Please notice that I have never actually said any of the things you just attributed to me.
In particular, I didn't say Microsoft weren't involved in politics, I just said they have so far remained above the recent trend of dropping major functionality for political reasons.
Also, please keep in mind that I have never said IE, even IE9, is a "good browser" or "as good as Firefox 4" or anything along similar lines. My position here is simply that I think Microsoft have started going in the right direction again with IE, specifically by focussing on improving performance and standards compliance in the areas that users need immediately within a sustainable rate of releases. Meanwhile, I think various other big names, including Google, Apple, and now Mozilla, are taking a dangerous and probably unsustainable approach in various ways that are, ultimately, not in either users' or web developers' interests.
If these trends continue -- and that is a big "if" in a world as fast-changing as software -- then I expect future versions of IE will start to reclaim market share. Meanwhile, Google, Mozilla, et al. will keep throwing resources into areas they haven't properly thought through, with negligible practical benefit to users any time soon and increasingly frustrating web developers as well.
You are being pedantic and defensive about the politics statement. I think it was obvious from the context that I was referring specifically to your comment about Apple/Google/Adobe politicking and not about their political tendencies in general.
And for never having said IE9 was a good browser, you sure have said IE is a good browser a lot. Sure, you not have said it in those words, but it is impossible to come away from these comments (a huge percentage of which are yours) without the belief that you think IE9 is better (and perhaps I'm wrong for conflating "better" with "good"). And that impression stems from seeing way more in comments than just "MS is getting configuration management in browsers right."
> You are being pedantic and defensive about the politics statement.
I prefer accurate, but OK. You seem to be making a "slippery slope" argument, and I don't agree with it.
> Sure, you not have said it in those words, but it is impossible to come away from these comments (a huge percentage of which are yours) without the belief that you think IE9 is better (and perhaps I'm wrong for conflating "better" with "good")
I have been fairly careful about what I have said in this discussion, and I have clarified in very simple terms and I think more than once now that I am talking about the direction Microsoft is heading vs. the direction Google, Mozilla and co. are heading. I can't help it if people who don't like Microsoft or do like $ALTERNATIVE_BROWSER choose to reply to what they would like me to have said instead of what I actually wrote. :-(
In particular, I didn't say Microsoft weren't involved in politics, I just said they have so far remained above the recent trend of dropping major functionality for political reasons.
Also, please keep in mind that I have never said IE, even IE9, is a "good browser" or "as good as Firefox 4" or anything along similar lines. My position here is simply that I think Microsoft have started going in the right direction again with IE, specifically by focussing on improving performance and standards compliance in the areas that users need immediately within a sustainable rate of releases. Meanwhile, I think various other big names, including Google, Apple, and now Mozilla, are taking a dangerous and probably unsustainable approach in various ways that are, ultimately, not in either users' or web developers' interests.
If these trends continue -- and that is a big "if" in a world as fast-changing as software -- then I expect future versions of IE will start to reclaim market share. Meanwhile, Google, Mozilla, et al. will keep throwing resources into areas they haven't properly thought through, with negligible practical benefit to users any time soon and increasingly frustrating web developers as well.