the tindog coffeehouse

Microsoft wants you to know that Internet Explorer 8 is the perfect web browser for porn addicts.

At least that’s the message I walked away with after (reluctantly) watching their new IE8 commercial, in which a wife projectile vomits after finding porn on her husband’s laptop. (If you care to see it, it’s available here.) The point of the commercial is actually to promote IE8′s InPrivate browsing feature, aka “porn mode”, which hides the browsing history from, well, unapproving spouses.

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Since being forced back to Internet Explorer on my work computer a few weeks ago, I’ve been looking forward to the release of IE8 with the expectation that anything has to be better than versions 6 and 7.

The good news: It’s better. The bad news: It’s still Internet Explorer.

I downloaded and installed it last night, a process that took much longer on my Windows XP machine than it should’ve. And of course it required a reboot, typical for IE but unheard of for any other browser.

After booting back up and logging in, I fired it up and was pleasantly suprised. The speed difference between 7 and 8 was immediately noticeable, and sites that used to be wonky under 7 such as Google Reader now seemed to work properly (imagine that).

But despite all the other new features (see here for a full list) and some relatively good reviews (Wired called it “Microsoft’s First Truly Modern Browser”), the fact remains that it’s still Internet Explorer. And I don’t mean that as a compliment.

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Microsoft is finally getting around to responding to Apple’s “I’m a Mac” ads by releasing a series of ads showing various people, including a few celebrities, proclaiming that they’re a PC. The idea is to combat the negative stereotype of Windows and its users propagated by the Apple ads.

With other marketing efforts such as the Mojave Experiment falling flat, it was a smart move on Microsoft’s part to take direct aim at Apple. After all, the Windows/Mac debate has always been about culture and stereotypes rather than about the actual quality of the products.

As well-orchestrated as the ads may be, however, I don’t think they’ll be enough.

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