Harrumph...it's all over the place. MS is to come out with an updated browser in the spring/summer of this year. There are certainly a billions reasons for doing this, the least of two being...

1) 3 years has passed them by and their current product sucks
2) Firefox is actually doing some damage to market share

Anyways, anybody want to place predictions and make wagers about new, said, updated 'product?

And with that...

It will essentially be a 'preview' of things Longhorn'ish (which will get pushed back even more eventually) and tout new things that will push standards even further while not adhering to any standards except the ones they think are proprietary.

However, it will do a better job with css and xml/rss feeds...

    Hi Vaaska

    It'll probably do a bunch of stuff that Firefox does, e.g. tabbed browser windows. It'll have an improved pop-up killer and an improved system for switching JavaScript and DirectX on and off as you please.

    It will include the Firefox facility for altering the skins via CSS, but using a GUI for people who don't know what CSS is, far less can write it.

    It will include an option to activate mouse gestures, which will work in all sorts of unexpected ways.

    It will include an FTP client with functions and buttons translated into idiot-proof language, e.g. 'picture file transfer' instead of 'binary transfer'.

    It will include a very basic WHYSIWYG HTML editor and will include a simple XSLT/CSS facility for viewing XML in HTML.

    It won't include JavaVM, Flash or Macromedia Player because MS will have managed to fall out with these companies once again. You'll have to downlaod and install them all yourself.

    It will include a 'you get it whether you want it or not' MSN search toolbar in an attempt to discourage use of the Google toolbar.

    It will include a one-click 'remove traces' facility so that you can delete cookies, temp files and history files in one fell swoop. It will remain silent about the existence of the unerasable index.dat file.

    It will include a point n click bookmarklets facility for those who don't really know what bookmarklets are.

    It will require about 3-4 serious security update patches in seperate downloads of 20 MB and more within 2 weeks of being released.

    I think that's enough predictions for today.

    Norm

      And still won't be able to render png images properly or css to correct standards....

        Originally posted by PickledOnion
        And still won't be able to render png images properly or css to correct standards.... 

        if ($case == TRUE) {
 print 'Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!';
}

          Originally posted by PickledOnion
          And still won't be able to render png images properly or css to correct standards....

          You beat me to it. I'll do you one better though: It will break the already poor PNG rendering.

            Blech. Probably Mozilla with a blue toolbar (like someone said, defaulting to MSN search) and an ActiveX plugin.

            Nah, that'd be too good.

            😃

              1) The default User-Agent string will still say "Mozilla compatible"
              2) Someone will forget to remove the "about:mozilla" egg.

                it is about time they upgraded IE. The tab feature alone is enough reason to switch to firefox.

                  And at some point during the reveal, Ballmer will do his monkey dance.

                    Originally posted by goldbug
                    And at some point during the reveal, Ballmer will do his monkey dance.

                    You mean like this

                      Originally posted by piersk
                      You mean like this

                      Oh man, that's the funniest thing I've seen in a while. They even remembered to include the soaked pits. Thanks for making my morning 😃

                        Originally posted by Weedpacket
                        1) The default User-Agent string will still say "Mozilla compatible"
                        2) Someone will forget to remove the "about:mozilla" egg.

                        We should be so lucky...

                          Originally posted by pohopo
                          it is about time they upgraded IE. The tab feature alone is enough reason to switch to firefox.

                          Security is the best reason to switch AWAY from IE, it's what drove me. Now when users moan because some website is IE only I just laugh, say 'Amatuers' and tell them tough they will have to shop somewhere else.

                          All I hope is that IE7 is as bad as most people expect. That should finish it off once and for all.

                            Originally posted by Roger Ramjet
                            All I hope is that IE7 is as bad as most people expect. That should finish it off once and for all.

                            “Yes, XP SP2 makes the situation better. We want more, sooner. We want security on top of the compatibility and extensibility IE gives us, and we want it on XP. Microsoft, show us your commitment.”

                            Oh. My. God.

                              4 days later

                              i thought we were taking bets. $20 says it will need a security patch within 30 days.

                                Originally posted by sneakyimp
                                i thought we were taking bets. $20 says it will need a security patch within 30 days.

                                Just 1 security patch? No thanks.

                                $50 says it, or XP, will need a Service Pack within 3 months. :p

                                  ok...security patch....21 days. $20. :p

                                    Originally posted by Roger Ramjet
                                    Just 1 security patch? No thanks.

                                    $50 says it, or XP, will need a Service Pack within 3 months. :p

                                    Oh, come now. It will need one immediately, promise one within three months, and deliver in 9 to 12 or when ($Longhorn || $Hell_freezes), which ever is first....

                                    😃

                                      All I hope is that IE7 is as bad as most people expect. That should finish it off once and for all.

                                      MS will do what they do best, steal all the good stuff from firefox and put it in IE7. They will make it so the average users sees no difference between the two and then use their muscle to take back the 2%-3% they lost from firefox. (firefix will always have 3% or so of the market no matter what MS does)

                                      I am more interested in seeing what Google might do as I heard they might be coming out with a browser.

                                        Well now. My reading of the IEBlog comments was that most people who posted had no faith that MS would actually respond to their requirements, like fix the rendering engine or add real support for png. This to the anger of the faithfull few.

                                        Many WAN/LAN admins were also agrieved that IE7 would only run on XP - we are not about to remake our networks just for a browser, if only because of the upgrade costs.

                                        So, yes, I think informed expectations are for the worst, ie the usual garbage inflicted on a captive audience by MickeySoft.

                                        I expect their share to continue to decline, and this decline to progress exponentially. They only have such a large market share because IE is so tightly bundled with the windows operating system and the outcome of this will be the decline of windows as well - thanks be to anyone's Gods.