
Microsoft blames Google and makes 'adjustments' to IE11 on Windows 8.1 - hackhackhack
http://thenextweb.com/microsoft/2013/10/19/microsoft-blames-google-makes-adjustments-ie11-windows-8-1-renders-search-engine-correctly/
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ConceptJunkie
If IE weren't so horrible, people wouldn't have to program so defensively for
it. It's kind of like Office... the tiniest delay causes it to throw up
dialogs saying that it's not responding, and as soon as that happens the
typical non-expert user nukes it, and restarts Windows. I've watched it
happen. This is what they expect.

We have a whole generation of computer users used to this kind of crap:
Microsoft software sucks and you expect it to constantly misbehave, and
randomly change, and must be constantly on guard to prevent it from causing
problems.

Even if this was Google's fault, I really don't blame them.

~~~
elorant
Another Microsoft hater. I really don't understand how comments like this get
upvoted so much.

There's not a single fact in the whole fraking comment. Just a personal rant.

HN starts to look a lot like reddit.

~~~
sillysaurus2
The opposition could now say the same thing on the opposite end: Hey look,
another Microsoft apologist.

Hating on Microsoft and complaining about the hate are two sides of the same
unconstructive coin.

~~~
functional_test
Maybe I misread the parent, but I took it less as a defense of Microsoft, and
more as a meta-comment about the frequency of comments which have no actual
substance beyond opinion.

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RexRollman
Personally speaking, I feel that the best thing about IE is that it can
download Firefox.

~~~
pycassa
Hahahaha.. such a funny comment.

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moomin
I'm concluding that google put some code for older IE browsers on their page
that isn't actually triggered by compliant browsers, but some automated
detection program flagged it as having a legacy feature.

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ColinWright
I seem to have a panel on the left that is obscuring about half of the text.
I'm sure that can't be the intention - is it yet another case of incredibly
poor design?

There appears to be no way to dismiss it, and it doesn't move. In short, I
can't read the article, because someone wanted to be clever.

 _Added in edit: It becomes visible if I reduce my text size, rendering the
text visible, but difficult to read. Interesting trade-off._

~~~
deathanatos
The whole article just doesn't render at all for me[1]. Another site that
seems to want to cookie-track you. (Turning cookies on causes it to render.)

[1]: [http://i.imgur.com/4l9VB2l.png](http://i.imgur.com/4l9VB2l.png)

~~~
Hellenion
Cookies _and_ javascript, that is.

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ape4
IE stopped identifying itself as IE - that's confusing. (I know it didn't just
happen in IE11 on Windows 8.1)

~~~
nolok
While it can be confusing, that by itself should not be an issue for anyone,
they did it to avoid all the older IE specific fix as they become compliant
with a more recent set of standards, and any website should use feature
detection rather than browser detection.

~~~
nilliams
The feature detection mantra is true for you and me, but it's a leap to say
you can apply the same tactic to a huge site like Google. Google isn't stupid,
if they UA sniff, you can bet they have good reasons.

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sergers
would someone mind doing an analysis as per comments in the other thread?
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6576521](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6576521)

im interested to see what changed now that MS "fixed" it. was the UA string
mismatch updated? or did they just remove it from their compatibility list

~~~
3825
I may be reading too much into it but the following[0] just reads as entitled
to me.

> if Google had tested in IE11 and discovered all was great, it's very easy
> for them to contact us to remove them from the list

[0]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6576981](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6576981)

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dzhiurgis
How do you stop people downloading Chrome? Break Google search.

~~~
nivla
Or how do you get more people to download Chrome? Break the #1 search engine
in IE. It could go both ways you know...

~~~
vinceguidry
Web surfers, like water and electricity, seek the path of least resistance. In
this case this means another search engine rather than another browser.

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YOSPOS
There's enough smoke now that we can safely assume that all these actions by
Google are to sabotage the experience on Microsoft products.

~~~
SEMW
The "action by Google" of maliciously adding themselves to a quirks-mode
list[1] maintained solely by Microsoft, that Google had no access to or
ability to add themselves to, when their website works perfectly well in IE11
if that list is disabled[2]?

[1] " _What appears to be happening here is that Google’s search engine has
somehow been added to IE11′s Compatibility View list._ "

[2] " _Uncheck “Use Microsoft Compatibility lists” and Google’s search engine
should work again._ "

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AaronFriel
Slow down there - that list is hardly a "quirks-mode" list and there's no
reason to believe a change in behavior was malicious by either party. You're
assuming that list was recently changed by Microsoft for the purpose of what -
ruining customer's experiences of using Windows 8.1? Tarnish Google's
reputation?

There are so many assumptions at work here that I don't think it's reasonable
to conclude any malice.

~~~
SEMW
> You're assuming that list was recently changed by Microsoft for the purpose
> of what - ruining customer's experiences of using Windows 8.1? Tarnish
> Google's reputation?

I'm not assuming that, and I haven't concluded malice on MS's part. I worded
the comment to emphasize the ridiculousness of concluding malice on Google's
part, but didn't mean to imply I thought there was malice the other way.
Apologies if I misled you.

Relevant: Hanlon's razor[1].

[1]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanlon%27s_razor](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanlon%27s_razor)

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AaronFriel
Apologies to you then - and I'm fond of Hanlon's razor myself.

