Trilight Zone

[tricore]

A store owner in a bad neighborhood must balance safety against commerce. Too many locks and bars will keep away customers with the crooks. Based on Microsoft Watch reader feedback, Internet Explorer 7 sacrifices too much usability in the interest of safety.

I asked for reader response on Tuesday after observing an anomaly among Microsoft Watch comments. Post "Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.0 Details Begin to Leak," from March 15, 2005, had generated more than 300 comments, many of them quite recently. Since the start of 2007, about 40 new comments appended the post, many from people frustrated by IE 7 and looking for a way back to Internet Explorer 6.

Reader e-mail or comment responses largely fall into two camps: No problems with IE 7, or a whole lot of them.

Many Microsoft Watch readers complain of incompatibilities with Web sites, Web services or desktop software. Back in December, I wrote about one company's new satellite office devastated by an IE 7 upgrade, which knocked out access to CRM and e-mail software.

"I made the mistake of installing IE 7 in several fresh clean XP Pro machines," said Hugh Donnell, an independent IT consultant based in Morrilton, Ark. "The results were not pretty: multiple incompatibilities, errors, reboots etc." Performance was "very slow, even with the security enhancements turned off, [and] the problems were not related to adware or spyware. Uninstalling IE7 and installing IE6 fixed the problems."

While many other readers are fine with Internet Explorer 7, for some of them reaching satisfaction meant turning off some of the browser's security features.

Ed Harris, a computer hobbyist who has been building computers for more than 20 years, gives Internet Explorer 7 "thumbs up." However, "there were some security settings I had to adjust but that is the only setback I've had."

Sacrificing Usability for Safety
Security changes are the root cause for many of the compatibility problems, particularly changes to ActiveX controls. Microsoft made the changes none too soon. ActiveX vulnerabilities soared in 2006.

With IE 7, Microsoft disabled most ActiveX controls and made others opt-in, such that users are prompted to authorize many browser interactions with Web sites or Web services.

"The ActiveX opt-in feature is good because it sort-of locks down something that was always a bad idea--remotely triggered native code objects," said Yankee Group analyst Andrew Jaquith. But opt-in doesn't go far enough. "ActiveX should have been killed off entirely in IE 7," he said.

Internet Explorer 7 is Microsoft's most locked-down browser, which is good from a security perspective. Based on Microsoft Watch reader feedback, though, Microsoft sacrificed usability and compatibility in the process.

A good analogy would be the street-side shop with a big window to display goods and some items placed on the sidewalk. People need to see goods to buy them. However, if thieves pick off sidewalk wares, the shopkeeper must move the goods inside. If someone breaks into his shop through the big window and steals the goods, the shopkeeper could put up bars or some kind of gate. With each security measure, however, the shopkeeper limits his ability to conduct business with legitimate customers, all in the interest of keeping out a few criminals. At some point, the shopkeeper can go too far, hurting commerce for safety.

Transitional Problems
Security isn't the only consideration. Microsoft also has made other changes, such as the browser's support for CSS (cascading style sheets). Internet Explorer, unlike Firefox, is regarded as a fairly non-standards browser.

"There's a whole generation of Web designers who have had to build incredibly elaborate workarounds to accommodate IE," Jaquith said. "IE 7 changes this a little, by moving it closer to the point where it passes the Acid Test. But the act of doing that has meant that IE 7 breaks compatibility for those sites that look for Internet Explorer user agents."

A further problem is the extent of CSS support. IE 7 exists in a kind of netherworld between standards and non-standards support. So the compatibility problems are much larger than just IE 6 workarounds. Dean Hachamovitch, head of IE development, told me last year that Microsoft will fix CSS problems in the next version, which presumably is 7.5 or 8.0.

In both areas, security and Web standards, Microsoft limited changes between browsers in the interest of maintaining backward compatibility with Web sites, Web services and desktop software. Strangely, though, Microsoft has released a browser with many incompatibility problems that, if Microsoft Watch reader response is any indication, has generated lots of user frustration.

"IE7 is sort of backwards compatible, and sort of not," Jaquith said. "It's going to be tough sledding for a while."

Yeahs and Nays
Nothing explains the situation like reader response.

"IE 7 is horrible!" said Mark Brugler. The browser "crashed every time I tried to watch a video." The technical director for a theatre in Tucson, Ariz. complained that he "didn't like the fact that [IE 7] was forced upon me via Microsoft updates and I was not given the choice to install it."

Microsoft Watch reader Robert Holley complained that Internet Explorer 7 freezes, unexpectedly. "I often leave my browser up and running when I leave work and then use remote connect to connect with my work desktop from home," he said. It's not unusual for IE 7 "to have stopped running when I reconnect from home."

"I installed IE 7 and almost immediately discovered that my DVD authoring software, from the Roxio 7.5 suite, would not function," said Bill Patrick. The retired technology coordinator for the Mercer County Public School System in Harrodsburg, Ky. isn't eligible for the Roxio suite upgrade that is IE 7 compatible. "I've spent hours trying to get back to where I was with no luck."

By contrast, David Dillard, a radiology manager in Richmond, Va., has "not had any functional issues" with Internet Explorer.

Some of the people most satisfied with Internet Explorer 7 tax the browser the least.

Rick Kuhn, an IT Specialist based in Indianapolis, has Microsoft's newest browser running on three personal and 30 work computers, with no troubles whatsoever.

"I do have a tendency though to keep my PCs very clean," he added. "For example: only manufacturer supported drivers and patches, all Windows patches up to date, no bloatware or crapware, only brand name vendors for software and hardware, etc."

Steve Scigliano, a development director based in San Jose, Calif., said he's been running "IE 7 on XP without any trouble whatsoever, but I have a very vanilla installation," meaning no toolbars "and "minimal active-X add-ins."

Robbie Jardine, a technician with Customize Computers in the U.K., said he had compatibility problems with one application after upgrading browsers. Otherwise, he is satisfied with Internet Explorer 7, but offers sound advice to anyone upgrading from Internet Explorer 6.

"Do some research in regards to application compatibility before upgrading from IE 6 to IE 7, he said. "Use [Microsoft's] knowledge bases and troubleshoot."