Microsoft advises IE users to uninstall Netscape 8

Cnet ^ | May 26, 2005 | Ingrid Marson

[Panerai]

Microsoft has alerted consumers that Netscape's latest browser appears to break the XML rendering capabilities in Microsoft Internet Explorer.

Dave Massy, a senior program manager for IE, warned users in a blog posting that after installing Netscape 8, IE will render XML files as a blank page, including XML files that have an XSLT transformation.

Microsoft did not make clear what versions of IE were affected, but a user of the DeveloperDex forum said he experienced the problem on version 6 of IE, which had been patched with Windows Service Pack 2.

Microsoft said it is investigating the problem and will work with Netscape to resolve it. It advised a "workaround" of uninstalling Netscape 8 and editing the registry settings.

One reader of the blog said the rendering problem could be a problem with IE, rather than Netscape. He suggested that such a feature could be useful for Microsoft as it would deter users considering a migration from IE to Netscape.

[flashbunny]

I use firefox and would like to uninstall IE. Can microsoft come out with an auto-uninstaller?

[Spktyr]

And having IE break is different than what it does anyway... how??

Besides, if you install NS8, chances are that you're never going to want to use IE ever again, so who cares?

[mcg1969]

I only wish that were the case. I am an avid FireFox user but there I still end up having to use IE for some web sites.

[thoughtomator]

No, you cannot uninstall IE. If it is removed, Windows won't work. That was the whole bundling issue that MS was hauled into court over. After they bundled IE to wrest the browser market away from competitors with Windows 95*, you could no longer uninstall it. MS claimed in federal court that it would have been an undue burden on MS to change that, though interestingly they had no problem doing it for European markets recently.


*actually released in 1997

[anonymoussierra]

http://windows.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q293/9/07.ASP

Thank you

"Q293907 - How to Uninstall Internet Explorer 6.0"

[ambrose]

NS8 uses the IE engine.

[Spktyr]

I'd forgotten that. Never mind....

[DB]

Another example of why Windows is such a mess.

Shared DLLs and other shared system files are a disaster.

Each application should be installed in its own folder and not distributed all over the machine. Including its user settings.

The registry is a great example. Applications should not be storing their settings/data in a common registry. One application screws up the registry and your computer is done. A major single point failure source.

Being able to transfer applications and all its related settings to a new computer when you upgrade would be a tremendous improvement. You could also get rid of an application and all of its remnants by simply deleting the folder.

Will Windows ever get straightened out?

[Paleo Conservative]

Besides, if you install NS8, chances are that you're never going to want to use IE ever again, so who cares?

You can't run Windows Update from NS8 only from IE.

[DB]

You can get rid of IE.

But you can't install service packs or patches without it...

[Spktyr]

You still have the automatic update, which IIRC does not use IE.

[JLO]

Netscape 8? I used old NS versions 4... for years. Some sites didn't work after awhile, so I switched to IE. Nothing but headaches!

Back to Netscape for me. Latest version I have is 7.2. Love it, as always.

(Except, I somehow lost my bookmarks, recently, and haven't quite figured out how to import them again. I searched my hard drive for 'bookmarks' and found about 5 folders and many individial sites.)

I didn't find any good NS help about it. I also googled for help about this; but too complicated for me, answers that I found.

Any tips are welcomed! :-)

[EGPWS]

Microsoft has alerted consumers that Netscape's latest browser appears to break the XML rendering capabilities in Microsoft Internet Explorer.

So?

Then do it, unless one wants to divest himself of Microsoft and it's capabilities.

[HAL9000]

Will Windows ever get straightened out?

Probably not. Microsoft would have to abandon backward compatibility with MS-DOS as a first step toward fundamental architectual improvement. Perhaps Microsoft will migrate DOS users to an emulator instead of native compatibility after 2015 or so.

[Flyer]

I like standards. There's so darn many to choose from!

[Minn]

And having IE break is different than what it does anyway... how??

Specifics?

[rdax]

blah blah blah...netscape good
blah blah blah...ie evil
blah blah blah...netscape good
blah blah blah...ie evil
blah blah blah...netscape good
blah blah blah...ie evil
blah blah blah...netscape good
blah blah blah...ie evil
blah blah blah...netscape good
blah blah blah...ie evil
blah blah blah...netscape good
blah blah blah...ie evil
blah blah blah...netscape good
blah blah blah...ie evil
blah blah blah...netscape good
blah blah blah...ie evil
blah blah blah...netscape good
blah blah blah...ie evil
blah blah blah...netscape good
blah blah blah...ie evil
blah blah blah...netscape good
blah blah blah...ie evil

[Dinsdale]

Your making yourself look stupid fanboy.

[JLO]

But you can't install service packs or patches without it...

IE Service packs and patches. Arrggg! That's what did me in. I did one and it didn't specifically say NOT to - if you had the XP PRO version. Found that out later, after nothing worked.

It's rather funny, now I better understand why all my old co-workers hated MS. (They also taught me on-the-job about DOS. This was years and years ago. I wonder where they are now, LOL!)