No more Stand Alone Internet Explorer

Microsoft Drops the Ball with Internet Explorer
If there are truly people still working on IE these days, they should be ashamed of themselves: As I noted yesterday, the product hasn't been demonstrably improved, from an end user application perspective, since 1998. However, reader Terje Sten Bjerkseth (and subsequently, several others) sent me a link yesterday (URL below) that presents Microsoft's take on the future of IE, and the news just went from bad to worse. When asked in a recent online chat about the next version of IE, Brian Countryman, an IE Program Manager, said, "As part of the OS, IE will continue to evolve, but there will be no future standalone installations. IE6 SP1 is the final standalone installation." The reason? "Legacy OSes have reached their zenith with the addition of IE 6 SP1," he said. "Further improvements to IE will require enhancements to the underlying OS." Sadly, this perspective is skewed, and suggests Microsoft believes IE is somehow at the "zenith" of the Web browser heap. But as I also mentioned yesterday, IE lacks basic yet important features, especially automatic pop-up ad removal, that virtually all the competition has, and adding any of these features wouldn't require changes to the base OS. So here's the problem, in my opinion: Microsoft believes that the browser is functionally complete, and can only be improved by adding eye candy that's made possible by the underlying platform (Longhorn, in this case). That's baloney, and as several people mentioned via email, suggests IE development is only important when it can be used to steal market share from other browsers.
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Further there is more where direct quotes were taken from that online chat:

Host: Brian (Microsoft)
Q: when / will there be the next version of IE?

A: As part of the OS, IE will continue to evolve, but there will be no future standalone installations. IE6 SP1 is the final standalone installation.

Host: Rob (Microsoft)
Q: What's the long-term outlook for IE as a development platform? Are there major limitations planned for future releases (such as in Longhorn) due to security reasons? I know that this is a concern to many developers that rely on IE technology.

A: Security continues to be a top priority. The platform will change for longhorn but you can expect the client, where folks need to browse, to not be as restrictive as the server. I encourage folks to get involved in our beta program to help us evolve the platform

Host: Brian (Microsoft)
Q: Why is this? the anti-trust? (no further standalone)

A: Although this is off topic, I will answer briefly: Legacy OSes have reached their zenith with the addition of IE 6 SP1. Further improvements to IE will require enhancements to the underlying OS.
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Very interesting indeed..

Source

Hard to imagine that scenario.

I read it different. To me it means that there is something new coming. I bet you a dollar to a donut that there will be a new browser, complete new code, and more security proof.

That is a possibility MSN, but imagine if they did build IE directly into the fabric of the OS more so than it is now, made it more integrated, and of course improved it.. then they'd nearly guarantee themselves a 90% or more share in the browser market!
:D

Guess we'll see in time how it goes. I doubted the article's credibility as well, but if you take it from a purely conjectural set of statements, it sure makes for interesting reading.

I have confidence in MS. They will wait until the "zeneth" moment for their competitors then buy or steal the best of those products. Guess that I should caveat that with the statement that it is only my opinion.

There are several better products than IE. This period reminds me of Netscape 4 days. Netscape had the better product while MS had the monopoly.

$microsoft will compete and try to dominate.they haven't changed and they have the $ to settle any disputes that arise.microsoft has a plan in my opinion because of their success with ie6.It suvived and Netscape didn't and Aol is in financial trouble which Bill Gates just had a settlement on for 1/2 billion(not sure).

If they do integrate it more then it is now ie: 'no stand alone' wouldn't that be the exact opposite of what they are supposed to do per the court reccomendations?

They'll be dragged back into court for another lengthy battle and emerge with a slap on the wrist but...............do they really want another battle?

Who is left to battle. AOL isn't likely to fight the way the old Netscape did. Netscape was in a hopeless fight for its life. Opera is too small and Mozilla is open source meaning there is no money to sustain a fight.

I think mozilla is an excellent competitor even though it is open source..

But IE is a dominator, and what you'll see is that innovation in the browser department will decrease because the competition has been eliminated.

amen.