The Impending Demise of Internet Explorer

Internet Explorer is dead! Well, sort of.

Yep! Party time, baby.

The demise of what could arguably be the most despised browser on the Internet (after Netscape Navigator, that is) was reported last month.

Microsoft will be working on a new browser, currently known as "Project Spartan".

This is not going to be one of those constructive commentaries over the Internet detailing the pros and cons of Microsoft's new browser baby. Firstly because I don't have a Windows 10 Trial running, and secondly because I'm too... well, ecstatic.

I mean, this is Internet Explorer. How many ways do I not love thee? Let me count the ways...

Developing for it has been a royal pain in the ass. I recall the days and nights of feverishly adjusting HTML and CSS code to hammer it into presentable shape for, like, five different versions. And at that time, IE 10 hadn't even been released yet! We used to have to run software like IETester just to make sure our websites ran on that damn thing in all its myriad versions. Gettin' real tired of that shit, yo.

IE Tester

Not to mention that sometimes JavaScript didn't run as expected on IE. There's a long boring story revolving around JavaScript and Microsoft's proprietary JScript, but I'm not going to go into it. You can get a rough idea here. Then again, considering this is Microsoft we're talking about, our problems on that front may not be over.

Suffice to say, I was not at all a big fan of Internet Explorer. The fact that Microsoft is no longer going to make it the de facto browser is the best news I've heard all week. It will still be available for legacy purposes, but no further work will be done on it... I hope. It takes a while for any technology to truly die. I mean, how many years has it been since classic ASP was no longer actively supported? Ten, eleven? It's still hanging on to this day.

What next?

The new browser is slated to be more lightweight, more friendly, and more consistent with web standards.

I'm wondering how AJAX runs on that. Though, at least where Greek mythology is concerned, anything named "Project Spartan" being anathema to something called "AJAX" would be strangely incongruous. In that same vein, I'd have to wonder how Trojan Horses would react to it!

Enough horsing around!

OK, enough of the corny and nerdy Trojan War references. It's time to launch a thousand ships in celebration!

This can only be a good thing. I'm dead serious.
T___T