Microsoft's Internet Driving Licence: stupid, unworkable and unenforceable

for any one using Microsoft software on the Internet!

I would love to see the levels of spam drop dramatically.

No... Microsoft software should just be banned from the Internet... that would reduce spam and malware to virtual non-existance.

@softwarejanitor, prohibition doesn't work though, we saw that in the 20s in the US and a few other Western countries, and the war on drugs is little more than a sink hole for money. Yet where countries apply huge taxes AND education there is a reduction in usage, take tobacco.

So I propose that people who use Microsoft's software be taxed heavily, be forced to sit "drivers license" tests and be educated on safer alternatives.

I've pondered the ramifications of checking the User-Agent and redirecting to a "you've gotta be nuts to continue using Internet Exploder!" page. I can't bring myself to do it... yet I can't give up on the idea, either.

@gus: No need to redirect them away from the page. But you could show a warning at the top of the page. Many people have done so. Also, don't look at the user agent. Use conditional comments. They are guaranteed to be only seen by IE, regardless of user-agent strings. Example: http://www.james-blogs.com/2009/07/27/ie6-browser-warning-me...

In that example, replace <!--[if lte IE6] with <!--[if IE] and you will target all versions of IE.

Forum ate my post....

replace "if lte IE6" with "if IE"

Thanks, Sander. I'll take that under advisement (meaning, I'll bookmark it ;-).

Bob fixed the forum bug that ate the better part of my previous post. Testing...

<!--[if !IE]--> bar <!--[if !IE]> baz <[endif]-->

<-- And an open-ended one...

Test two:

Test three: An escaped comment (should be printed): An unescaped comment (should be filtered or not displayed):

Didn't this character just pick up all the points people made when Mundie's risible proposal first came out?

Still, I guess it's a good rant. It would have had more impact if someone from "The Register", Andrew Orlowski, say, had made it.