IE7/Windows Live/Vista Integration
Updated 8/24/2006: I incorrectly referred to Linda Schwartz as “Lisa Schwartz”. My apologies, Linda- I’ve corrected the post.
Responding to my post the other day about the RSS/feed handling built into Internet Explorer 7 (IE7), Linda Schwartz left a good comment, wondering if there would be a way to save feeds in IE7 and still be able to view them from another computer, or if she’d be stuck only having them saved locally- on that computer and that installation of IE7.
I answered by predicting that Microsoft would integrate features of IE7 with the Windows Live tools they are developing, and that I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they let IE7 users save all kinds of things about their browsing preferences to an online Windows Live account.
Just a few days later, I’m even more certain of this. I think Microsoft will build features that allow the user (after the user is signed up for a Windows Live account, of course) to save ALL favorites and lots of browsing preferences to an online account, and select them to be used from any other computer with an internet connection that has IE7 installed. I also think they’re going to do social bookmarking and tagging in a big, big way- and a whole lot of people who have never heard of del.icio.us are going to use tools built into IE7 and Windows Live to start doing it.
But wait- there’s more.
This week’s eWeek (8/21/2006) contains an article titled “VISTA – IT’S ALIVE” (you can register and download the PDF here- see page 7). The article points out that links to Windows Live services appear in the Welcome screen of the latest beta (build 5506) of Windows Vista.
(For a bigger version of this screen capture, click here)
Rachel also left a comment: “I don’t think anything would make me switch back to Explorer.”
I should point out that I use Firefox at home, and can’t imagine switching to IE on my own computers. But IE is the standard at my place of work, and is the browser I need to be prepared to support. Like it or not, IE still dominates the browser market, and libraries need to be familiar with the software its patrons are comfortable with. I’m no IE7 evangelist, just a pragmatist (who is admittedly preaching to the choir).
Like this post? Subscribe to the RSS feed!
October 10th, 2006 at 6:04 am
[...] I’ve posted twice previously about how I think the new version of Internet Explorer (IE7) and Vista will help to popularize the use of feeds. [...]