HTML WG in March, all messages from a microsoft.com e-mail address are Chris Wilson’s, except for one message from Paul Nelson (@winse.microsoft.com, whatever that means). Chris was quite responsive regarding Microsoft’s position on whether HTML is/should be a versioned language. Apart from this, Microsoft is invisble.
Well Said!
Is SVG support going to be native in IE8? What the heck have they been doing for the last 12 months?
Being “secretive” on new features is fine, but providing info on bugs that have been fixed, should be a #1 priority! It helps build confidence in the IE Team, and the IE Browser. Best of all, they don’t need to worry one bit about another browser copying them.
I’ve also heard some people say that MS doesn’t want to indicate that they have fixed bugs, because they don’t want to cast a bad light on IE.
To this, I respond: “JUST DO IT!”
The Bugs in IE are numerous, and mostly well known. Most of us have encountered them at least once so revealing them as flaws is not an issue.
Hearing that something is fixed, is a load off our minds, and helps boost the IE image as a browser that *can* keep up.
It’s a mistake to equate not speaking with not listening. Yes, we need to speak, and we will.
The Internet Explorer team remains hard at work on future releases of the browser, and feedback from the community (on the blog and elsewhere) on user and developer pain points is still helping to guide our work.
I am eagerly looking forward to announcing new features and fixes on the IE Blog as soon as possible.
Eric,
How would anyone know what the IE team is up to? If you look at the IEBlog, there are times where most of a month goes by without a post. Is there a super-secret channel of communication or is this just a return to the previous “Black Hole” phenomena?
I know you and I am happy to give you the benefit of the doubt but it has been a YEAR. People need to step up and start talking.
That’s the most we’ve heard about IENext all year!
And we still know nothing.
[...] it was done except for bug fixes when I left in May, 2006. It is now, officially, the Fall of 2007. It has been more than a year since work finished on IE7. More than 200 people work on Internet Explorer (heck, if you count ‘contingent staff’ [...]
[...] it was done except for bug fixes when I left in May, 2006. It is now, officially, the Fall of 2007. It has been more than a year since work finished on IE7. More than 200 people work on Internet Explorer (heck, if you count ‘contingent staff’ as well [...]
[...] Openness and IE, or “Talk to us!”; IE Team [...]