IE8 - What Are They Thinking?

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Bobbye

Bobbye

Posts: 16,313   +36
The following article was written by Randall Kennedy for InfoWorld. It describes some features of IE 8. This is one I wouldn't be in a hurry to get! (Due out March 20)
IE 8:
IE 8 consumes more RAM than Windows XP- (the entire OS)
exo.performance.network is declaring IE 8 to the be one seriously bloated piece of software. Not only is it fatter than IE 7, it's also more resource-intensive

Not only is it "fatter" than IE 7, it's also more resource-intensive. Here are the stats in all their gruesome glory:
* 350-400MB memory footprint
* 150-200 concurrent execution threads
* 6 discrete iexplore.exe process instances
* Over 2x more demanding than Firefox

If I boot XP (SP3) on a 1GB system, I have more than 800MB free. Add IE 8 to the mix and, depending on the site workload, I can suddenly find myself with less than half that. The situation is even worse under Vista. In fact, IE 8 is fatter than my word processor (Word 2007), spreadsheet (Excel 2007), and presentation software (PowerPoint 2007) combined. It's even fatter than Visual Studio 2008 with 10,000 lines of code and several complex, multi-part Web forms loaded into the IDE.

IE 8 is fat. Period. All of which begs the question: Since when does making an application 50 percent larger (in terms of RAM consumption) and nearly 3x more CPU-hungry (in terms of concurrent execution threads) constitute progress? And I thought Vista was bloated!

My guess is that they're designing IE 8 for the future. Microsoft knows that the next generation of CPUs from Intel and AMD will sport at least 4 discrete processing cores. They also know that RAM is cheap and that many die-hard Windows "fan bois" are already running with 8GB or more of RAM under Vista x64. If anything, IE 8 is a shout-out to the company’s hardware vendor partners, a way to prod people into moving up-market to 64-bit computing on tomorrow's stat-of-the-art, "many-core" platforms.

Now all I need to do is go out and buy one of those new 8-core PCs (when they become available) and equip it with lots and lots of RAM (16GB should hold me for a while). Oh, and the 64-bit flavor of Vista so I can actually use all that RAM (32-bit Vista supports a paltry 4GB, and we all know how limiting that can be).

Maybe I should simply dedicate an entire PC to IE 8. Yeah, that's the ticket! A dedicated Web browsing PC! Sort of like one of those eePCs, only more expensive!

Or I could just run Firefox and use the money I save to take a well-earned vacation.

Source: Randall Kennedy, InfoWorld.
Click to expand...
Note: The bold attributes are mine.
 
I did try IE8 and found that when you click "View then Source" it opened it in some wierd way that made editing it impossible, IE7 and previous IE's opened it in Notepad.

didnt like it so it went....
 
Cheers on a well presented, eye-opening review Bobbye.

Personally, I never considered “upgrading” from XP Pro to Vista, because the latter is a bloated resources hog. And now IE8 to boot!

Like the article says, you can use Firefox and save money, time and resources. I use Opera: It’s faster, more functional and safer than the IE7.

It all just confirms the now almost adage: “The only way MS can make a product that doesn’t suck, is to start making vacuum cleaners”. Think about it! :)
 
Thanks Bobbye; I linked all the people I could think of to read this article. Too many are not tech savvy and they have their Windows updates on automatic.
 
You know, it's scary how many users have "anything"- except AV doing automatic updates! Then they wake up the next morning, boot up and see what they got- automatically! IE8 looks like something to stay away from until or unless you're on one of those 8core machines-when and if they build them!

Where are people getting all the money to handle the stuff this company this putting out now?! I wouldn't update to Vista or any of these "advanced" software programs. I want software to go with what I have now, not on a machine I can't afford to get, don't need and don't want!

'Excuse my rant!
 
Forbes Magazine Says......

