The Minority Report

So the other day, Randall C. Kennedy (I hope he wasn’t drunk) of Infoworld publishes this article on a “reliable” rumor that IE8 is going to be the last version of IE.

This is the setup clip:

IE8 is the last version of the Internet Explorer Web browser. At least, that’s what I’m hearing through the grapevine. It seems that Microsoft is preparing to throw in the towel on its Internet Explorer engine once and for all.Is IE8 the end of the line for Internet Explorer? |Enterprise Desktop | Randall C. Kennedy | InfoWorld

So drunk-as-a-skunk Randall C. Kennedy thinks he’s on to something…but…dun dun dun….what about ActiveX compatibility? Obviously, Microsoft would have to have some sort of clear migration strategy away from ActiveX or some sort of compatibility layer. Actually, let’s have boozehound Kennedy say it in his own words:

But regardless of which direction Microsoft takes — WebKit or Gazelle — it will still have to navigate the treacherous waters of legacy ActiveX support. And as someone who has spent some not-so-quality time developing ActiveX controls in the past, the need to maintain some sort of compatibility layer within any proposed IE replacement is a critical consideration.

…

If Microsoft intends to pull the plug on IE after version 8, it will need to articulate a clear legacy migration strategy that allows these shops to preserve their investments in ActiveX controls and resources.Is IE8 the end of the line for Internet Explorer? |Enterprise Desktop | Randall C. Kennedy | InfoWorld

How about this for a bombshell?!?!? Clip taken from the Microsoft IEBlog:

A few years back, when ActiveX controls were first emerging as a web technology, Microsoft set up activex.microsoft.com to allow for the distribution of popular controls.

As of IE8, Internet Explorer will no longer check activex.microsoft.com for control installations and updates. From a technical standpoint, this means that the domain was removed from our default CODEBASE lookup locations; when attempting to download a control from webpages, this domain will no longer act as a fallback when no control location is provided or when a provided location fails.

Enterprises using their own codebase download paths will not be affected by this change.IEBlog : More IE8 Extensibility Improvements

Looks like the first step towards a better world…

p.s. They will use Webkit because Apple uses it. Don’t forget that Apple is Microsoft’s R&D department AND Google is using Webkit and Microsoft wants to be like Mike…uh…Google.