

Microsoft breaks own world record for IE nonsense - Garbage
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/04/13/web_skewers_microsoft_for_native_html5_talk/

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buddydvd
From the original MSDN blog post: "Browsers that compromise (by spreading
across too many OSes and OS versions) face challenges. For example, building a
new browser for the ten-year old version of Windows that came with IE6 didn’t
make sense to us because of the limitations of its graphics and security
architectures."

Seems like they rewrote IE's engine using newer, lower-level, hardware-
accelerated APIs to achieve better performance compared to earlier versions of
IE. This is at the expense of dropping compatibility support for older
versions of Windows. I think they are also saying, by avoiding the use of
cross-platform compatibility layers, they were able to build a faster browser
compared to their competitors'.

[http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ie/archive/2011/04/12/native-
html5-f...](http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ie/archive/2011/04/12/native-html5-first-
ie10-platform-preview-available-for-download.aspx)

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powertower
I think the problem here is that people are confusing HTML (basic syntax) with
HTML5 (it's underlining engine and features/abilities).

Microsoft is just saying that since they don't have a cross-compatibility
layer to deal with, they can tweak and optimize the rendering engine and the
code, since it's using the native Windows API and not some middle layer.

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soofaloofa
I don't get the problem here. Microsoft is trying to optimize the IE browsing
experience for Windows users by taking advantage of hardware/OS functionality.
And the issue is ... ?

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kilburn
Microsoft's whole argument is moot.

Windows is designed for "desktop computing", whatever that means. Therefore,
if some platform is better just because it is specifically designed "for
HTML5" that would be Google Chrome OS, not any "middle level layer" on top of
Windows such as IE10...

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bnegreve
What does running HTML5 nativelly means ?

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Legion
It means in a browser with a rendering engine made for that one platform, and
not made more generically for cross-platform support.

That is the most charitable reading, and how even that reading is supposed to
be meaningful is beyond me. Basically, since MS can't demonstrate in any
meaningful way that their not-cross-platform engine does anything better,
they're offering up "it runs better because it's made for Windows" as a
truism.

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billybob
"IE - Not Available Outside Windows!"

That's all the "native" label means, unless they can show that by making it
"native," they get better performance than cross-platform browsers.

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andrewmu
Actually, given the original OS X graphics API inspiration, Canvas 2D is
arguably closer to 'native' on Macs (and maybe iOS devices) than any other
platform.

Web3D seems likely to be more at home on primarily OpenGL supporting platforms
too.

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mcdaid
I don't see the fuss, what does html5 really mean anyway, a bunch of stuff
that was already in development was put under this umbrella term because it
was easier to market.

Microsoft being a company that want to make profits have taken this one step
further with running native html5 apps, it might not mean anything to a
technical person but it is a good marketing pitch. They are successful because
they are good at this kind of stuff and it is why some people still think the
IE symbol is the internet.

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dspillett
HTML5 means nothing on its own. It is just fluff, a keyword for marketing
people to use to look new, hip and buzzword compliant.

It is like AJAX which refers (incorrectly) to techniques that had been in use
for ages before the term was coined, and the many names being given to old
techniques for dynamically loading Javascript and/or breaking the same-site
barrier in order to make them sound new and fresh (rather than just
rediscovered now they are more generally relevant as browser use and
capabilities have evolved).

HTML5 and AJAX are terms I used to judge people (yeah, I'm petty like this).
If someone mentions HTML5 (without more specific about what they mean) or AJAX
I just assume they don't quite know what they are talking about until they
have proven otherwise...

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nextparadigms
I see this as Microsoft trying to make HTML, which is supposed to work "cross-
platform", work best/only on Windows. HTML and native are contradictory terms.

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joakin
In the meanwhile, while all the firefox, chrome, safari and opera users are
enjoying a fast and beautiful web, the poor ie6, ie7, and ie8 users enjoy a
slow, horrible and painful experience without knowing that there is more
besides IE and making developers life and web evolution worse and slower.

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jws
You'd think with just one modern API, and that under their control, they could
implement canvas' globalCompositeOperation… like everyone else.

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hackermom
Microsoft claims HTML5 runs best on IE and on their OS. Mozilla claims the
entire web runs best on Firefox. Tomato tomaaaato.

