User talk:IECollection

AfD nomination of Internet Explorer Collection
I have nominated Internet Explorer Collection, an article that you created, for deletion. I do not think that this article satisfies Wikipedia's criteria for inclusion, and have explained why at Articles for deletion/Internet Explorer Collection. Your opinions on the matter are welcome at that same discussion page; also, you are welcome to edit the article to address these concerns. Thank you for your time. Blowdart | talk 11:04, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

Internet Explorer
Let me correct some of your claims at the deletion discussion and in that article, speaking only for myself.

Microsoft doesn't, to my knowledge, claim that old versions of IE "won't run" on particular versions of Windows. Rather, it claims that they're (1) not supported, (2) not being updated for security issues, (3) installing them over later versions would break other programs, and (4) Microsoft's installers won't install them per 1, 2 and 3.

The program known as "Internet Explorer" (iexplore.exe) provides a means for activating and using a Windows component known as the WebBrowser control, which provides the core functions of fetching and displaying web pages. The WebBrowser control is a "registered OLE control," one of several in Windows. Its code is located in the Windows system directory. It is used by other Microsoft programs included in Windows, Microsoft programs not included in Windows, and third-party programs. As a former RealNetworks developer and former contract developer at Microsoft, I have worked on such programs. Removing the WebBrowser control or downgrading it below a certain minimum version would break these programs. The availability of the WebBrowser control, and indeed, a certain minimum version of it, is one of the services Windows provides to programs. The control is an integral part of Windows.

What's more, iexplore.exe implements a "registered Automation class." (Again, it's one of many in Windows). There is a documented interface in Windows for launching the Internet Explorer application and making it do tricks, for example, with a Javascript program:

var b = new ActiveXObject("InternetExplorer.Application"); b.Visible = true; b.Navigate(" http://www.msn.com/ ");

If iexplore.exe is removed, or is not the correct minimum version, programs that use that interface will break. So the Internet Explorer application, also, is an integral part of Windows.

WillOakland (talk) 07:00, 11 February 2009 (UTC)