14 DAY TRIAL // There are lots of rumors regarding the future of Internet Explorer, but since Microsoft is now a revamped company that puts the focus more on user feedback, the software giant wants to develop the next version of the browser with help from consumers.
As a result, the company has recently unveiled the brand new Internet Explorer Platform Suggestion Box on the UserVoice platform, which allows users not only to ask for new features in the browser but also to vote for the existing ones and thus increase their chances to be implemented.
Needless to say, the more votes, the bigger the chances to see a specific feature introduced in the next update for Internet Explorer, and Microsoft expects not only developers but also consumers to participate in the program to express their thoughts on the way the browser can be improved.
In a blog post released today, Microsoft explains that it needs more ways to collect feedback from users, so the new UserVoice channel is pretty much the best way to do it, especially because the company has already turned to this particular platform for Windows Phone, Xbox Music, and Cortana.
Microsoft Connect not really the best feedback platform
For many years, Microsoft has been collecting feedback from users through the Connect service, but the company itself agrees that it didn’t work quite alright and UserVoice comes in handier.
“While feature suggestions were regularly submitted via our Connect bug tracking system, they were mixed in with other active bugs and didn’t have a clear way for others from the community to add their votes. Luckily the UserVoice platform exists for exactly this purpose, and Microsoft had already used it effectively,” it said.
Obviously, the UserVoice platform doesn’t entirely replace Connect, but chances are that, in the near future, Microsoft might actually discontinue it to fully focus on the new feedback channel that’s already showing signs of faster adoption among users.
Auto update older Internet Explorer versions
If you’re wondering what users expected from Internet Explorer, the most voted request on UserVoice is currently an option to automatically update older Internet Explorer versions, which would obviously come in handy not only to consumers, but also to the company itself.
At this point, Internet Explorer 11 is quickly gaining traction, but it would be able to do that faster with the help of an auto-update system that already exists in rival browsers such as Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox.
The problem for Microsoft is that newer IE versions do not work on older Windows releases, and Internet Explorer 11, for example, is only available for Windows 8.1 and Windows 7 users. Windows 8 adopters are stuck with Internet Explorer 10, and the only way to get the new browser version is to update the whole operating system.