Microsoft Spins IE 8 Rendering Changes

Microsoft has changed its plans for Internet Explorer 8's Web page rendering, which previously would have placed extra coding burden on Web site designers and developers. Rather than launch in a backward compatibility "quirks" mode, the browser's default mode will instead better support Web standards.

Microsoft claims the move is, "consistent with its efforts to promote further interoperability across the Web." The press release reads like Microsoft is taking some new, bold interoperability position with IE 8.

Say, what?

In a supporting blog posted today, Dean Hachamovitch, Internet Explorer general manager, acknowledges: "This decision is a change from what we've posted previously."

But his reason for the change, support for "Interoperability Principles" announced last week, just is somewhat unbelievable:

"Thinking about IE 8's behavior with these principles in mind, interpreting web content in the most standards compliant way possible is a better thing to do. We think that acting in accordance with principles is important, and IE 8's default is a demonstration of the interoperability principles in action."

That's nice PR spin, but ignores the strong negative response from the Web community about the original plan. If Microsoft is so committed to interoperability, Web standards compliance would have been the position from the start. It wasn't. Microsoft instead planned to use a quirks mode that favored backward compatibility. The approach would have required Web designers/developers to use a meta tag to launch IE 8's standards mode.

Hachamovitch's fourth sentence, which reads as being out of place, seems to appropriately reveal why IE 8's rendering mode will be more Web standards compliant: "While we do not believe any current legal requirements would dictate which rendering mode a browser must use, this step clearly removes this question as a potential legal and regulatory issue." Microsoft's press release credits the same quote to Brad Smith, the general counsel.

Ah ha! Microsoft's real concern is more possible legal problems. Perhaps it's U.S. antitrust oversight, which Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly recently extended two years until November 2009. Then there is that pesky, new European Union antitrust investigation into browser bundling tactics and standards support, based on a complaint filed by Opera.

Microsoft may spin the change as being about interoperability, but the real reasons are elsewhere: Negative response to the quirks mode approach and possible legal problems.

I wouldn't be barking at Microsoft, if the company had just come clean, rather than put some rather obnoxious PR spin into play.

Microsoft has struggle to find the right balance between standards compliance and backwards compatibility. Way down in the press release, Ray Ozzie, Microsoft's chief software architect, explains the challenge before Microsoft:

"On one hand, there are literally billions of Web pages designed to render on previous browser versions, including many sites that are no longer actively managed. On the other hand, there is a concrete benefit to Web designers if all vendors give priority to interoperability around commonly accepted standards as they evolve. After weighing these very legitimate concerns, we have decided to give top priority to support for these new Web standards."

Microsoft does have a big problem with IE 8. Decisions made with the two previous browser versions didn't conform to established standards and Web designers and developers used code tricks, like DOCTYPE, or Document Type Declaration, to open browser-specific pages or stylesheets. Microsoft's earlier plan for IE 8 default settings would have carried the non-compliance forward, by favoring backward compatibility rather than adherence to Web standards.

The new approach, while commendable, could break many Web sites. Therefore, the risk is greater for Microsoft than for browser competitors, which wouldn't have the same backward compatibility problems.

The risk could mitigate any legal problems. The company can firmly state that it put Web standards compliance ahead of Internet Explorer. If conformance breaks Web sites viewed in IE 8, while other browsers are unaffected, Microsoft can claim that it put interoperability before its own business interests.

Microsoft plans to debut IE 8 at MIX08 on Wednesday. Hopefully, the company will provide designers/developers with more information on IE 8's standards approach.

Related Posts:

• Whose Principles Are They?, Microsoft Watch, Feb. 21, 2008
• IE Struggles to be Compatible, Microsoft Watch, Jan. 22, 2008
• The New European Drama Unfolds, Microsoft Watch, Jan. 14, 2008
• Netscape: AOL Buries the Dead, Microsoft Watch, Jan. 2, 2008
• IE 8 and the New Browser War, Microsoft Watch, Dec. 20, 2007
• IE 8: What's In a Name?, Microsoft Watch, Dec. 5, 2007
• Who Jacked My Browser to Google?, Microsoft Watch, Nov. 29, 2007
• Why Did Microsoft Set IE 7 Free?, Microsoft Watch, Oct. 5, 2007
• IE 7 Gives the Green Light, Microsoft Watch, Feb. 6, 2007
• Will IE 7 Perception Problems Hurt Vista?, Microsoft Watch, Jan. 23, 2007
• Is Internet Explorer 7 Too Locked Down for You?, Microsoft Watch, Jan. 19, 2007
• Are IE 7 Installations Counting Up or Down?, Microsoft Watch, Jan. 16, 2007