For the first time in a while, I am posting a positive post regarding Microsoft.
Please read: Internet Explorer improvements come to light.

For the first time, my impression of Microsoft’s plans for the IE 7 update is promising. In the past, Microsoft promised increased but incomplete support for CSS (including CSS2). Whereas this is a good thing, such a promise left unclarified promises nothing but necessary changes in code to reinstate compatibility with IE in our websites.

But a recent comment on IEBlog by Chris Wilson added: “Our first and most important goal with our Cascading Style Sheet support is to remove the major inconsistencies so that Web developers have a consistent set of functionality on which they can rely.”

If this is what they mean when they promise increased but incomplete support for CSS, then I am completely fine with that! My concern is Microsoft fostering an atmosphere where developers constantly have to baby their sites to maintain compatibility with IE. However, if IE were to work similarly to all other browsers, then this concern vanishes–for the moment.

Granted, such a promise is only genuine if a stream of updates is promised to maintain compatibility. In other words, another long hiatus from IE updates would leave us in a state no better than we are at present.

What Microsoft will do remains to be seen.

At a recent shareholders meeting, Steve Jobs made a great, succinct swipe at Microsoft and Longhorn.

It is mentioned in: Jobs rebuts eco-group claims at annual meeting.

According to MacWorld, when Jobs was asked about the release of Mac OS X Tiger and the upcoming Longhorn, he said, �They are shamelessly trying to copy us…I think the most telling thing is that Tiger will ship at the end of the month and Longhorn is still two years out. They can�t even copy fast.�

What a great line!

Adding fuel to the fire about Longhorn as well as salt to the wound of SQL Server’s laughable clarified release date is speculation in the industry that Microsoft’s Longhorn will not make its 2006 release date.

Read about it at: Longhorn in 2006: Can Microsoft Really Pull This Off?

Granted, opinions are just that, nothing concrete. But the opinions are a reflection of Microsoft’s track record, which is indeed concrete, and not flattering for Microsoft.

To Microsoft’s credit, at least they are readily acknowledging that Longhorn won’t be ready any time soon in 2006; when you look at the schedule of events surrounding the Longhorn release, you can see that they anticipate it hitting retail shelves (and bundled with Wintel machines) in time for Christmas 2006. That places the release date 20 full months away, a lot further than the short 8 full months before the beginning of 2006.

Nevertheless, many things have to happen between now and then, starting with a working beta, which Microsoft is already overdue on delivering.

Let’s just sit back and see what the giant pulls off.

This is a dark and heart-sinking day for ColdFusion and its developers. Adobe has–not merged, which would be bad enough–but acquired Macromedia.

I first heard about it by someone telling me, and they couldn’t remember if Macromedia bought out Adobe or vice versa. I was very hopeful that Macromedia bought out Adobe, because in general I have never been impressed with Adobe’s presence on the web.

Granted, the PDF document type has been revolutionary for the web, but it has simply extended the paper mindset. Adobe feels clunky and old. The Acrobat Reader is slow and big, and it fundamentally does nothing but give you a perfectly formatted piece of paper on a computer screen. Meanwhile, Macromedia’s direction was toward the modernism of the web. Although perfectly formatted portable documents was an element in the vision, it was only that: An element of a greater vision that was focused on small, fast, and powerful digital interfaces, that were dynamic and responsive, oh so much more than what Adobe has been offering.

Furthermore, their web authoring tools have always left much to be desired for me.

In the Adobe/Macromedia Acquisition FAQs (go figure, an ugly PDF document; go get your coffee as you wait for it to load), Adobe attempts to address just these kinds of concerns. Seriously, would you say anything but good things about the future of the acquired company’s products in the heat of the acquisition? Whereas I feel Adobe respects Macromedia for its powerful intuition and innovation, I fear that it will not reflect such strengths when the acquisition has come and gone and the new futures of products like ColdFusion–which are our livlihood for some of us–are to be decided.

Maybe it would be a good time to start learning up on Java and PHP…