IE 9

I tried the IE 9 beta out last night.  I had trouble thinking of a way to describe it, so I will go with my original, awkward summary - it feels like Microsoft is approaching their consumer oriented web browser the same way they treat their professional products.

See, if you're just a normal computer user, MS doesn't really have to try and sell you on its wares.  Chances are you're going to upgrade your computer right around the time that a new version of Windows comes out, in which case they've already got you.  Businesses, on the other hand, are trickier.  They're going to spend a hell of a lot more, and as a result, they're going to be much more hesitant to update their software on a regular basis.  It is up to Microsoft to find ways to get them to do so anyway.  They have a few methods, one of which is to make a product work on multiple OS's, but work best on only one.  If you want all the new features (and chances are, at least one of them won't be useless), you either pony up, or take what you can get.  Sooner or later, your OS of choice won't be supported at all, in which case you will have to move on whether you like it or not.  Another classic tactic is to lay a ton of sheen and polish on the surface of a program, but leave the inner workings and menus exactly the same, leading to an aesthetic nightmare and, in some cases, a program that spends too much time with useless, sellable features that it fails to work on the issues which really need addressing.

These tactics pretty much sum up what MS has done with IE9. Take a look:

-  It is tightly integrated into Windows 7, with all sorts of features which I haven't yet seen
-  It will run on Vista, but without all the same features
-  It won't run at all on XP
- The interface is brand new, minimal, and integrated into the look and feel of Aero.  Meanwhile, the Internet Options menu is exactly the same as it has been since IE4 or so.  Not only does it look old, but it makes you wonder - if IE keeps supporting all these new features on the web, then why are we still configuring a web browser the same way we did in the days of dial up?

MS is using IE to give users the double deuce.  It is telling WinXP users that if they're pretty much screwed at this point, while Vista users are going to have to pay for spending money on the company's mistake. 

Thank goodness for options.