Warren Buffett lost a ton (at least ) of money on his investments, and I think this "remakes" Bill Gates the richest man in the world. So the least you people could do is show some respect for "Kindly Uncle Bill", after he's done for you. Isn't this the same wonderful man who brought you Windows ME? And how about product activation? Don't forget WGA, isn't all of that for your own good? Well, isn't it?:evil::mad:

Personally I predict when everybody adopts a 64 Bit OS, Intel and M$ will conspire to bring a 128 bit board, CPU, OS combo to market. By then the software will be so bloated that the only program you'll still be able to run on your 32 bit XP legacy box will be Tic,Tac,Toe Ten. Forget Adobe Reader 15, it will require twice as much memory as a full blown DVD burning suite. :haha:;):wave:
 
LOL! And I believe the same thing about the 128-bit OS. I have no doubt it is already in research and development.
 
I like you 'attitude' captaincranky! It matches mine so well. BTW, the world's billionaires worth is down about 30% due to the financial crisis. Mr. Gates and Mr. Buffet included. Make you want to weep, huh?
 
Yes it does! It makes me want to cry out loud in anguish, while ma**tur***ing on my Steve Jobs poster. Climaxing with "Ohhh, Ohhh, Poor Bill"! I think they call it multitasking. It's all the rage you know.

If anybody's offended by this, apology offered in advance, I have self control issues.
 
I read an article on IE8, Im yet to be impressed by this drag fest of web browsers from them. 4 cores, 8 threads, but why should I have to dedicate one core to a single browser.
 
captaincranky said:
By then the software will be so bloated that the only program you'll still be able to run on your 32 bit XP legacy box will be Tic,Tac,Toe Ten. Forget Adobe Reader 15, it will require twice as much memory as a full blown DVD burning suite. :haha:;):wave:
Click to expand...
Nero 5, I have an install of it in my collection of installers and it is 10.8MB in size. Now look at whatever the latest version of Nero is, I believe once installed it is well over 600Megs. Probably over a gig, I don't know because I refuse to let that much bloat get installed. The only problem with Nero 5 is that once XP went retail Nero 5 didn't work anymore.
 
Funny how nobody can write a properly working piece of software in the first place, and has to resort to unending piecemeal patches and updates. Part of the reason are the many advanced features that seem obligatory, to the same extent that they remain unused.

As regards these advanced features, the foregoing posters have made a valid point, only they understated it.

Any program now has far more features than I could possibly imagine the need for.

More than that, it has far more features than I could bother to learn the use of, even if I needed them.

More than that, it is bloated with gimmicks, bells & whistles I’d definitely prefer to be without.

More than that, programs expand to the point of becoming unusable due to size, slowness and complexity.

More than that, such programs are then combined into larger multi-tools.

And when you can no longer run a program on your super modern computer, you then have a mature product, ready to be scrapped.
 
(Programming) "Art" Imitates Life....

This is a problem amplified by the greed of the buyer as it were. None of us want to own a car for example that doesn't have more features that our last one. So, as the years pass a "compact" car turns into a gas guzzler. At that point a new "compact' is introduced to fill the void left by, "Le Hog 9000"! The computer industry however, is still in it's infancy and doesn't have the sense (or good taste), to practice this "circle of (product) life".

So, what have we learned?

Greed always trumps need. Programmers probably sit around congratulating themselves how they've "improved" a product. Besides, work always expands to fill the time alloted. You surely wouldn't anticipate that they'd write themselves out of a job, by writing less code, more efficiently.

Why on earth would I care if I'll never need a feature, when I can brag to my friends that I have it.

I bought a Cyberhome DVD recorder which had the feature that you could use the remote to shut off access to the remote. I returned it, inoperable.:rolleyes: ;):D:haha::wave:
 
Bobbye said:
I like you 'attitude' captaincranky! It matches mine so well. BTW, the world's billionaires worth is down about 30% due to the financial crisis. Mr. Gates and Mr. Buffet included. Make you want to weep, huh?
Click to expand...
Sure does make me want to weep - with this communist presidency.
 
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