Well, without hardly any effort at all, you can tell your browser to stop being automatically redirected to your local Google site:

1. Open your browser
2. Clear your cookies in your browser
3. Allow your browser to accept cookies
4. Navigate to: www.google.com/ncr
5. You should now be able to use any Google site you please

Meet Moe

One of the reasons could be that on large scale enterprise networks it takes a lot of effort, skill and funds to update the contents of a Managed Operating Environment (MOE). For me, this would be a prime reason to drop IE altogether in favour of a browser that does not tie into the heart of the OS the way Internet Explorer does. I dare say potential security issues would be much easier to deal with if users are not exposing the core of their OS by surfing with a browser that is entirely integrated. It certainly would facilitate updating the browser more frequently.

So, while I understand that MOE updates are difficult to roll out, system administrators (and especially the CEOs who manage the sys admins) should understand that keeping IE6 alive makes web development more cumbersome and therefore, more expensive. I am still working on intranet/extranet/public sites that are designed for IE6. It is a costly process which also holds back web development in general.

Dinosaur

And let’s face it, IE6 is a dinosaur these days: it was initially released on August 27, 2001. Which makes it, at the time of this post, nearly 8 years old. I shall repeat that: nearly 8 years old. To put that into perspective: while early history of the web can be traced back to the 1980s, initial mainstream adoption of the web (outside of university labs) did not take place until around 1993. That is 16 years ago. By that calculation, IE6 is as old as half the age of the WWW. Methinks it is time to drop IE6. What says you sys admins?

IE7 was released on October 18, 2006 (after Microsoft reluctantly continued development of IE after it saw its market share quickly lose ground to Firefox). And we’ve just seen the release of IE8 on March 19, 2009.

Further Reading

• History of the Web (Wikipedia)
• History of IE (Wikipedia)
• IE6 Death March
• Put IE6 out of its misery – A list of Anti IE6 Websites.

Sorry sir, our roads are simply not compatible with that nice and shiny vehicle of yours.

Hmmm. Let me see. Don’t support a browser that has been released mere days ago. But if I take the 10-yr old bug ridden IE v6 for a spin around these parts I would have no issues? Of course I can use the site just fine with Opera—so the message is completely useless and a mere nuisance at best. And here I was, thinking that we were starting to come to terms with web standards.

But then again, such a dubious site as the RipOff Report surely is only a mere outpost on the World Wild Web. The further you remove yourself from the buzzing hive in the centre, the harder it gets to properly maintain an infrastructure…

• once more, Opera is the fastest browser on the planet
• you can now synchronize browser data on different platforms and computers
• increased stability and compatibility
• email support; connections to IMAP servers no longer hang

I also appreciate the new default look of the browser—I am using that skin on my Mac (my Windows machine is still using the most minimalistic and plain skin available).

Not all good

On the downside, this new version no longer allows me to minimise/maximise the sidebar by clicking the little strip all the way on the side. That was incredibly useful, and I have no idea why the devs have changed that. Perhaps its just a matter of a bit of tinkering (like resetting my default buttons).

Also, support for NTLM based proxy servers is still flawed. This makes it nearly impossible for many system administrators to take up the browser for use on their Windows based networks.

Furthermore I would have liked to see included:

• open plug-in standard like Firefox (dare I say: essential for Opera’s survival)
• inline spell checker for textarea form elements
• improved contact list functionality and support for 3rd party integration

Further Reading

• Opera for your desktop
• Opera for your mobile device

• speed dial
• developer tools

Initially I was rather reserved when I learned of Opera’s speed dial feature. After all, I had bookmarks didn’t I?

Having now used it for some time I have come around to the idea that it is a real timesaver. There are indeed a few sites that I visit nearly every day, and it is great to be able to bring them up with only a mouse gesture and a single click. For those of you unfamiliar with Opera’s speed dial feauture: when you bring up a new tab presented with

My speed dial now includes links to mostly admin pages, and subscription based sites.

Anything that can save me time by speeding up my workflow is a real bonus, and gets me interested right away.

Developer Tools are great. FireFox already had something similar, and I am very pleased to see Opera having implemented the same, although I would have liked to see them implement an offline version. Right now, an internet connection is needed to load the scripts that power the developer tools. Or is this “offline/online stuff” purely old skool thinking?

Microsoft does not easily allow multiple versions of Internet Explorer to run simultaneously on Windows, but it is possible with Manfred Staudinger’s work around. I have been using that solution for years now, but recently came across a resource that makes running them side by side a little easier.

My first impression is that the installation process is smooth and quick, even though some of the older versions do not run as well as they should. But that is fine because these days there’s little point in supporting IE3 still (other than to check whether it degrades gracefully).

For instructions on manual installation, and some background information, check out Manfred Staudinger’s article on Postiton is Everything.

• web standards (I design/create/test a website on Opera first, and only then “fix” IE oddities)
• tabs (like other browsers these days–but Opera has had them for years)
• speed (it renders pages fast)
• security (it’s not IE — need I say more?)
• customisable (configure just about anything)
• content blocking (ads? what ads?)
• lightweight/small memory footprint (the usual 40+ open tabs seemingly do not affect my computer’s performance)
• if Opera (or Windows) crashes, it’ll start up with all my tabs in place
• M2 email client
• personalised search engine shortcuts (accessible from the address bar)
• mouse gestures
• trash can (deleted a tab that you still need? no problem, just look in the trash can)
• Opera’s innovative crew — frequently miles ahead of other browser manufacturers
• great UI sets made by dedicated people (thanks Moose!)

Get your own… Visit Opera to download the (free) browser.

Those days seem over now. Most modern browsers support at least the most basic web standards (HTML4.01/CSS1). Of course we are still eagerly awaiting the day on which full support of XHTML/CSS2 will be the norm, rather than the exception.

Why should people care? After all, they just want to access the information websites have to offer. Well… It would make our job so much easier if everyone were to use browsers with full web standards support. That would enable us to create websites that are:

• highly functional
• much easier to use
• better looking
• faster loading
• cheaper to create & maintain
• more accessible for people using speech readers
• helping the web evolve (opening up many more opportunities for web users)

Because of its poor support for web standards I have long wished for web users to drop Internet Explorer in favour of better alternatives. Two of my favourite (free) browsers that stand out as healthy alternatives are Opera and FireFox. Both of them are far superior to Internet Explorer in many ways, including:

• security: they are not tightly integrated with Windows (“I prefer browsing with my browser rather than my Operating System”)
• usability & features: they allow you to customise your browsing experience and include (optional) useful extentions
• speed and performance

Still not convinced? Check out the following:

• Browse Happy
• Alternative Browser Alliance
• Criticism of Internet Explorer