However, the likelyhood of something working in Firebird and THEN IE is far more likely than the reverse, as LONG as dealing with standard content. If I do something specific to ANY browser, I am doomed. This hold true for many reasons even pertaining to IE. With the number of versions of IE out in the wild, from 4.0 up to 6 (shall I even mention the one for Mac?), there has to be reasonable testing done to maintain if nothing else that level of interoperability.

Firebird is faster, smaller, more graceful and gives me a better baseline to start with, with reporting tools that surpass those of IE. Just look at the Javascript Console and tell me if that right out doesn’t make you a religious zealot.

I am not religious about it though. Was just looking for the best tools to speed my development, and Firebird met those needs. Use IE, and ignore at the Minimum of 10% of web users, and since well you can only have 1 version of IE at a time, then in truth, you are ignoring a lot more, as where is your IE 4, 5, 5.5, 5.5 SP1 ….ect … ad infinitum

1. Excellent standards support
2. Tab-interface
3. Skinnable
4. Fast fast fast
5. Built-in popup blocker
6. Some nice extensions for development purposes

Also helps that it usually runs Flash a bit faster :)

Still, I could use a competitor to Flash; would certainly make things interesting in utilizing DirectX. Utilizing DirectSound in VB was fun, and that was just version 7.

All I hear is people (web peeps) bitch about not having a browser follow standards; I just thought the LACK of innovation was a good thing in their case because now they had one browser to work with. If innovation is what da web peeps want, right on, more power to them. Just tell me how to embed my Flash, and how to make my blog work (on most browsers that matter, anyway….)

That being said, keep in mind also that there are fledling projects within Microsoft to build a Flash competitor. With the new desktop being tied directly into DirectX with 3D effects and the shutdown of IE, I presume what is happening is that the development of a major competitor for Flash is actually in the works. What better way to hamstring MM than close it off from the developments it will have in the back lab while building in new technologies directly into the browser.

So, in a nutshell. The web is going to change, eyes open step forward. If you plan on utilizing new technologies that can be accessible immediately (oh like CSS2 for instance) then you options are clear really. Generally the way I look at it, when dealing with standard HTML and Javascript, if it test out in Moz or Firebird it will generally work in IE too, though not usually the counter. ActiveX and .NET are a different beast and limit one to not only a specific browser but to a specific platform, so I never consider them anyway. We are on a Flash site here aren’t we? IF you want Mac heads or Linux heads to (now est. 10% or more of the market space combined and growing) work with your sites, then you have to make a decision to support technologies that they can use as well.

I understand the confusion, but the only cross platform technologies that guarantee this going forward are Mozilla’s Firebird, Flash and ick ..Java. Though I use IE in development for obvious reasons, more times than not, if I develop for Mozilla Firebird, I am successful with IE, and Opera, and generally feel I am covered. Oh yes, and Safari too ;)

Good luck and don’t fall for FUD.