I told you not to use plug-ins

Well, Microsoft has lost it’s suit with Eolas regarding details as to how plug-ins functioned with the so-called “browser”, Internet Explorer.  What this means is that Microsoft will now be court ordered to revise the way their browser deals with plug-ins.

So all of you schmucks out there that are still living in the Works Best with IE Because I Don’t Know Any Better Land will have to dramatically change your site if you want it to not be a broken mess of unaccessible (and absolutely horrible) Flash, Java, and PDFs.  I told you not to use all of that crap anyway if you weren’t going to do it right.  Well, I at least said it at my screen while browsing your site.  Close enough.  Either way, you were warned.

As Vincent Flanders points out, this would be a great opportunity while Microsoft is forced into opening their code for :IE: to fix their CSS bugs.  Since they took the policy of not working on :IE: 6 anymore, this is really their last chance to save face in the modern browser war.

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Comments

As much as I usually disparage Microsoft (and, thus, :IE:), I have to side with them in this instance.  Eolas never should have been issued that patent in the first place since there was plenty of prior art before that.

Plus, assuming I understand what the patent itself says (and, granted, it’s been a few days since I read anything else about it) the interpretation that would put Microsoft in an infringing position is a pretty loose one.

While this suit is with Microsoft, it should also be noted that other browsers (Mozilla, Safari, Opera, etc.) will likely be affected by the final decision, as well…

Well I lost my reply at work as the router when out inbetween typing and hitting submit…

At any rate, the gist of my reply was that I was not arguing either of those two points.  Merely stating that these type of sites were bad news anyway, and typically are made by the people that either sniff for or downright demand that you are using Internet Explorer.  Developers that are not trapped in that foolish loop of doing things the wrong way are also not likely to call external applications from their site as the only, or even primary way to deliver their content.

Plus that it’s a good opportunity for MS to secretly fix the CSS bugs and pretend like they had it right the whole time.  But if they do that, it will again mess up the developers in paragraph one who are programming TO :IE:’s flaws.

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