Why Would I Write

  • Farewell to Internet Explorer 8, 9, 10

    For those of you not in the know – Microsoft recently announced that they will be ending support for older versions of Internet Explorer (8, 9, and 10). IE 11 will still be supported, as well as Edge which is actually pretty good, but I’m too much of a Google user to give up Chrome. Last year, I upgraded to Windows 10 and used Edge for the first time – to download Chrome. And I haven’t used it since. But my experience with Edge wasn’t bad – it didn’t stop me from downloading Chrome. That would’ve been funny/annoying.

    Anyway, for most people, this won’t mean a thing – and to people who are still on those old versions of IE, it probably won’t mean a thing to them either since they haven’t bothered to upgrade till now. I doubt any modern businesses are still running on those browsers either, so it’s not as big of a deal as its been made out to be.

    I haven’t used Internet Explorer in a long time. I remembered it used to be the go to browser way back when Netscape was still a thing. I was on Netscape Navigator 3 or 4, I can’t remember, when there was a talk in school and they handed us CDs with IE on them. I remember getting all excited and pumped, installing a brand new web browser on my home computer (via a CD-ROM!). I think it was on that day I signed up for my Hotmail account as well (which remains active till this day).

    IE was faster than Netscape (believe it or not). It was my browser of choice for the longest time. I can’t remember when or what it was that made me switch back to Netscape. I think I used Opera for a while, and then Firefox for a few years until Chrome came along.

    I remember reading the newspapers at the time – Microsoft was labelled unfair and was using its position as the no.1 operating system provider to spread Internet Explorer by bundling the browser with Windows. Microsoft had to face antitrust lawsuits and shit. While Windows is still popular, IE isn’t anymore (though it’s probably still one of the most used browsers worldwide) and Windows Phone is barely staying afloat (correct me if I’m wrong). Oh how times have changed.

    Anyway, I think Microsoft will probably kill of Internet Explorer 11 once they’ve developed Edge enough. I don’t see any reason why they would want to continue working on two browsers unless they both have very different uses.

    But for all the years of surfing IE has enabled me to partake in – thank you. Welcome to browser heaven.

  • Remy

    Wow! Look at all those kids playing in the park. Golly, I wish I had feet – then I would join them in the grass. We’d run around, kick balls and chase each other until we got tired and collapsed on the grass. That would be great. I wonder if my owner would ever take me to the park. Speaking of my owner, I hear him coming.
    (more…)

  • Traffic

    I believe that traffic lights are good enough for the work they do – controlling traffic. There has never been a point in my life where I felt that the job of traffic lights could be better handled by policemen. However, every time I’m caught in traffic on a road when there’s usually no traffic – there’s always a traffic cop controlling the traffic flow. Every time it happens, I make sure to ask myself why? Or grumble to whoever is in the passenger seat that traffic cops make things worse.

    Why don’t they just leave the job to traffic lights, which, if configured properly, are supposed to do the job properly? And if the lights aren’t configured properly, why not fix them? Instead of putting some poor dude in the middle of speeding cars and motorbikes? Under the hot sun. In their long sleeves, helmets and gloves? It’s stupid. No wonder they don’t make the best decisions.

    Maybe traffic cops are only there because they’re being punished. And if they’re being punished, of course they’re not going to do a good job. They’ll want to fuck with everyone else on the road, since they have nothing to lose anyway. And they can gain some pleasure out of all the motorists’ frustrations. A least I know that’s what I’d do if I was being punished.

    If they’re not being punished, then why do they do such a bad job of controlling traffic? Maybe it’s just me generalizing my experiences with traffic cops and I’m being unfair to the good ones who are actually making things better.

    What about cops or ambulance drivers who use their sirens to skip traffic jams? Are they considered assholes too? Because every time there’s a shitty jam, there’s bound to be these guys around. And if they’re skipping traffic, why do I always read about them showing up late at emergencies? I can’t recall the last time I heard a siren when traffic was good. Everyone should just ride bicycles instead. Then we’d have no jams, we’d save the environment, and everybody would be fitter.