It's Hard to Do!

Sunday, January 21, 1996 by Dave Winer.

Good morning!

First, I'd like to thank Microsoft for shipping Internet Explorer for the Macintosh. It's a really nice piece of software.

But there are problems. <blockquote> is implemented incorrectly. Lots of sites use it to indent text, Microsoft should work like Netscape here.

It seems slower than Netscape at drawing pages, and things move around while the page is loading, making you wait to read the text.

It also puts up dialogs that require dismissing. When Netscape doesn't find a server, I just go on. In Microsoft I have to read a dialog and then click on OK. Too much noise.

I hope these are just beta glitches that will be fixed soon.

I'm keeping a list of comments and questions on the Microsoft browser.

I hope they're here to stay 

Microsoft was smart to invest in the Macintosh web world.

Their enhancements will get more play on the web, especially at large professionally managed sites.

But, we got along without any new interesting stuff from Microsoft for a very long time. Now that they're back with a respectful product, what kind of committment are they making?

When Microsoft adds features to their Windows browser, will the Macintosh web browser get them too? Will they implement Macintosh-specific features? What's their answer to Netscape plugins? Java runtime? Shockwave?

Bluntly, it's good to have Microsoft back. It's already made our world more interesting. I hope they're here to stay.

Breaking up is hard to do 

Here's a song I'm glad I don't have on CD.

Imagine Neil Sedaka singing "Instead of breaking up, I wish that we were making up again!"

He's so enthusiastic about having his heart broken. It's funny! I could get addicted to this song, so I'm glad I don't have it playing right now. There are some songs I'd rather not sing. Thank you.

But Neil is right. It's hard to say goodbye to a friend. I've had some great times with Netscape. I expect to have more. Microsoft is fun! But I'm not finished with Netscape. I just spent a weekend with Microsoft. Sorry.

Netscape is like home cooking. It isn't perfect. But all my software assumes we're talking to Netscape. I have lots of scripts that can't run in the Microsoft environment.

Sending flowers 

Guys -- here's a secret -- it's never wrong to send flowers.

Developer relations is still a mating ritual. And people who do websites are developers. Same lessons apply.

It's great that Microsoft cares. Glad to have the choice. Every developer wants to feel like they're being listened to.

Here's a chance for Microsoft to shine.

And for Netscape to grow.

Dave Winer

PS: I released the C source code for MacBird Runtime earlier today.