I simply cannot and will not support this idea! The sites I create are standards compliant, they work in all of the major standards compliant web browsers, they require some small tweaks using conditional comments to render correctly in IE5 and up. If this new IE8 browser has the spec right why should I be forced to insert a meta tag to allow that spec to be implemented?

If IE8 has the spec right I would expect my sites to continue to render correctly, my tweaks will remain for lesser versions of IE. I can’t support the opt-in/out meta solution, but if there is no other way, don’t penalise the developers who are doing the right thing, penalise those that aren’t.

Sadly I must say I have suddenly lost a lot of respect for a small portion of prominent people who have for so long lead the way in the web standards movement due to their support for this proposal, there is only one way they will ever earn that respect back now, “dump this BS proposal” for the love of everything you worked so hard for.

Years ago, they could’ve afforded to hire every single one of the brightest minds on the planet – minds that probably could’ve entirely re-written the buggy browser from scratch in a few months time, had it chosen to do so. Again, Hmm.

So they’ve had the money, the time and the opportunity to fix things. With some thought, doesn’t it become rather obvious that they are most likely CHOOSING non-compliance?

This would keep intranet and legacy app users locked in to their current IE stranglehold for the foreseeable future.

Microsoft is a company that has never chosen compliancy. And this has been a DELIBERATE choice all the way, right down the line.

And they NEVER WILL, or they would’ve done so by now.

By far the most disturbing aspect of this IE8 debate is that some developers and organizations who in the past have made standards compliance such high a priority have now thrown their reputations aside in order to back this hack.

People and groups that have announced their support of Microsoft on this issue can no longer truly consider themselves advocates of standards compliance. You can’t have it both ways. Standards are standards, whether it’s for Microsoft or Mozilla.

Anyway, here’s my suggestion: Since Microsft has chosen this course (with everyone else paying the bill), let’s put the onus on them to handle the breakage when it occurs.

They should put a big red button on the main toolbar of IE8 with the message: “Having trouble viewing this site?”.

In which case a “Yes” reply would revert the browser back to IE7, or 6, or 5, or whatever ancient version they choose to keep people locked in to.

The solution that everyone keeps asking for is actually very simple. However, it is one that Microsoft themselves have to create. The solution is to simply not intertwine IE8 into the Windows operating system like bone cancer in a person. If they were to make IE8 a separated app then those big, slow, dinosaur companies with intranets that require IE6 could keep IE6 for their intranets and also run IE8 without this proprietary markup for the internet.

So, the solution is simple. Microsoft will have to make a sacrifice now for their past actions. I know it is completely unAmerican to expect a company to pay for their past deeds, but that is the right solution to this.

They caused this whole mess with their despicable actions in the 90s so now they should shoulder the burden for fixing it in their software not our standards.

I do understand your position. However, since unknown doctypes will trigger Full Standards Mode in IE8, I conclude this mode is the default.

The old – or known – doctypes are the real opt-out while the meta-element is an additional opt-in.

And according to Chros Wilson, it may have been the last time an additional mode was introduced.

The very fabric of the web itself rests on Open Standards (TCP/IP, HTTP, HTML, you-name-it), but DOCTYPE will give Microsoft the space to do what it does best: ignore Open Standards, force us to to use IE because only IE can render web-sites properly, and hence keep Windows on the desktop so that we keep paying the Windows tax.

Guys ‘n Gals: box hard for Open Standards! Don’t let proprietary standards dictate to you.

Anyhow, if Microsoft is so worried about this then maybe they should try this out: If a web page has a DOCTYPE declaration, but has errors, or has a missing/malformed DOCTYPE then not only revert to quirks mode, but offer to render the page in IEn-m engine.

Let IE8 render web pages in Standards mode by default. Don’t make conscientious web developers and competing browser developers shoulder the burden of correcting Microsoft’s mistakes.