nerd@metrocat.org

A Long Way to Go to Release

I installed the latest Beta of Internet Explorer on my work laptop yesterday. In part, I was hoping to find out whether the last two applications I built which embed an Internet Explorer browser as the user interface (which is a great way to build an application’s UI quickly) would work for our customers that upgrade their browser. Unfortunately, I never did find out.

I patiently wated through the annoyingly long download and mandatory reboot — especially annoying because long before the install completed, Windows started nagging me about needing to reboot before the Windows updates would be installed. Finally after everything was ready, I clicked on the Internet Explorer icon and was greeted by the distinctive new look: distinctively ugly. Perhaps, if you’re running with the default XP theme (A.K.A. Crayola’s My First Computer) the new Internet Explorer chrome might fit in. But when you’re running the legacy Windows theme (especially when you have all UI elements set to a muted warm grey), the new chrome looks really ugly. But I didn’t get to worry about the ugliness for long.

My real worry was that the entire browser was hung and using 99% of the CPU. I couldn’t move the window. I couldn’t close the window. I could barely even use the machine.

I rebooted several times, but the problem persisted: every time I launched Internet Explorer, it hung and consumed the entire processor.

Finally, totally exasperated, I removed the Beta from my computer and reverted back to Internet Explorer 6, which may be buggy, but at least it works.