Browsersphere

A couple of articles were written recently discussing the relative silence from the Internet Explorer team regarding the next version of the web browser, Internet Explorer 8.

Internet Explorer 8 Buried and Asphyxiated in Microsoft Utero takes the approach that Internet Explorer is losing ground to Mozilla’s Firefox 3.0, and that being silent about the future of IE8 isn’t helping things.

A Seattle P.I. article on the subject focuses entirely on the Internet Explorer team and how their silence has started to alienate web developers dependent on development-related news to make sure their websites will continue to work in Internet Explorer with the next release, whenever it may happen.

I’m a little surprised to see that the Internet Explorer team isn’t a little more sensitive to the whole going AWOL thing, given that they all but vanished from the face of the earth for several years before finally deciding to work on Internet Explorer 7.

It’s also a shame that they haven’t really made an effort to become more transparent now that IE7 is out in the wild and getting so much feedback from the web development community.  The Seattle P.I article says “it’s not like an open-source project, where features are determined in a largely transparent process.”  But why not?  I remember before IE7 was released, the Internet Explorer team was soliciting feedback from everybody about the types of CSS support they would be adding and what major bugs they’d be fixing.  Even if they can’t reveal the big features in an open forum at this juncture, it seems like they could throw a bone or two in developers’ direction by discussing things like CSS support that are well-known, well documented, and waiting to be implemented by anyone and any team that so chooses to implement them.

Anyway, given that the Internet Explorer team has decided to remain tight-lipped about its next browser release, we can put IE8 in the “vaporware” category, somewhere in between Duke Nukem Forever and the Phantom.

Tags: Development, Features, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Previews, Releases, Rumors

In an article titled What Are Google’s Browser Plans?, TechCrunch touches on Google’s tie to Maxthon, the browser in which Google invested nearly a million dollars earlier this year.

The main reason I mention this is that Maxthon is among the many browsers I intend to cover here at Browsersphere (and it’s always interesting to think about where the shoe will drop when it comes to Google and the web browser market).

To get us started thinking about Maxthon in particular, I should point out that users of that browser can now download Microformats Button, the Maxthon equivalent of Firefox’s Operator extension.

I should also point out that there is apparently a Maxthon Lovers Group on Facebook, and that there will be a worldwide Maxthon skin contest starting in the coming weeks.

Tags: Extensions, Google, Maxthon, Rumors, Themes and Skins