The Pinged Hobbit

A lot of people would say the only thing Internet Explorer is good for is downloading something else to surf the web with. Truth be told, I’d tend to agree. My current browser of choice is Firefox and it has been for a long time now. That’s not just because I spend most of time using a Mac either. Even when I use a Windows machine I still look for the the FF icon to do my web browsing. I only use IE when I have no other option, like if I am using an ASP based app which does seem to need IE to run properly. Judging from the ever growing market share of other browsers against IE. Its a fair assumption that more and more people I coming to realise that they don’t have to be stuck with what comes installed on their machine.

[See the full chart]

Microsoft have decided to hit back at all the negative press that IE 8 receives by pushing out some interesting propaganda. A comparison chart for the IE 8 against Chrome and Firefox. They seem to have used some unusual features to compare against and claim that IE 8 is better than all the rest. In all honesty considering the track record of Microsoft I think I’d rather have a third party do the comparisons for me, some one who doesn’t have an axe to grind either way thank you. The sad part about this is that some people will actually take this as gospel, they will believe that this chart us the truth because it is by Microsoft.

In another lame attempt to curry favour, there is also the offer of $10,000 (aus) by Microsoft Australia to people who follow an Internet treasure hunt, but only if they are using IE 8. I’m cyncially but again there are people who will fall for this and get lured back into using IE.

What do you think of Mircosofts attempts to gain popularity for IE 8?