June 18th, 2009
Microsoft's IE8 "Get the facts" campaign - heavy on propaganda, light on facts
A regular Hardware 2.0 reader just sent me a link to Microsoft IE8 “Get the facts” page, wondering what I’d make of it … well, you asked for it!
There are three pages of IE8 “facts” too look at:
OK, I don’t want to turn this post into a nuclear rant, but I really have to pull Microsoft up on several points.
- First, IE8 is NOT the fastest browser. It may be the fastest IE so far, and it may be the fastest browser if you redefine what “fastest” means, but it still doesn’t make it the fastest browser.
- Phrases such as “faster than ever,” “easier than ever” and “safer than ever” are, at best, weasel phrases. How about some details!
- Important features such as security, privacy, reliability and so on cannot be distilled into a single check point.
- I find it unbelievable that Microsoft says that on the web standards front things are a tie between IE, Firefox and Chrome. For the ACID 3 test, the latest Firefox beta scores 94, while Chrome gets the highest score, 100. IE8 is trailing along with a miserable 20.
- On the reliability front, Microsoft claims that only IE has tab isolation and crash recovery. The way I see it, Chrome seems to incorporate both features too.
- Citations please! For example, “Research proves that Internet Explorer 8 catches almost twice as much malware than the competition.” What’s wrong with giving us some links?
- Then there are the plain crazy statements, for example: “Internet Explorer 8 offers almost all of the features the most popular add-ons in Firefox have, and you’re able to personalize your browser in a way that saves you time and research.”
Microsoft, can we have some real facts please?
Adrian is a technology journalist and author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology. He also runs a popular blog called The PC Doctor. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations
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| 06/18/09
