Parannoyed Delusions

From mozillaZine, "Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.0 Beta Due This Summer":

The beta will be available to users with Windows XP Service Pack 2. Previously Microsoft has said that Internet Explorer updates would only be delivered with Windows upgrades, leading many to anticipate that there would be no IE7 until the release of Longhorn next year. Therefore, Microsoft's announcement of a new IE release decoupled from a Windows revision can be seen as a policy reversal. Analysts suggest that competition from rivals such as Mozilla Firefox may have acted as the catalyst for this change.

But judging by the language MS used to describe the "new" IE7 Beta, I believe it's just going to be bullshit all over the place. For example:

"Building on those advancements, Gates announced Internet Explorer 7.0, designed to add new levels of security to Windows XP SP2 while maintaining the level of extensibility and compatibility that customers have come to expect..." (emphasis added)

'Add' and 'maintain', here would mean, I guess, just additions. So IE7 most probably would be just IE6 with extra features, meaning it should be IE6.1 not 7. It will not be a redesign, or a complete rework from the ground up of the IE engine, or any kind of major rework. Therefore, this announcement should never ever garner any form of excitement or anticipation. But unfortunately (but not surprisingly), the language communicated by Microsoft, Gates, and the IE team regarding this future release has been this way (very exited, enthusiastic and impressive). This has been Microsoft's business tactic for a long time, as explained by a responder to the mozillaZine article:

"When threatened, they announce a grandiose product available sometime in the future. The release date gets pushed back and the feature set doesn't live up to their hype. But in the meantime, they've succeeded in psychologically tricking people into staying with Microsoft. Fear Uncertainty Doubt (FUD)."

Besides that, head over to the official IE Weblog (didn't know they had one), and read what Dean Hachamovitch, the IE chief had to say about this release announcement (and remember, this is just an announcement, not the actual release):

"We heard a clear message: '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.' [...] I think of today’s announcement as a clear statement back to our customers: 'Hey, Microsoft heard you. We're committing.'"

Sounds nice, it's great that they're listening to customers. But isn't that what they're supposed to do anyway? All the time? Software products are products, customers use them, they say what they like and they don't like, the developer listens to them and improve on their product. Mr. Dean doesn't have to say "Hey, [we] heard you. We're committing."

That's why the previous announcments about MS withholding IE versions, releasing only with Windows upgrades (hence only in Longhorn) doesn't make any sense to me. Guess I'm too used to open source, having "nightly builds". But hey, coming from a hardcore Firefox user, everyhing IE is considered bullshit by default I guess.