June 22, 2009 at 16:34Habrainterview with Ryan Servatius (Microsoft)
Some time ago, we were able to meet with Ryan Servatius , the person who runs Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browser development, and talk with him a little. The conversation was not very long, and not all questions Ryan, unfortunately, could give an answer due to many circumstances. However, the interview came out quite interesting. Including thanks to the Russian representatives of Microsoft, in particular - Ekaterina Levochkina, who runs the group of online products of the consumer software department and Microsoft online services in Russia, for which many thanks to her.
So, Ryan, I’ll start with the most pressing issue. How can you comment on the statements of many users that IE and in particular the latest IE8 do not comply with the standards that other browsers comply with?
The new Internet Explorer 8 provides support for all major generally accepted standards, such as, for example, HTML 4.01 and CSS 2.1, which are supported by other browsers. In addition, IE8 is backward compatible with previous versions of the Microsoft browser - IE6 and IE7. That is, both interoperability and backward compatibility in the new IE are fully provided.
And what about the gaining popularity and relevance of innovations such as SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics)? This feature is supported by other modern browsers, but IE8 is not.
We try to cover all web standards, but as far as SVG is concerned, we, unfortunately, do not have sufficient engineering resources to provide full-fledged quality support for scalable vector graphics. However, I want to emphasize that we carefully listen to what our community is saying and try to take this view into account in our work.
What about mouse gestures?
As I just said, we always listen to the opinions of our users and try to proceed precisely from their needs.
Yes, but control of “gestures” with the mouse has long been implemented by competitors, so there is a demand for this function. More surprisingly, this feature is not available in IE8.
It all comes down to how we prioritize the implementation of all sorts of features in Internet Explorer. And we arrange them, I repeat, based on what the community tells us.
It turns out that the community is not very much and wanted to get mouse gestures. Well, what about the so-called Mozilla-compliant standards? How does Microsoft relate to them?
Firefox, being a standards-based browser, supports the HTML 4.01 and CSS2.1 that I mentioned above, just like our new Internet Explorer does. In addition, we did a lot of work in collaboration with other browser manufacturers, as well as with W3C.
And what do you personally like in alternative browsers?
You know, it’s very nice to see that some functions and features implemented in IE also appear in other browsers. In general, we do not live in a vacuum and use a variety of software products, like all other normal people.
Speaking about other browsers, I cannot but ask a question that is very, very interesting: will Internet Explorer ever come out under Linux?
Now there are no such plans.
Do you plan to abandon Trident in the future and switch to another browser engine?
How exactly and what exactly will be implemented in future versions of Internet Explorer directly depends on which feedback we receive from our community, which consists of both advanced and ordinary users.
How long has work on IE8 started?
In fact, two years ago.
And when will work on IE9 begin and what will be in it? :)
In this regard, I can only say one thing: Microsoft is an ardent supporter of innovation in browsers.
Then at least talk about Internet Explorer on mobile devices. What are your plans in this direction?
I am not responsible for Windows Mobile, but I can say that work in this direction is underway, and a new mobile version of Internet Explorer will be bundled with Windows Mobile 6.5. Soon you will see everything for yourself.
Obviously, IE8 is the product that Microsoft has high expectations for now. How actively and aggressively does the company intend to promote a new browser, in particular, in Russia?
Ekaterina Levochkina:We will promote it very aggressively, simply for the reason that IE8 is perhaps the best product we have created at Microsoft recently. We are very proud of him, so we intend to actively distribute it. In particular, our partners will help us with this: Yandex, Mail.Ru and Rambler, as well as other companies that will join us later. In addition, the owners of some web projects have already begun to contact us regularly with the desire to create and distribute their customized assembly of IE8. The attractiveness of such assemblies was appreciated by many. and we are glad about it.
Ryan, you are standing at the helm of the development management of one of the most popular line of browsers in the world. What feelings do you feel when you are at such an important post?
In general, this question would be worth asking our chief IE engineer, I think. However, for me, I ... I really love what I do. I love it because we, it seems to me, are doing something special. A team of fairly young and very talented people is working on IE, this is a special team and, most importantly, the guys really like this work.
Tell us about your typical work day. Well, at the same time about what are your best and worst working days.
Well, actually, speaking of my typical working day in the last three weeks, these are the following exciting activities: a very early climb, then meeting, then running to the airport, sleeping on the plane on the way to another country, meeting again, then I I arrive at the hotel very late and the next day everything is new. Over the past few weeks, I have visited dozens of countries on four continents. But all this is very exciting, nonetheless. After all, I have a great opportunity to personally communicate not only with developers, but also with users of our products, receive feedback from them.
As for the best and worst working day, the day was especially successful for me if I received a quality feedback from users, developers or computer manufacturers. Well, the worst working day for me goes, as a rule, on an airplane, where there is no Internet access.
Let's imagine that once Internet Explorer was on absolutely all PCs and thus occupied 100% of the market. What will you do in this case?
Not the best situation. Competition is very good, including in the browser market. It's great that users have such a wide choice, because it is useful for us, and for them, and for the web, and for the development of innovations.
