Conspiracy Against Users of Internet Explorer?

Several people have complained that the Virtual Manuscript Room does not support Internet Explorer, now recently James F. McGrath, who, with his tongue in his cheek, expressed disappointment that he could not find Fox Mulder and Dana Scully when he followed the link to the VMR (and "Münster X-Files"), although he had found one conspiracy:

Actually, there is one indication of a conspiracy on the site. It is a conspiracy against users of Internet Explorer. The virtual manuscript room web site is not optimized for use with Internet Explorer, although you can just barely make use of the site anyway.

Therefore I thought it useful to publish below the response made in the comments to previous post by Ulrich Schmid, one of the responsible person's for the VMR in Münster:

Since the issue of IE support comes up every now and then with regard to the INTF's NT.VMR, I would like to clarify our position on that.

1. For the first installment of the NT.VMR we had to meet deadlines and our limited resources did not include coding support.

2. We had to choose between supporting a rather limited range of functions and options for more than one platform or additional functions for just one platform.

3. Since it seems to be fairly easy to download one of the supported (free) browsers and we do not ask to pay for our service, we thought people could live with that for the time being.

4. For the next few months we have to meet other deadlines that leave little room for supporting IE in the nearest future.

5. Depending on the results from the next deadlines, we might be in a position (mid-2010) to set up a forum in which requests for additional functions and support can be placed and will be dealt with.

Ulrich Schmid

Münster X-Files on NT Manuscripts Go Public

Those who have visited the Institute for New Testament Textual Research in Münster probably know that each of the registered New Testament manuscripts have a special dossier containing various information relating to the manuscript. These "Münster X-Files," hitherto safely stored in large metal lockers, are now being scanned and the documents (PDF) are made available in the Virtual Manuscript Room (Münster), accessible through each manuscript entry. The links appear in the field "Resources."

I am certain that researchers will be able to find goldnuggets among these files in the future. So far only the dossiers of a number of papyrus MSS have appeared, e.g., P1, P20, P21, P22, P26 und P37. This image shows the entry of P1. There are 13 documents available for download.

Read also my previous announcement of the digitial Kurzgefasste Liste here.