IE8 - what's the fuss?

I had a post written up about blocking IE8. I had heard from what I believed to be a reputable source that it didn't play nice with Gmail and Yahoo mail. As I was writing the post, I downloaded it.

I thought I could be slick and load it in a way so that IE7 still worked. I was wrong. It has very few options during the installer. Also, once it starts, there's no "cancel" option.

The X in the upper right corner is grayed out as well but I've learned that shutting down a Microsoft install abruptly can be devastating, so I rolled with it.

So far, the worst thing that has happened is I had to actually read provided instructions to fix something. Apparently one of my add-ons was not ready for IE8 and the only way to make a warning bar go away telling me of that fact was to restart IE and tell it to start IE without that addon. Because I didn't read the page that opened up to tell me how to fix the problem, I spent a little time more frustrated than I needed to be.

Gmail and Yahoo mail seem to be fine. A few of my other addons are not running, but for some reason, they just rolled over and didn't cause a fuss. I'm sure most of them will get patched/upgraded in time now that IE8 is rolling out to a computer near you next week. I'm composing this post in IE8, I've gotten Windows Update to run successfully, and shortly I'm going to find out what a Web Slice is...

Maybe it's a feature in each of the mail programs that I don't use that isn't working. (I had to install a new addon for Gmail chat.) I decided to use IE8 for the rest of the weekend just to see if anything so horrible happens that I decide to stop it from rolling out at work. So far, it's not going to happen.

This week someone I work with tried to tell me that I told him not to install XP Service Pack 3. I might have told him to wait a bit in May 2008 when it first rolled out, but he had a hard time defending himself when I asked him why I would have put the installer on his desktop several months ago if I didn't want him to install it.

I'm glad now that I inadvetantly installed it. I'm not saying it's going to be my browser of choice now (still no inline spell check), but at least when it starts to roll out next week, I won't be telling people to skip it for a reason that doesn't exist.

I know at least 1% of the blog readers use IE8 already, so if you have seen any issues, let me know in the comments.

~~Code Monkey

New Features

A few new features have been added to the blog.  (I have to make a note of them on the blog or else they're "undocumented features."  Sorry, geek humor, couldn't resist.)

If you check the newly renamed and improved "Follow me" section in the sidebar, there are some new icons:

- Links to Chuck on Facebook so you can send him a friend request if you haven't already.  (Don't bother trying to find me.  They wouldn't let me sign up as "Software Simian.")

- Links to Chuck's Twitter page where you can follow him.  Links to new posts here will show up over there, so if you're all into Twitter, you can get updates from this blog there now. 

- A few clicks and you can follow the blog through Blogger, Google FriendConnect, or Google Reader.

 -Follow this blog on Technorati.  I know, there's already a link for Technorati, but I was on a roll.  And I liked the icon.

~Code Monkey

Cooties

58% of the visits to this lovely blog come from people who use Internet Explorer. I'm going to give you guys the benefit of the doubt (kinda) and assume that the reason you're still using IE is because you're surfing at work and they won't let you use cool browsers like Opera, Firefox, Safari, or Chrome.

As you may have heard, IE has another a security hole that can get your computer a nasty case of cooties. If you haven't downloaded the patch, do it now. Your geek friend who you call when you break your computer will thank you that you're not calling them up a week before Christmas because you didn't pay attention to the warnings, thinking it's no big deal, only to find your system has cooties and your bank accounts are empty. (This one's a keystroke logger which means if you get it, you very well could be sending your passwords to China or Russia, with love.)

Links to the patch are after the jump:


Get Safari
Get Google Chrome

Get a Mac (That's to placate the "Get a Mac" crowd. There, I said it. Now you don't have to.)

...or get the IE patch

Seriously, download a better browser or patch IE. Heck, do both. The patch takes <10 minutes (unless your system's completely out of date.) Tell your friends, call your mother, but please don't nag the geeks at work. They already know and they're dealing with it. People are taking this one very seriously. You should too.

-Code Monkey

Under construction

If anyone notices any wonkiness today, it's just me...

-Code Monkey

Tech notes - Gravatar

Just a quick one today:

If anyone's been wondering how to get their own personalized image to show up when they comment here, it's available through Gravatar.com

Tech notes - new features

Unlike the federal government, I come bearing bad news and good news:

First the good news:

• There are some nifty new links in the banner that should help with navigation, feedback and whatnot.
• There's a cool little icon in the lower right corner of the blog that when clicked upon will take you back to the top of the page, including the nifty new links.
• All of this didn't cost you, Chuck's blogreaders, $700 gazillion dollars.

The bad news:

For those of you that subscribe to the blog through RSS feeds/live bookmarks, we (ok, I) made some changes that mean your current feed may no longer work.  Please check your feeds.  If they don't work, re-subscribe by clicking on this:

 
The new feed is http://feeds.feedburner.com/tcoverride for those that like to do things the old fashioned way.

Apologies to anyone inconvenienced by the changes.   Trust me; it's all just part of the master plan for when Chuck runs for president Emperor.