As you all have probably figured by now, I recently upgraded from IE7 to IE8. Really, I have not noticed much of a difference… except in one, particular area.
When viewing a webpage, in IE7, that has both secure and unsecure data shown on it, you were presented with this window:
The standard answer (assuming you wanted to see everything on the webpage) was “yes”.
When viewing the same webpage in IE8 (again, a webpage with both secure and unsecure data – a good example is Blogger comment pop-ups), you are presented with this window:
In this particular instance, the standard answer (with the same assumption as above) is “no”.
Why the flying frak did they see the need to change that? Now, people who are conditioned to automatically click “yes” when that window comes up (like, say, me) are going to be selecting the wrong option. Worse, for people who use IE8 at home, and IE7 at work or elsewhere, they are now having to remember which platform they are using, and change their behaviors accordingly.
I mean, sure, I should probably pay closer attention to that window than I do, but why did Microsoft feel the need to do a complete 180 on a particular UI aspect, especially when it worked just fine before?
Apart from that, no real complaints as yet… I like the “Compatibility View”, but there is not much positive to say either. It works. And that is enough for me.
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Silly little hoplophile…
Because it’s CHANGE and any change is good.
Yeah. Bite me. ;P
Quick answer – Software can be easy to use, or it can be secure. The easier to use, the less secure and vice versa.
Microsoft changed computers by making them very easy to use. Because of that, there were a lot of holes and they got (deservedly so) the reputation for being buggy and full of security holes.
They fixed a lot of those things. And then people started bitching up a storm that a popup box kept asking them if they were sure.
In this instance, the default action (which is generally people hitting ‘Yes’ for everything), is now more secure.
They simply can’t win
Yay Firefox!
Well, speaking personally, I understand and appreciate the “are you sure” box, and I have actually left it active on my computer. What I do not get about that particular functionality is that it can sometimes ask you twice about the same, exact button-push. That just seems stupid, and does annoy me.
However, in this particular instance, changing the answer from “yes” to “no” in no way makes anything more secure. Once people get used to the change, they will just keep checking the appropriate box by reflex, often not really thinking about it. However, until that adaptation takes effect, they will be unnecessarily annoyed at a pointless change. Now, instead of saying, “Yes, I do want to see everything on this webpage,” you are saying, “No, I do want to see everything on this webpage.” It hardly makes sense, especially given that humans are more receptive to affirmation.
Hell, this falls right in line with M$’ stupdity when it comes to the new Office, what with the doing-away of drop-down menues and everything… And that change served no purpose, whatsoever (apart from making Office more Mac-y, which I guess is important these days).
So, sure, by some stretch of the definition of “secure”, IE8 will be imperceptibly more secure until such time as people get back into the habit of pushing one button or the other… but something tells me that randomly scrambling interfaces is not a good long-term solution to balancing security and usability.