Why do people prefer IE8?

[TheCyberShocker]

Everyone I basically know use IE8 not IE9 this is including my college, but I would have thought 9 would be more secure, and some what 10x better, what do you guys think?

 

[cluberti]

I prefer IE9, but some people prefer the old user interface (which isn't *that* much different than IE9, but enough that some people don't want to change). Others may have app / website compat reasons, but there's no one right or wrong answer. If you don't have a reason specifically not to run IE9, I would recommend it strongly.

 

[MWRed]

My guess would be, considering what I see around me ( people I know, and what my work uses), people are afraid of changing. Most people I know are still on XP, and I still see IE6 used here and there.
I don't know what it is, but something has made people stubborn, almost to the point to where I wouldn't be surprised to see them with a chain around their ankle, with the other end chained to their XP pc from 8 years ago so no one can take it away from them.

Hell, I can't even get my work to move on from Adobe 6.0, much less the XP they still insist on using.

 

[TheCyberShocker]

Damn..

Damn that's kinda pathetic lol :L usually the higher updated version the better it is, why can't they see that xD

 

[roncerr]

Damn that's kinda pathetic lol :L usually the higher updated version the better it is, why can't they see that xD

That's not necessarily true anymore. It used to be that beta software was under development and not considered suitable for general use, certainly not suitable for charging people to use it. However as software became more and more complex and free as well, the providers didn't feel obligated to remove all the bugs. When browsers and mail programs come with an OS, they need to be reasonably in good shape since users are paying for the OS and all it's components. Hence IE6 (XP), IE7 (Vista), IE8 (Win7), Outlook Express (XP), Windows Mail (Vista) all needed to achieve a level of "paid" completion. However IE9 and Windows Live Mail are not yet part of any OS, must be downloaded for free and voluntarily installed and added to an OS that did not come with them. Just because a computer seller chose to install these free additions that did not come with the OS on behalf of the user doesn't make them better or more "out of beta".

 

[wanchoo]

The question is why do people prefer IE at all in preference to far better browsers out there? I would think that they do so because they know no better.

In almost all cases that I have asked people to change their browsers (Opera, Chrome, Firefox), they have been more than satisfied after changing.

 

[knightlyscribe]

I prefer 9 to 8 bc in 9, they made the option to 'allow mixed media' much easier to handle - in 8, you have to go into settings and find the stupid command to enable but in 9, it's done with a message at the bottom. But I use Firefox..

 

[knightlyscribe]

Oh btw, Opera rocks!

 

[cluberti]

The question is why do people prefer IE at all in preference to far better browsers out there? I would think that they do so because they know no better.

In almost all cases that I have asked people to change their browsers (Opera, Chrome, Firefox), they have been more than satisfied after changing.

In the tech world, and until recently, maybe that may have been true. However, I prefered IE8 on IE7 and I do like IE9 better, and I come across a whole host of people every day who feel the same way. I don't personally care what browser one uses, and in reality it doesn't much matter anymore which you choose. They all have good and bad points.

 

[fseal]

IE 9 is generally a far better browser than 8. Fast, html5 etc, but one single feature has me drawn back to 8 and makes it better than any current FF or Chrome release (unmodified). IE8 has the separate and far superior search box, the pinnacle of ease of use and full of functionality in search UIs. If you are needing to do searches as a common part of your browsing as I do daily, it's 100 times better than the damned combined address/search bars that are plaguing the universe now. Requiring you to install one or more search bars to put back power searching functionality but then taking up more real estate than necessary. :/

I can see for that one reason certain people (like me) that actually prefer the IE8 over IE9, FF or Chrome. Opera at least seems to have retained sanity in this area and (for now) still has a dedicated search box that doesn't take you to unintended websites or eat your search terms as you browse....

 

[unifex]

IE8 has the separate and far superior search box, the pinnacle of ease of use and full of functionality in search UIs. If you are needing to do searches as a common part of your browsing as I do daily, it's 100 times better than the damned combined address/search bars that are plaguing the universe now.

Hmm, on the current Firefox (both 13 and 9) the search bar is separate from address bar.

To be honest, the absence of the search bar is the only noticeable difference between the IE9 and FF13 right now. I do use FF mostly, just out of the old habit (a few years back FF was way more secure). But from the point of view of casual everyday browsing there is no difference at all between them.

