"I demand documented standards with open reference implementations. That’s why I only develop with Microsoft technologies." - one of my other favorite curmudgeons. very high snark content.

"Spolsky's whole pitch is basically a race for the bottom" - plus OMG ponies! ;) also, alan's comment is well worth the read.

"the bigger the company and the more expensive the product, the worse the product's frontend code will be" -- regardless what anyone says about the "top 100 sites", I agree that this is all about the "enterprise" web apps & intranets. bleh.

"it's time they started earning their money instead of letting Dreamweaver do their jobs" - never mind the rest of the article (not much new here), I just love that line.

"What if this JS widget is designed for IE 7 and my page is designed for IE 6?" -- oh, I hadn't thought about that at all. Theoretically, that could be ugly. (also, check out the EOL dates in the comments! OMG!)

Mark Pilgrim's links. I find his tag name amusing.

"Each new version of Windows introduces new APIs while attempting to maintain compatibility with old APIs, even to the point of mimicking buggy behavior." - connects the IE8 thing to OS issues.

"Noblesse oblige. Since we know more and can do more and better things with web sites, more is expected of us." oy. thanks a lot. ::rolls eyes::

comment #2 hits the nail precisely on the head. also, Shelley's extensive quoting of WaSP (etc) from 2000 captures, I think, why this is such an emotional topic. (so emotional that I needed an hour of IM time to keep from FREAKING OUT, as in, way beyond w

"The real question here is: Why do you have so many stuffed Lemurs??" - okay, that was what I needed. I get way too emo about this stuff.

Too many comments here to pick one, or to quote from any of JZ's text. Frankly, I find the whole thing incredibly dispiriting; deeply disheartening. Like something's gone horribly awry. Maybe Dylan's civil war comment (twitter? can't remember) is exactly

"There’s only one space left in the market where IE can still claim that bloated 95%+ market share: corporate intranets." -- Some excellent business analysis. (I'm reading the rest of my IE8 meta-switch backlog.)

In the comments: "I have no doubt that later versions of ASP.Net will automagically include the necessary meta tag; this will make the perception that the MS platform works better than anything else." THIS is the thing to fear.

"I feel like I’ve walked into an episode of the Twilight Zone." -- that's about it. I don't understand!!!!!!

"So, bottom line, we’d like to see fewer modes, not more." - a very thoughtful take from someone who's had to implement multiple browser modes.

"I, for one, [welcome our new overlords]." some serious WTF going on here.