Internet Explorer 7 Could Kill
Since MS announced that IE7 will be rolled out as a compulsary update *soon* (as no official date was announced) this has proven somewhat of a problem for web developers.
Why is that? Surely a new IE will be good because... Oh, you can't actually stop having to fix websites for IE6 because there will still be users out there using it. It just means that there's yet another browser to add to the browser list that you must design for.
But what of the old custom systems? Such as bespoke Content Management Systems (CMS) that were designed to only work in IE6 (and yes, they do exist) may not actually work in IE7. So where does that line of thought lead? Indeed, the companies using these systems are stuck with a difficult and potentially expensive decision - stick with IE6 for as long as possible or redevelop. Neither will be ideal.
Also, with IE6 and 7 not being able to run concurrently (easily) on the same machine, most web development offices are now going to require specific IE6 machines on which systems can be tested (and typically, plenty of underscore-hack).
Now, it is far from this author's intentions of spitting in the face of progress, because true enough, IE7 is right in many ways IE6 was wrong, but to think Microsoft would release a browser without a marvelous catologue of problems is just foolish. Already I can hear the smug voices of those who push all friends and family onto Firefox, satisfied because Firefox works above and beyond what you can expect from IE7. Never-the-less, IE7 will become the new enforced MS browser and as a consequence it will be a big player in web systems development. But the point still stands - some (very important) systems were developed with the sole purpose of performing under IE6, and this (half)enforced upgrade could prove *interesting*.
So web developers have to ensure that new systems work for IE6, IE7, Firefox, Opera, Camino, Safari, MAC IE, Netscape... Easy enough. But what about the current web systems who may fall on their proverbial back-sides because IE7 wasn't even on the horizon when they were in production.
Just minor thought because everything *should* be OK, but already I have seen some slightly "odd" behaviour in IE7 that was not present in IE6. I urge everyone to remain mindful that there could be a surge of companies wanting to update their systems (or fix their current ones). A golden age for web developers or another Microsoft inspired headache. Maybe people should be forced onto Firefox at gunpoint and all Macs destroyed - purely in the name of my sanity.
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