If you have not already downloaded Internet Explorer 8, (IE8) yet, DON’T!  It is crap!

First thing you will notice is that the whole internet experience slows to a crawl.  It almost hangs up.

New versions of most software these day are inevitably buggy and suffer from incompatibilities that haven’t yet been discovered and/or documented.  We have come to accept that there may also be small quirks that take time to discover.  Amazingly, Microsoft knew of some of the issues before they released it because they issued a ‘fix’  before the final release.  What’s more, they still haven’t sorted it out! 

This Microsoft we’re talking about, one of the biggest companies in the world with a customer base that covers virtually the whole of the globe.  And they didn’t check it worked!  If you think about how many businesses this effects, then the cost to industry is mind-blowing!

IE8 has made significant changes to the way it renders web pages and this is a massive headache for designers like me.  In order to be ‘compliant’ it is necessary to ensure that the code can be correctly interpreted by various browsers.  Most designers are happy to content themselves that it works with Explorer in the knowledge that it is used by some 90%+ of the world. A quick check that it works in Firefox and that’s a good stab at compliance.  However, IE8 has rewritten the rulebook and it’s going to be a long adjustment period before designers get up to speed on the changes.

For me, I am beginning to see this a time to move on and leave the designing to others.

But I digress, I am whinging at the browser usability here.  Unfortunately, as well as slowing down browsing, it appears to have done something to the way the mouse works in ALL programs.  It’s as though there is a continuous polling going on such that the mouse keeps resetting itself.  Drag and drop is precarious to the extreme.  Mark an area and it resets the start to somewhere in the middle.  Drag, and it drops somewhere between where you start and where you are aiming.  Nightmare!

Okay, so it’s rubbish, so let’s get rid of it.  Uninstalling is easy enough and it defaults back to IE7.  Except that it somehow retains some of its bad habits.  It’s still slower than before.  You’ve got to remember Internet Explorer is very much a part of the operating system.

Sadly, it does not stop there.  Having uninstalled it, a couple of days later I had new updates waiting.  That’s normal for me because I allow regular updates from Microsoft.  However, when I said ok to the update, I realized that it was IE8 installing itself again!  “What a f&^*g liberty!”

I’ve just made Firefox my default browser.

If you are having problems with IE8 then click here, this might help

I suppose it had to start getting at me sooner or later.  I just can’t seem to cast the forthcoming operation to the back of my mind any more.  In fact, the more I try, the worse it gets.

I just get so angry with it all.  I received a relaxation CD from Diane yesterday and must put it on my iPod.  To be honest, I don’t have a lot of expectation from it.  That sort of thing just leaves me cold but I must be fair and give it a go.

The most exiting time I can remember for years at work and I can’t enjoy it.  Bugger!

Driving down Bath Road, Cheltenham, earlier in the week approaching a crossroads I was annoyed to see a young woman, (say, mid 20s), walking around the corner and press the pedestrian crossing button.  She didn’t falter in her step as she continued around the corner and pressed the next crossing button, then walked on down the street.  This stopped the flow of traffic in both directions for about 2 minutes each.  Prat! It was almost as though she was making some sort of a protest.

It’s on a par with people who carefully manipulate the ‘Engaged’ sign in public toilets.  Seriously, I’ve seen it happen.  They are probably the same people who don’t flush it either.

I was just going to liken them to people who whistle pointless, tuneless tunes , usually where you can’t get away from them, but at least some of them can be excused because they are oblivious to the annoyance that they are to others.  The people I am talking about are those that deliberately set about to annoy, but in an anonymous sort of way.  Like the 6’ 6” tall idiot who sits in front of you at the cinema even though there are 6 empty seats either side.

It’s the act of deliberately inconveniencing people just for the sake of it.  Hate them.