Poll: What do you think of the new IE?

[catilley1092]

Not having used IE very much since late spring of 2009, I recently decided to try out the IE9 beta, with an unbiased attitude. And my findings surprised me, as IE9 Beta, despite the fact of early attacks against it, and my bad experience with IE8 in March 2009 (using XP Pro), has stunned me with it's appearance and speed. So much that I've made it my default browser on a couple of my OS's.

It made a five year old, wore down notebook look like new, with it's look and performance. That in itself made me want to check it out further.

Truth is, I was a loyal IE7 user until I was invited to "improve" IE last spring, by trying out IE8. On XP, it was not as good as IE7 by any means. Pages rendered improperly, had to constantly refresh the page, on and on.

But in order to move forward, I had to put my experience in the back of my head, but that was no problem. IE9 Beta did it for me.

So, what do you all think of the new IE?

Cat

 

[draceena]

I honestly have not tried it yet.

 

[clifford_cooley]

At the moment I am still using Opera. Once IE9 has completed the Beta cycle I may switch back and see how things go.

The only reason I switched to Opera to begin with, was my pages were not loading. I have tried different browsers. I have changed DNS servers. I can not seem to get a grasp of the problem.

 

[catilley1092]

The pages not loading (properly) was my reason for switching to Firefox last year. What happened was this, I had just bought the notebook. I signed up for Hotmail, and I got an email from the Windows Live team, inviting me to improve IE by trying out IE8. I didn't like it, was trying to get used to it, and then, Automatic Updates delivered SP3, I couldn't remove it at that point.

Really, it was my own fault, by not learning to backup. I had always relied on the reinstall disc to cure things, but the notebook was setup the way I wanted it, therefore I tried different browsers, and found Firefox 3.5RC. And until last week, didn't really look back.

Out of curiousness, I tried IE9 beta, and found it to be uncluttered, like IE7 was, and it looked really good. So I'm going to give it a shot on a couple of OS's, and see how it goes.

If I have problems, I'll report them here.

Cat

 

[Thrax]

It's a major leap, but it isn't enough to keep up with Chrome/Firefox/Opera. By the time IE9 exits beta and goes gold, the browsers it would be competing with will have long since improved on IE9's goals. Microsoft will be, again, a day late and a dollar short. This is what happens when a gigantic corporation with mounds of red tape has to hit a moving target: it hits where the target was, not where it's going to be.

 

[brkkab123]

I don't do beta's

I don't use any beta software. I'll install IE9 and FF4 when they're finished by Microsoft and Mozilla. Until then, they're not for me.

 

[TrainableMan]

Ever since I uninstalled IE9, IE8 has sent me through the "welcome to ie8" setup stuff 3 times so far (10 screens of do you want to make me the default, import search providers?, accelerators, etc) - it's becoming annoying.

 

[catilley1092]

That was something else that I never liked about IE8, was all of these "welcomes", accelerators (with no explanation of how to use them), and all of the garbage hogging up the screen.

IE7 was not like that, you had a uncluttered screen, and IE9 Beta is the same. I want to see a screen, not a bunch of options & toolbars.

Cat

 

[TrainableMan]

Well I love the accelerators, I used to write my own for ie6, I never went ie7. Basically the accelerator simply takes whatever text you select in the webpage and passes it as a parameter, for instance to a search engine, wiki, websters dictionary, etc; saves you having to copy it, going to the website, and then pasting it.

As for the welcome screen it should only show up once to initialize everything but I believe the ie9 beta or uninstalling it screwed up something.

 

[etalmar]

I always thought that IE8 was extremely cluttered with useless toolbars that severely detracted from usable screen space. I could design a better GUI than IE8, but Microsoft just can't seem to grasp the concept that less is more.

Even after IE9 leaves beta and is released, I would never use it on a regular basis, unless Firefox continues on its current downward spiral. Then I may have to go back to IE, which after all of its numerous incarnations, still cannot properly render certain web pages! Unbelievable but true.

 

[yodap]

I just voted neither like or dislike.
The fact is I never use IE 8 unless there is no choice in the matter. I expect I'll treat IE 9 the same way.

As for Beta's, I certainly will try many of the ones that interest me. Take Windows 7 for instance. I've been using since very early in 2009. And Office 2010. Downloaded it he first day it was available. Found out I didn't like it, so I'll save my money. I'm not afraid of Beta's breaking my system either because I'm prepared to be up and running again in an hour no matter what happens.

My advice is jump right in. If the water's too cold, jump right out.

 

[catilley1092]

There's nothing wrong with most beta software, if it comes from a good source. Way before Windows 7 was available at retail, tens of thousands of users were eagerly testing 7, giving input, and played a key part in making 7 the OS that it is. Some of them are on this very forum.

While I didn't get to participate in that trial, at the present, I'm testing SP1 Beta, as well as IE9 Beta. As well as Firefox 4.0 Beta 6 on another OS. And the next MSE also. If it were not for those who participates in testing in the "real world", not just in a lab, the final product would not be what it is when released. It would have bugs that a few lab testers can't find. It's better that the kinks are worked out before released to retail, for a better product for everyone.

