There’s a war going on out there folks and some days it can feel like you’re the only one fighting it. It’s a war over the control of the veritable lifeline we call the internet. I’ve seen the enemy people and he is us.
Of course what I am talking about is the very tool we use to access the wonderful world of the World Wide Web: our browser. The enemy? The nearly soul-crushing 88% majority that are STILL FUCKING USING INTERNET EXPLORER!!! What the hell is wrong with you people??
As a web developer nearly all complications / frustrations / exacerbations of my day start with someone saying “looks great in FireFox but seems to be broken on my PC’s IE.”
I realize that since this is my personal obsession and must always be on the bleeding edge of technology that I’m going to be ahead of the run-of-the-mill web surfer out there. I would hope that people would start to realize that they do have alternatives or at least would start to look for them after their 8th crippling virus and 8 millionth pop-up ad. But then I remember that there are still people using the AOL browser and I spend the rest of the day in a corner weeping.
The problem isn’t just with ignorance of the greener side of the road, I work with people who just “haven’t gotten around to switching over.” I can talk ’til I’m blue in the face of the advantages (I’m pretty sure that God worked an extra 8th day to invent tab browsing…) of nearly any other browser than IE and get nowhere. It’s time to take this fight to the next level.
I had a coworker espouse the idea a few years back of writing a benevolent virus that would go into peoples computers, install FireFox, upgrade to the newest Flash plugin and destroy any remnant of the dreaded IE on their hard-drive. I still think this is a brilliant idea but since I feel like prison and me wouldn’t really “gel” I’m proposing another solution.
While I haven’t seen any actual statistics on the subject, I get the sense that the general Silent Talkie reader is generally pretty “with it” as the kids say and probably already knows what a good web browser can do for one’s internet experience so I kinda feel like I’m preachin’ to the choir. What I need all of you to do is, next time you’re at your parents/grandparents house over a holiday (Easter’s coming real soon!) install a real browser for them. See an untended laptop at the local Starbucks? Use that WiFi hotspot for some good use and give the obviously careless owner a gift that keeps on giving.
Guerilla tactics aren’t just for revolutionary armies and savvy film promoters any more. Take back the web! You’d sure as hell be making my work day a whole lot easier…
