RE: Will Internet Explorer support XForms

Well, I'll pipe up.  First, I do not know what the status is (if any) of
Microsoft's eventual support of XForms, nor the other issues you mentioned
(e.g.  CSS).  I've had the same concerns you have.  I do work in an
environment that, like others, has much invested (time, effort, money,
knowledge, tools, etc.) in a slim few browsers.  Internet Explorer and
Mozilla.  
 
Switching to an obscure or less-known browser that supports XForms is not an
option.  Support for XForms through Mozilla appears promising.  The apparent
lack of interest of support for XForms et.al. by Microsoft is disconcerting,
and makes for interoperability across a heterogeneous environment
problematic.   This is not intended to be "Microsoft bashing", but I real
concern that I don't think I am alone on.
 
--john
 

-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Shupe [mailto:MShupe@AnyDocSoftware.com]
Sent: Thursday, October 09, 2003 11:20 AM
To: 'www-forms@w3.org'
Subject: Will Internet Explorer support XForms



I am curious.

It seems to me that the value of XForms depends heavily on its being
supported by the browsers. However, I have not heard any indication that
Microsoft intends to support XForms in IE. They don't mention it anywhere on
their site. Furthermore, they are not complying with it in their InfoPath
product which suggests to me that XForms and InfoPath are competing.  That
is, Microsoft will probably have a vested interest in NOT supporting XForms.
This concern was further confirmed after reading about Microsoft's lack of
interest in fixing CSS bugs in IE. 

At the same time, I don't find anybody expressing concern about this in any
of the XForms sites or forums.

Am I missing something?

 

Michael Shupe
Project Leader
AnyDoc Software, Inc.
813 222 0414
mshupe@anydocsoftware.com <mailto:mshupe@anydocsoftware.com> 

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