 

[MWRed]

Damn that's kinda pathetic lol :L usually the higher updated version the better it is, why can't they see that xD

That's not necessarily true anymore. It used to be that beta software was under development and not considered suitable for general use, certainly not suitable for charging people to use it. However as software became more and more complex and free as well, the providers didn't feel obligated to remove all the bugs. When browsers and mail programs come with an OS, they need to be reasonably in good shape since users are paying for the OS and all it's components. Hence IE6 (XP), IE7 (Vista), IE8 (Win7), Outlook Express (XP), Windows Mail (Vista) all needed to achieve a level of "paid" completion. However IE9 and Windows Live Mail are not yet part of any OS, must be downloaded for free and voluntarily installed and added to an OS that did not come with them. Just because a computer seller chose to install these free additions that did not come with the OS on behalf of the user doesn't make them better or more "out of beta".

Well, in my case, it's a major problem. A lot of my emails and stuff, including PDF's, and other things (.docx files)come from people and places outside of our company, from people with obviously newer/up to date software. I can't do anything with them because they are too cheap to upgrade their junk. Of course, the main office people have newer, updated stuff.
As an example, I got an email about a new expediting company that a company will be using starting next week, yet it contained 2 .docx files, which I don't have the ability to open because i'm still on Office 2003.
Same with PDF's, some don't show right when opening because of the old software.
they won't get rid of my 2001 pc and upgrade it for something newer, including software which means in a lot of cases with the files like these, I have to email them to someone in the front office, so they can convert it and then email it back to me.

Pretty damn pathetic if you ask me.

 

[roncerr]

...docx files, which I don't have the ability to open because i'm still on Office 2003.
Same with PDF's, some don't show right when opening because of the old software...

Free reader for docx from Microsoft: Download: Word Viewer - Microsoft Download Center - Download Details
Free reader for PDF from Foxit: Better than Adobe PDF Reader and Acrobat

 

[unifex]

If you're on Windows 7 then WordPad can open .docx files.

 

[roncerr]

If you're on Windows 7 then WordPad can open .docx files.

But it also presents a warning that it's not as good as Word:

 

[wanchoo]

Quite true. Not as good but good enough to get along.

If you're on Windows 7 then WordPad can open .docx files.

But it also presents a warning that it's not as good as Word:

 

[UsernameIssues]

There is one thing that IE5 and IE6 can do that I've not be able to figure out how to do in IE7 and above: redirect the favorites folder to a server so that dozens of computers all use the same favorites/folder/nesting structure.

I also use FF10 and Chrome18, but I like being able to manipulate (organize/zip/e-mail) favorites as files/folders and I launch scripts via IE's favorite bar. The full range of options are available to me via the regular OS context menu when I right-click on a favorite shortcut that points to one of my script files. I can even put the script file directly into the favorites bar folder and run it from the favorites bar of IE8. Can this be done with FF or Chrome?

 

[MWRed]

...docx files, which I don't have the ability to open because i'm still on Office 2003.
Same with PDF's, some don't show right when opening because of the old software...

Free reader for docx from Microsoft: Download: Word Viewer - Microsoft Download Center - Download Details
Free reader for PDF from Foxit: Better than Adobe PDF Reader and Acrobat

I wish it was that easy.
I have to bitch and complain that I have to get to certain trucking and customer websites so they will add it to the list of places I can go on their precious internet.
We don't have the ability to do anything on our own, much less install anything at all on the pc's.

 

[cluberti]

There os one thing that IE5 and IE6 can do that I've not be able to figure out how to do in IE7 and above: redirect the favorites folder to a server so that dozens of computers all use the same favorites/folder/nesting structure.

That can be done via group policy or the registry. However, it's unsupported by Microsoft, because it puts all kinds of file locking load on the box hosting the data, the favorites folder (on the client) is manipulated on thread 0 meaning any network delays will cause IE to hang, and you must set permissions on the share to be effectively wide open which could cause corruption if two users write to the same favorite twice. It can be done though, if you're OK with the risks.

 

[UsernameIssues]

There is one thing that IE5 and IE6 can do that I've not be able to figure out how to do in IE7 and above: redirect the favorites folder to a server so that dozens of computers all use the same favorites/folder/nesting structure.

That can be done via group policy or the registry.............

I am using HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar for IE6, but IE7 ignores it. IE7 does display the desired path in the links bar just like IE6 does, but IE7 does not display the actual links. Maybe someday I'll mess with these steps Redirect Favorites and Cookies folder using a Group Policy