Many of Microsoft’s services are very compatible to their Google counterparts. There are many people who have proudly switched away from Google services in favor of something from Microsoft. One product, however, continues to be ridiculed and cast to the wayside. Just saying its name makes teenagers tremble at the thought of helping their parents with PC problems.
Even among die-hard Microsoft fans Internet Explorer seems to be the red-headed step child. People always say “Internet Explorer actually isn’t that bad,” and then they run back to Chrome. I am guilty of this too. I’ve written many times about how IE has come a long way, but I have written those things in a Chrome browser. It’s time to put my money where my mouth is. Welcome to my nightmare.
The What
For the month of February I am challenging myself to use only Internet Explorer for browsing the web and Bing for searching. I will be attempting this on every single device I own: PC, tablet, and phone. At the end of the month, assuming I survive, I will write an editorial about my experiences. Ultimately I will decide whether or not it is possible for me to continue using IE and Bing.
The Who
Ever since I first owned a PC I have used either Firefox, Safari (what a crazy time that was), or Chrome as my web browser. I can never remember a time when I didn’t use Google as my search engine. I use Gmail, Google Docs, SkyDrive, and OneNote for other various tasks. In the last few years I have become very invested in Chrome with dozens of apps and extensions. That is where my biggest challenge lies.
The Why
I feel like for the most part it’s easy to switch to most of Microsoft’s services. It’s not too difficult to go from Gmail to Outlook, but switching from Chrome to Internet Explorer is entirely different. Microsoft and Google have the same basic vision for things like email and cloud storage, but they could not be more different in how they approach web browsers. In just the three days I’ve been using IE I’ve had to rethink a lot of the things I used to do in Chrome. I think this challenge will be very interesting.
The You
Do you use Internet Explorer? Why not? Do you think you could? Do you think I will succeed? Is there anything you would like to know from my experience? Let me know all of your thoughts below!