IE9 - ClearType - Damn you Microsoft!

Ever since Microsoft launched ClearType on the world there has been a large minority of users who simply cannot stand it. For some reason our eyes/brains just can't get on with the concept. To us it looks like blurry, multi-coloured text. Like an out of alignment CRT. It makes a lot of us feel nauseous.

We've been telling Microsoft this for years. When MS Office 2k7 came out there was no option to disable it in the UI and despite system settings saying 'Don't use it' MSO used it anyway. Luckily there was an undocumented registry setting 'RespectSystemFontSmooth' that could be used. The name says it all - a plea to MSO to respect our choice.

Now along comes IE9 and they've done it again! No option to disable ClearType. People complained in the beta and got nowhere. Now the official release is out and no option. Any attempt to query this with MS is met with the usual [censored] 'Check your DPI, run the wizard, ClearType is wonderful'!

It's like fighting some rabid religious cult, [censored]! We don't want ClearType. I consider it injurious to my health. Why the hell are MS so blind to this issue and inconsiderate of our complaints?

Edited by Andrue (Sat 19-Mar-11 09:51:44)

Vote with your feet- use a different browser.

In reply to a post by billford:

Vote with your feet- use a different browser.

Oh I do. I'm a Chrome user. But it's the concept of it that bugs me. I am basically an MS dependant - I'm a .NET software developer writing stuff for Exchange and SharePoint. I just cannot fathom why they refuse to acknowledge the issue or help us out. Quite frankly I'd class my issue as a 'disability'. Why won't they help me out like they help other people with vision issues?

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ie/archive/2010/11/03/sub-pi...

Read the comments. Actually it looks like on my system it will be grey scaling it but it's still messing about in a way I don't want and they just don't seem to understand.

Edited by Andrue (Sat 19-Mar-11 10:06:33)

I wouldn't dream of using Explorer but I must access some sites (most blatantly, Companies Register Webcheck for downloading of company info) that will only work with it.

Otherwise I use Firefox, Thunderbird mail, and OpenOffice. Why pay MS fancy prices when Oracle gives us a similar or perhaps better package for free?

In reply to a post by Andrue:

I am basically an MS dependant - I'm a .NET software developer writing stuff for Exchange and SharePoint.

Ah, I didn't know that... you do have a problem

I just cannot fathom why they refuse to acknowledge the issue or help us out.

Microsoft know best... admittedly they're not quite as bad as Apple, but they're getting there

In reply to a post by billford:

In reply to a post by Andrue:

I am basically an MS dependant - I'm a .NET software developer writing stuff for Exchange and SharePoint.

Ah, I didn't know that... you do have a problem

Yeah. I think I dodged a bullet with Visual Studio and Office 2k10. At the moment we haven't moved to either but I believe that they relented and allowed it to be disabled.

But in all seriousness - if MS didn't let me disable it I would be staring (ha ha) at the end of my MS career. I don't actually have a vision problem. I wear glasses but actually my eyes are fine. It's just that for some reason my brain can't handle CT and rebels. I'm genuinely glad that I'm fairly close to retirement and financially secure because I have real concerns over my ability to do my job if this idiocy continues.

Edited by Andrue (Sat 19-Mar-11 10:14:38)

I can't understand the problem with ClearType (just tried turning it off on my system and the results were horrible), but I agree that if it is optional in the OS then it should be optional in IE.

As a matter of interest, what monitor and connection method do you use? I have a Ilyama 19" LCD screen with a DVI connection and without ClearType the screen becomes almost unreadable. With it everything is lovely and crisp.

As a matter of interest, have you filed a bug report about this? The more people that do so the quicker it will be fixed. Best to add a comment to an existing report rather than filing yet another one.

In reply to a post by AEP:

I can't understand the problem with ClearType (just tried turning it off on my system and the results were horrible), but I agree that if it is optional in the OS then it should be optional in IE.

As a matter of interest, what monitor and connection method do you use? I have a Ilyama 19" LCD screen with a DVI connection and without ClearType the screen becomes almost unreadable. With it everything is lovely and crisp.

At the moment I'm using a laptop but at work I have Dell monitors (three ) and have never got on with ClearType on those either. I appreciate that a lot of people do like it but some of us have a genuine physical reaction to it. I start to feel sick then faint. Oddly it's a lot like getting motion sickness - something I do suffer from although thankfully not when I'm driving

One theory about motion sickness is that your brain thinks you've been poisoned because it can't understand what its senses are telling it. Perhaps my brain can't make sense of what my eyes are seeing and assumes poison for the same reason.

Edited by Andrue (Sat 19-Mar-11 10:36:29)

In reply to a post by AEP:

As a matter of interest, have you filed a bug report about this? The more people that do so the quicker it will be fixed. Best to add a comment to an existing report rather than filing yet another one.

I've been trying to post feedback but their site seems to be down. I don't know if they will fix it anyway. Plenty of people complained about it during development (the responses to that blog show that) but nothing was done.