Beta testing doesn't come without risk, that's why I backup often, and create plenty of restore points, just in case a problem occurs. At this time, I'm running 4 evaluation OS's, not counting the two that shipped with my computers. This allows me to beta test w/o risking my OEM OS's.

In a way, you can compare it to serving in the military. They lay it on the line daily, to protect their country.

As beta testers, we lay it on the line so that the end user will have a polished product. It's a good cause.

Cat

 

[Mychael]

I put IE8 on but much prefer FF. It's what I'm used to.

 

[beamish]

IE9beta 32bit, good. Easy to use brings up sites faster then my IE8 32 bit.
IE9beta 64bit, problems with video, with Adobe Square installed.
Use several other browsers.
For me, ease of use, speed and security in that order are important parameters for using a browser as a default browser.

 

[Jeffreyobrien]

Catilley,
IE 9 Beta has caused me some troubles now after using trainablemans advice all has come good.I had used the windows Live ID assistant at same time I was installing IE9 beta,I was not paying attention not seeing as well as I could these days anyway I have got an opinion that at least it (IE9) gives us option of getting rid of all toolbars,accelerators,pop ups,everything that was cluttering IE8 has gone Invisible.

I will continue to use it until Microsoft release the final product,until then I will continue to also watch for the x64 bit extras we have been waiting for.In all I feel that Microsoft have put some effort into the browser & I was really getting use to IE8 however this(IE9) for me is easier to use.
have a great day Everyone
respectfully
Jeffrey

 

[clifford_cooley]

I find it interesting at how everyone refers to Internet Explorer as cluttered. I have never had this problem, simply because I never install any toolbars. Even when the toolbars are installed, they can be hidden therefor not taking up space on the Menu Bar.

 

[Jeffreyobrien]

Clifford,
I do agree about most users say toolbars cluttered the browser,yes they do & yes again they can be turned off which again makes the browser more useful with less clutter.IE9 has made it clear when it is opened to use, first thing I get is startup disable tool bars to speed up startup of browser.

If Microsoft implemented that technology into IE8 well I would agree to fact it might speed up startup of browser but at end of day it is really gone from too much clutter with IE8 to almost nothing with IE9 Beta from one extreme to the other.

I use Microsoft because I don't know about the other O/S I stick to what I am use too If I had 20/20 vison again well I would of course explore all the other browser's & operating Systems for me it's Microsoft.

have a great day clifford
regards
jeffreyobrien

 

[TrainableMan]

Clifford,
IE8 comes with four bars, plus tabs, and many anti-virus programs add one more which must be active for it to scan for malicious scripts. Even if I merge the Anti-virus with the menu line everything still looks disorganized with crap over here and junk crammed there. They have removed much of the ability to personalize it as you want and their solution is you have to loose stuff to get the same amount of webpage.



In IE6 I could have every toolbar active, put things exactly where I wanted them and it only required two lines but the brains (or lack there-of) at Microsoft decided that was too convenient so now you pay for every toolbar you want with webpage real estate.


I excluded the status bar at the bottom from discussion because this has never really changed.

When you keep taking stuff away like Microsoft does you are going to make people unhappy. You personally may not mind turning off things but when it's something I use, it's annoying.

Jeffrey,
I'm sorry to hear your eyes are bothering you. I hope they get better or can be corrected with glasses.

 

[catilley1092]

As I have previously stated, I was a loyal IE7 user for many years. It was more secure than IE6 was, yet uncluttered, in fact the only way it can become cluttered is to install those toolbars. IE8 had less page space, had many problems with pages rendering properly (on XP), and seemed to be a "heavy" browser, compared to IE6 & IE7.

IE7 is probably the best browser for XP (as far as IE goes). Not too much, not too little.

Windows 7 is a whole different story altogether. While IE8 looks (and works) better on Win 7, it could be better. IE9 will be a better match, once finished. It looks more futuristic, as Windows 7 is, and like with Vista, IE8 may be the main casualty of IE9. Remember how 7 knocked Vista off the map, IE9 will do the same to IE8. The IE7 browser (mainly XP users) will probably hold it's own.

The fact is, one IE or the other will fall.

IE9 is looking better by the day.

Cat

 

[brkkab123]

Adobe has aversion of Flash Player for x64 browsers now !

Adobe now has a 64 bit version of Flash Player for any web browser now. It's called Flash Player Square. Just search Bing or Google for them. I tried uploading zipped versions of IE and Firefox/Opera versions, but they're both over the forums size limit.

Catilley,
IE 9 Beta has caused me some troubles now after using trainablemans advice all has come good.I had used the windows Live ID assistant at same time I was installing IE9 beta,I was not paying attention not seeing as well as I could these days anyway I have got an opinion that at least it (IE9) gives us option of getting rid of all toolbars,accelerators,pop ups,everything that was cluttering IE8 has gone Invisible.

I will continue to use it until Microsoft release the final product,until then I will continue to also watch for the x64 bit extras we have been waiting for.In all I feel that Microsoft have put some effort into the browser & I was really getting use to IE8 however this(IE9) for me is easier to use.
have a great day Everyone
respectfully
Jeffrey