What is the ultimate goal then?
We want to make a web browser that will appeal to all Windows users. In addition, what users like today will not necessarily suit them tomorrow, so this is a kind of endless race. And we are pleased to participate in it.
So, Ryan, I’ll start with the most pressing issue. How can you comment on the statements of many users that IE and in particular the latest IE8 do not comply with the standards that other browsers comply with?
The new Internet Explorer 8 provides support for all major generally accepted standards, such as, for example, HTML 4.01 and CSS 2.1, which are supported by other browsers. In addition, IE8 is backward compatible with previous versions of the Microsoft browser - IE6 and IE7. That is, both interoperability and backward compatibility in the new IE are fully provided.
And what about the gaining popularity and relevance of innovations such as SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics)? This feature is supported by other modern browsers, but IE8 is not.
We try to cover all web standards, but as far as SVG is concerned, we, unfortunately, do not have sufficient engineering resources to provide full-fledged quality support for scalable vector graphics. However, I want to emphasize that we carefully listen to what our community is saying and try to take this view into account in our work.
What about mouse gestures?
As I just said, we always listen to the opinions of our users and try to proceed precisely from their needs.
Yes, but control of “gestures” with the mouse has long been implemented by competitors, so there is a demand for this function. More surprisingly, this feature is not available in IE8.
It all comes down to how we prioritize the implementation of all sorts of features in Internet Explorer. And we arrange them, I repeat, based on what the community tells us.
It turns out that the community is not very much and wanted to get mouse gestures. Well, what about the so-called Mozilla-compliant standards? How does Microsoft relate to them?
Firefox, being a standards-based browser, supports the HTML 4.01 and CSS2.1 that I mentioned above, just like our new Internet Explorer does. In addition, we did a lot of work in collaboration with other browser manufacturers, as well as with W3C.
And what do you personally like in alternative browsers?
You know, it’s very nice to see that some functions and features implemented in IE also appear in other browsers. In general, we do not live in a vacuum and use a variety of software products, like all other normal people.
Speaking about other browsers, I cannot but ask a question that is very, very interesting: will Internet Explorer ever come out under Linux?
Now there are no such plans.
Do you plan to abandon Trident in the future and switch to another browser engine?
How exactly and what exactly will be implemented in future versions of Internet Explorer directly depends on which feedback we receive from our community, which consists of both advanced and ordinary users.
How long has work on IE8 started?
In fact, two years ago.
And when will work on IE9 begin and what will be in it? :)
In this regard, I can only say one thing: Microsoft is an ardent supporter of innovation in browsers.
Then at least talk about Internet Explorer on mobile devices. What are your plans in this direction?
I am not responsible for Windows Mobile, but I can say that work in this direction is underway, and a new mobile version of Internet Explorer will be bundled with Windows Mobile 6.5. Soon you will see everything for yourself.
Obviously, IE8 is the product that Microsoft has high expectations for now. How actively and aggressively does the company intend to promote a new browser, in particular, in Russia?
Ekaterina Levochkina:We will promote it very aggressively, simply for the reason that IE8 is perhaps the best product we have created at Microsoft recently. We are very proud of him, so we intend to actively distribute it. In particular, our partners will help us with this: Yandex, Mail.Ru and Rambler, as well as other companies that will join us later. In addition, the owners of some web projects have already begun to contact us regularly with the desire to create and distribute their customized assembly of IE8. The attractiveness of such assemblies was appreciated by many. and we are glad about it.
Ryan, you are standing at the helm of the development management of one of the most popular line of browsers in the world. What feelings do you feel when you are at such an important post?
In general, this question would be worth asking our chief IE engineer, I think. However, for me, I ... I really love what I do. I love it because we, it seems to me, are doing something special. A team of fairly young and very talented people is working on IE, this is a special team and, most importantly, the guys really like this work.
Tell us about your typical work day. Well, at the same time about what are your best and worst working days.
Well, actually, speaking of my typical working day in the last three weeks, these are the following exciting activities: a very early climb, then meeting, then running to the airport, sleeping on the plane on the way to another country, meeting again, then I I arrive at the hotel very late and the next day everything is new. Over the past few weeks, I have visited dozens of countries on four continents. But all this is very exciting, nonetheless. After all, I have a great opportunity to personally communicate not only with developers, but also with users of our products, receive feedback from them.
As for the best and worst working day, the day was especially successful for me if I received a quality feedback from users, developers or computer manufacturers. Well, the worst working day for me goes, as a rule, on an airplane, where there is no Internet access.
Let's imagine that once Internet Explorer was on absolutely all PCs and thus occupied 100% of the market. What will you do in this case?
Not the best situation. Competition is very good, including in the browser market. It's great that users have such a wide choice, because it is useful for us, and for them, and for the web, and for the development of innovations.
What is the ultimate goal then?
We want to make a web browser that will appeal to all Windows users. In addition, what users like today will not necessarily suit them tomorrow, so this is a kind of endless race. And we are pleased to participate in it.