h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I'm afraid I have some bad news.

From http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/default.asp?url=/technet/itcommunity/chats/trans/ie/ie0507.asp

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Host: Brian (Microsoft)
Q: when / will there be the next version of IE?

A: As part of the OS [Longhorn], IE will continue to evolve, but there will be no future standalone installations. IE6 SP1 is the final standalone installation.
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There will be no IE 7 for Windows 95/98/NT/2000/XP. If the project is going to stick with IE 7, it will leave any users not using Longhorn out in the cold. Also keep in mind that Longhorn won't even be released until 2005...

Are we going to stick with the current plan anyway?

Oh dear.

I'm not sure about this. What do you think F.M.?

I'm quite happy to play about with some other ideas I've had, but I'm a bit busy at the moment. We'll have to have another think about this. I definitely think it would be a bad idea to wait for IE7 now.

What does everyone else think?

I think we have to grit our teeth and use the crappy IE6 MSHTML interop library with C# or VB.NET. Tim Anderson's HTMLEditor control will do the job, with a bit of hacking, but it's going to be difficult.

Unfortunately there are NO other commonly available HTML editing components with the power and flexibility of MSHTML. Mozilla, despite what the open-source crowd might like us to believe, will simply not do the job.

However, when Longhorn does come out it will probably have a *proper* .NET editing platform with delegates, inheritance, the works. So, until then, we use C#/VB.NET, and the HTMLEditor control. Brace yourself for a long, hard slog....

FM