Last week’s editorial from Jesse’s Anchor Desk at ZDNet has prompted this response...

#105
What’s logical got to do with MS IE 5?


The latest editorial from Jesse's Anchor Desk (a Ziff Davis content/spam delivery mechanism at ZDnet.com) jolted me into some questions that few will address.
Who draws the line between editorial and advertising? Remember the headers you'll see in your local newspaper: "Paid Advertisement"? Sort of makes you say "hmmmmmmmm."
Jesse says: "We like to think of ourselves as logical business people. In truth, many decisions we make are based on emotion." and continues "For years, many have chosen Netscape's browser product as much from emotion as from logic. It's fun to support an upstart underdog with bright ideas and a pioneering concept."
... Then Jesse goes into a pitch for Microsoft's Internet Explorer 5, hoping that we, as intelligent and logical business people, will see how the features will help us more than Netscape's.
... First Jesse says IE 5 renders things a little faster than Navigator. Well that's yet to be determined. Renders what things? Many things that are specified in the CERN Official HTML Code don't even render at all. Jesse says "things seem faster from the Web surfer's perspective." Again I have to wonder what kind of machine Jesse is running to make such assumptions. I'll bet not on 28.8.
... Then Jesse brags about the new "auto" features of IE5: "auto-everything. Auto type-ahead. Auto correct. Auto search. Even auto configure..." I have to ask is "auto" always good, and while IE is autoing-everything that you see, what else is it autoing?
Additionally I don't agree with Jesse's new love for the cool new radio bar that sits right under the address bar and includes play/stop and mute buttons, a volume dial and a drop-down menu. Maybe that's good, and maybe it's not -- and whether it is "cool" is another arguable feature. "Cool" to me is clean, uncluttered, and undecorated. In fact, someone tell me how you turn all that junk off in IE. In my opinion IE is getting to be almost as "decorated" as AOL... beginning to look like the hookers at the cowboy carnivals. Is that something logical people like?
... Also kind of makes one wonder what will happen to Netscape now that AOL has purchased it.
... But the drop dead point that prompted me to write Jesse (a post to the "discussion" list which has not yet been released) and write this article is the flag-waving of "Tighter integration between the browser and Hotmail, Microsoft's free Web-based email." Jesse thinks this is another key improvement. Not to mention the new "push" features that brings information popping up in separate browser panes as you surf. Hmmmmm, sounds like GEOcities, or Tripod to me... which translates into a new SPAM vehicle!
Suddenly red flags fly up all over the place.
... Oooohhhhh... I've got it now, Jesse! Let's see. Between several dozen magazines, and another half dozen websites, and a whole catalog of books and online seminars, let's ask how many more advertising dollars Microsoft spends with ZD than Netscape. Hmmmmmmm. Millions, maybe? More? Ah, logical question, right?
... So, If Jesse thinks this is the "logical" browser to use, I have to ask from what perspective. The advertiser or the web user. I also have to wonder if "Logical" and "intelligent" are related concepts in regards to the web.

Or, maybe I'm just not logical.

'nuff said.

---

Would you like to carry the 60-Second Windows column in your newsletter or web site? Ask us about our syndication program... join hundreds of others who now publish 60-Second Windows!

---

DT&G Online . | . Photoshop Tips & Tricks . | . Designers' Bookshelf . | . Type & Fonts
Digital Photography . | . Web Design . | . DTP Jumpstation . | . DTP Solutions
Publishers' Warehouse . | . DTG Gallery . | . Graphic Design News
The User Group Network . | . UG Academy . | . UGNN User Group News
User Group Library . | . User Group Bookshelf . | . Computer Talk . | . UG Apple News

---

Thank you for visiting http://www.60-second.com/

DT&G: The Electronic Journal for Design, Typography & Graphics
c/o Showker Graphic Arts
15 SouthGate, Harrisonburg, VA 22801, TAD, Voice, FAX: (540) 433-8402
Showker@Graphic-Design.com . . . America Online: DTGNews@AOL.com

Thank you for visiting 60-second.com, graphic-design.com, user-groups.com, and all of the sites including The Design & Publishing Center, The User Group Network, The Graphic Design Network. We bring you 100% spam-free content for designers, illustrators, publishers, photographers, and visual graphics arts professionals from all corners of the world. http://www.graphic-design.com/DTG/ -- Contents Copyright (c) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999. 60-Second Window is trademark, copyrighted since 1990. DT&G Magazine, and The Design & Publishing Center invite you to visit Photoshop Tips & Tricks at: http://www.graphic-design.com/photoshop/. Reproduction or reuse of parts or all of this manuscript without prior written permission is expressly forbidden.

---