>>>Very wrong if you ask me that Microsoft allowed (encouraged) developers with VFP 6.0 to develop applications using the Web Control and now after many hours of development time invested to integrate the control into an application Microsoft now says I MUST install Internet Explorer to use that control. I would have NEVER used the control if this were the policy when I started developing this application. Many of my users are using Netscape as a browser and do not want to install TWO applications in order to use ONE application. The attraction for me to use the Web Control in the first place was it allowed me to generate DHTML output that worked in IE’s DOM regardless what browser was or wasn’t installed on the computer. Talk about classic bait and switch! Does anyone else find this WRONG?
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>>The webbrowser control is basically IE. Both IE and your app use the same exact DLL's, so you can't install one without getting the other. Your users don't need to use IE (even though your app requires it) for their normal browsing. I guess you could remove the shortcut to IE from the desktop if you want.
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>>I can't say the licensing bothers me too much. I basically get to use a very powerful COM component and include it in my applications for free. IE is already included with the operating system, I just distribute the latest version of it. The users don't have to use it directly if they don't want to.
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>Paul,
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>I appreciate your input and nothing personal but I've got to say a few things about our situation thanks to Microsoft.
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>Well I would hardly say it's FREE. With hundreds of users I now become responsible to support the installation of IE 6.0. Not even considering any problems with other applications that users have which might not be compatible with IE 6.0. Two of the web-based applications used here are not supported on IE 6.0 yet. The “Microsoft Web Browser” control elevated all these problems because it didn’t effect any other applications. This suddenly becomes an expensive powerful COM component to use.
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>Another problem is IE 6.0 does not work on Windows 95 machines and since I cannot distribute the Web Browser with our VFP 7.0 application none of the Web interfaces are working requiring us to manually install IE 5.5 on any machines using Netscape so they have the required web control version (IE 5.5). The use of Microsoft’s FREE Web Control that Microsoft conveniently included with VFP 6.0 and encouraged developers to use has cost me plenty.
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>Now after spending the complete afternoon with the Internet Explorer Administration Kit I still have not been able to create a “completely silent” Installation as the help file describes. I did however have to uninstall and reinstall after repeatedly getting a GPF on the on the Automatic Version Synchronization page.
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>I’d bet MS has a group of employees that their sole responsibility is sit around and plan this type of bait and switch schemes all day long. Microsoft is a very cunning and most certainly planned this strategy long ago to further push Internet Explorer to the masses. And obliviously so, they figured we’d just live with it and do as they say. I only wish their was another company that could compete with them. The world would certainly be a better place.
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>I don't know... maybe it would be nice to be like Microsoft - anwser to no one, f... with any one and play with the goverment like a stripper on the catwalk (says nothing, lots of fancy moves, lots of smiles, lots of money and untouchable).
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>I would GLADLY pay MS for a distributable Web Browser ActiveX control I can include with my application. It will make my application much easier to deploy, save me from many problems I really don’t need and most importantly make my users much happier. How much MS, how much?
How much? All they want is your soul, Will, your eternal soul.
