Bluemoon Sanctuary

I am sure by now most people would have heard about the new Microsoft Office live, aka Microsoft Office in a browser.

From Wikipedia

Microsoft Office Live is a set of Internet-based services designed for consumers and small businesses interested in creating a website or storing and sharing documents online. As of 2009, it consists of two services, Office Live Workspace and Office Live Small Business

It looks cool right? No as long you got access to a browser you are able to use Microsoft Office, without paying for it. Well that is so wrong. Because currently Microsoft Office Live only works for Windows (FireFox and IE browsers only) and Mac (Safari and FireFox browsers only). So a big "fuck you" if you using ANY other browsers in windows or if you not using Windows at all, you can dream about using this Microsoft service.

This caught my interest because I remember in November/December 2009, when Google was demonstration their Chrome OS they managed to use Office Live on Chrome Web Browser, but now magically it doesnt work. You can do a few quick searches around google/yahoo/bing/etc and find out that OfficeLive use to work for ANY webbrowser and ANY Operating System.

Now for those who are tech-savvy, there is a method to check if REALLY it doesn't work on other Browsers/Operating Systems as Microsoft says. It involves modifying the UserAgent-String ( a list of User Agent String can be found here:- http://www.useragentstring.com ).

Depending on your browser you are using there are different methods to change the User-Agent String. For Opera you can go to the about:config and find the user agent strings there and change it. For google chrome and firefox there is an extension/plugin for it. (Just search the keyword, User Agent)

Just remember to change to something which reflects the following requirements:-

Office Live Workspace requires an Internet-connected computer running Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows 7, or Mac OS X 10.2.x and later. It works with the following browsers:
Internet Explorer 6.0 or later
Firefox 2.0 or later
Safari 3.0 or later

After you change the User-Agent String, you will see that Offive Live now magically works. So what does this tell you, either Microsoft is purposely blocking it or that they got shitty programmers who cannot program according to open web standards or maybe even they jealous of other Operating Systems/Web Browsers. Remember if it really doesnt work in other web browsers, you can just put a warning, "blah blah blah might not work, proceed at your own risk", but here we have Microsoft just block you out straight.

Another Anti-Trust case might open soon?? Maybe in the EU *wink wink*

Internet Explorer 8

What I think about IE8, besides saying it sucks, sucks and sucks. Well frankly, IE8 is not as bad as say IE7 or IE6, but IE8 has the inherited the same dam problem that the previous IE's all have, which is following standards. Currently all other major browsers can get 100/100 for Acid3 test (Opera, Safari and Chrome) with Firefox a little behind with 93/100, but IE8 is only 20/100.

As a web developer I sometimes get annoyed as each different IE has it's own set of problems. IE6 had problem x, IE7 had problem y, and IE8 has problem z. It doesn't help that whatever develop for IE might work for IE but breaks in every other web browsers (Firefox, Opera, Safari and Chrome), but whatever developed for other web browsers works well within non-IE browsers.

Time for me to do some analysis on Microsoft's website ( http://www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/get-the-facts/browser-comparison.aspx ).

Security – Microsoft claims IE8 takes the cake for security, where most security websites will prove that most web browsers have the same amount of security flaws. (refering to the comparison of security of Firefox VS IE at http://secunia.com/ ). All web browsers have security problems, it is really lame for Microsoft to claim that their web browser is the best. (Well all web browser companies do that). So this point is clearly wrong.

Privacy – IE8's InPrivate Browsing, this is a real RIP-OFF from Google Chrome Incognito mode. Here is the best part, Microsoft claims that google doesnt have it. Wander what kind of researches they have at Redmond, clearly lazy ones who didnt try pressing ctrl + shift + n in Chrome before

Ease of Use – This clearly is not IE, as much as I love Opera, I can admit the most simple to use browser is Chrome. Again another lie.

Web Standards – Microsoft claims IE support web standards??? Bull shit, it really amazes me that this software giant cant even come close to 90+/100 in acid3 test when nearly every other web browser can.

Developer Tools – Yea right, every web browser has developer tools for it. Sure IE claims to be out of the box, but isnt that just a plain waste of space, after all how many people will actually use it. It should be separated, after all developers can easily download what they need, there are savvy enough.

Reliability - Only Internet Explorer 8 has both tab isolation and crash recovery features; Firefox and Chrome have one or the other. Again, best crash feature recovery is Chrome, as much as I hate to admit, Microsoft again lied.

Customization – Seriously? IE's addons aren't really that great. Besides you still can't change the skin.

Compatibility - Internet Explorer 8 is more compatible with more sites on the Internet than any other browser.? Seriously, I wonder why Microsoft included the IE7 emulator mode, it is because most sites ARENT compatible with IE8.

Manageability - Neither Firefox nor Chrome provide guidance or enterprise tools. Again this is BULLSHIT. Google and Mozilla does provide it.

With all this comparison, did you notice that Microsoft didnt bother to compare with Opera or even Safari?? I wonder why. I know Safari is about the same as Chrome, (powered by WebKit), but why didnt they compare to Opera? Scared people might know there is a better alternative??

Opera has all the things mentioned above, from skins, widgets (plugins/addons), web-standards (infact they always insist on it), developer tools (Dragonfly) to enterprise tools. I guess it is true what they say, Microsoft does like to spread FUD. (Fear , Uncertainty and Doubt). Shame on such a company. I am kinda glad that they lost the case regarding IE with the EU. I have no quarrel with Windows, but Internet Explorer is really going down the drain. Every other web browser is improve and gaining more market share, IE is decreasing day by day. I think Microsoft needs to do a bit of soul searching regarding their crappy browser.

IF I WERE TO REVIEW IE8 AND COMPARE IT TO OTHER BROWSERS ILL RATE IT 5/10

- Haresh