IE 7 "Add-ons"

[BenVitale]

I want + need to make your browser more productive, safe, and fun! So, i'm looking at different Add-ons, for example;

Bloglines Browser Plug-In
Inline Search by Core Systems
Me.dium
StumbleUpon Toolbar by StumbleUpon
Trailfire
Microsoft Silverlight
Microsoft Fiddler by Microsoft Corporation
Flash Player by Adobe Systems
Shockwave Player by Adobe Systems
Windows Live Toolbar by Microsoft Corporation
RoboForm

I've never had any of these Add-ons before. Would anyone share their experiences with any of these add-ons?

[BenVitale]

I'm adding to the list "Surfulater". Is anyone using it?

[felgall]

My favourite is IE7Pro which allows me to install usercripts into the browser to customise it to work however I like. There are lots of other options as well but I haven't really looked at them all that closely.

[WebJoel]

I have used RoboForm and StumbleUpon, -both are neat. They do as they promise.

Roboform is handy to have it you do alot of surveys, etc. -Fills-in your data with a 'click' (name, age, residence, stats, etc., -username & password if you set it to do so). Saves much time typing redundant required data.

StumbleUpon is ...the great time-waster! -You can click to visit kewl sites that you never knew existed! Truly inspiring, -a source of much amusement. If you remember your first computer and first interent hook-up, it's like, great... -now what? Well, this is what! :D You are sent randomly to some awesome-neat sites, and can 'vote for/recommend' same and others that you find, for other 'stumblers' to visit..

[Sunny G]

Need I say it? (Yes, I think I do).

Why put any time or effort into Internet Explorer when there are other browsers with time tested extensions?

[felgall]

I only have the IE7Pro plugin installed in IE6 and IE7 so I can test that the userscripts I write work there as well as in Firefox and opera.

[WebJoel]

Why put any time or effort into Internet Explorer when there are other browsers with time tested extensions? If you cannot create, you emulate! And IE will probably be 10-years behind everyone else trying to get it right.

-Is anyone out there besides myself horrified that MS 'sync' (whatever that is, -their rip-off of "OnStar", maybe?) is being installed in FORD vehicles?! -Hope it never BSODs... if it encounters a 'fatal error', what does it do? Shut-down your engine and close the windows? :eek:

-What do Air-Conditioners and computers have in common? -They work BEST with WINDOWS closed! :Dff

[Sunny G]

And IE will probably be 10-years behind everyone else trying to get it right.True. However, having said that, ten years from now (without a doubt) There would have been little development on Internet Explorer. At most there would be an Internet Explorer 8. But what worries me is that in that time, (I just realized) people would have made extensions for Internet Explorer 7 in those ten years. Its functionality will grow considerably, possibly surpassing the other browsers (Firefox, mainly). Maybe Microsoft planned it that way? In any case, some of the existing extensions work on IE 6 & 7, why not version 8? Blast Microsoft for their foresight.

Oh, and that sync thing on cars now is lame. I rather like the idea of a voice commanded system, but it'll get old and slow and depreceated within the year. Bad, bad idea.

[drhowarddrfine]

people would have made extensions for Internet Explorer 7 in those ten years. Its functionality will grow considerably, possibly surpassing the other browsers (Firefox, mainly).Why would you think Firefox or Opera would be sitting still in those 10 years?

[Sunny G]

Why would you think Firefox or Opera would be sitting still in those 10 years?Oh, hardly. Opera is probably the most proactive right now, with an upcoming release of its new rendering engine (krestel, with partial CSS3 support). And Mozilla is always cranking out new releases of Firefox and developers are always writing more extensions.

What I'm saying is that the Internet Explorer add-ons might just be interroperable between different versions (6, 7, and possibly 8 in the future) so it'll be easy for them to keep functionality growing in that regard- extensions won't have to be rewritten; they'll just be used again, again and again and they'll just pile up over time and still work. But still, no non-Microsoft browser is going to stand still and no matter what, they'll battle the forces of evil.

[felgall]

Given Microsoft's current rate of progress in updating IE I would expect that in 10 years time IE will have gained 5 years worth of updates and will therefore be only 15 years behind the other browsers.