Moments after I posted my screed, the came out like mosquitos after the first spring rain. I and/or InfoWorld was called "an idiot," "moron," "liar and not to be trusted," and "the Fox News of IT Journalism."

[ Find out -- and Cringely's take on it | Stay up to date on Robert X. Cringely's musings and observations with InfoWorld's . ]

Welcome to the Conversational Web. Don't forget to wear your Kevlar undies.

The e-mails I received, however, were mostly the opposite -- about two to one against IE8. Many people had problems with plug-ins and Web site display (yes, even in "compatibility mode") and several had downgraded back to IE7 -- or wished they could. Like this one from reader D. L.:

About 8 months ago MSN prompted me to change to IE8. Actually it wouldn't let me off the screen until I said "OK"; at that time it was a beta product. I lost the ability to actually get my MSN mail on the computer and if I did get into the Hotmail portion of the site I couldn't open up any of my email without "error on page." I cannot access Facebook, certain business related Web sites including Dun & Bradstreet do not support IE8 so therefore do not work.... IE8 has been a nightmare to use. I have been onto the Microsoft Web site to try and downgrade, when I go through the install of IE7, it tells me at the end that a new version is already installed that it cannot downgrade....I just want my IE7 back.