How is this even true? The IE8 and IE9 teams have been making great strides to get back into the game. Again, it is only "standards" groups and the DOJ that forced Microsoft's hand out of innovating the browser space. Just look at IE's filter or behavior system(s), if you are unfamiliar with or have forgotten how IE innovated long before we had all been told to wait for a standard to be established -- every bit as "standard" as the now -moz, -o, -webkit key-prefixes.
Besides, the question was whether IE has held innovation. They have not. They were asked to stop for deliberations; they did; we are still waiting. It's hardly Microsoft's fault IE6 was so innovative that "NOW" browsers have yet to move against IE like IE moved against its competitors during the years of IE4 and IE6 (IE5 Mac).
The point being, waiting for "standards" to be signed, sealed, and delivered is all that has been holding back innovation. Once out of that rut, we can start pushing cool technology. ECMA CLI in browsers? Now that is innovation, snuffed.
We don't want IE "innovating". If the W3C and anti-trust investigations achieved that then great. You seem to think that GMail on my phone or linux machine is somehow thanks to Microsoft trying to tie the web to ActiveX, and therefore Windows. What it is really thanks to is guerilla standardisation by the other browsers, reverse engineering the dominant browser to deliver value to users while Redmond slept.
Please don't mindlessly repeat Microsoft's line about having to wait for standards to be signed, sealed, and delivered. It's just spin. They have a broken development model (and a financial interest in holding back the web) and that is no-one's fault but their own.
On contrary, "we" want nothing of the sort. Maybe those too young to remember the advances made from IE4 through IE6, those may not understand how Microsoft set up how you and I use the web today. You seem to be missing the point. It's not Microsoft's job to make GMail work on your phone or linux; _however_, Microsoft's pushing the buck (even if proprietary) did push the browser market forward leaps and bounds. GMail hinges heavily on a little technology we know as XMLHTTP. Take a guess who championed the tech; take a guess how long before standards zealots published a specification draft. (MS '99; W3C '06)
Redmond has been sleeping, no doubt. But that is neither here nor there. It's refreshing to see other browser teams giving the IE team a run for their money and whipping them into shape -- they've been needing that for almost 10 years, finally getting them off their laurels. Competition is the best part of the space, and that should include innovative APIs (not yet standard) that us engineers can exploit to make our applications better, faster, or stronger. I'm certainly not going to wait for some standards committee to deliberate for 8 years over some monolithic spec that every browser will get wrong anyhow, as history has shown.
Yes, I know about XmlHttpRequest, that's the guerrilla standardisation of Windows-only ActiveX features I was talking about. Relevant historical timeline is here:
You'll note the browsers implemented it before standardisation, as is traditional and sensible despite Microsoft's fervent myth-making to the contrary.
(I note that you now seem to be claiming that IE was simply resting on its laurels in a turtle vs hare fashion, rather than being forced into retirement by over-regulation)
Besides, the question was whether IE has held innovation. They have not. They were asked to stop for deliberations; they did; we are still waiting. It's hardly Microsoft's fault IE6 was so innovative that "NOW" browsers have yet to move against IE like IE moved against its competitors during the years of IE4 and IE6 (IE5 Mac).
The point being, waiting for "standards" to be signed, sealed, and delivered is all that has been holding back innovation. Once out of that rut, we can start pushing cool technology. ECMA CLI in browsers? Now that is innovation, snuffed.