Why Browser Innovation Matters

dvanatta was one of a several people who noted a new article by Mitchell Baker on Mozilla.org about why browser innovation matters - especially Gecko, and why it will survive things like Safari Whoops - got the name wrong. Updated.

Comments

Re:Inovate

[galaxy300]

I beleive that Mozilla is working on or has integrated gestures into it's system. I've also used a program called Stroke It (funny name, good program!) that automatically includes gestures in all Windows programs and works pretty well.

The simple explanation is...

[wolrahnaes]

Safari/KHTML vs. Gecko/Mozilla is just like KDE vs. GNOME. It's a matter of personal preference based on what is important to the end user. Some will choose speed, others choose features, and still others choose standards compliance. The end result is the great thing about open-source projects: They will all eventually gain the features pioneered by the competing projects if the public shows enough of a demand to make it worth the developers time. Also, if you like feature a of x browser, but it doesn't have feature b, FIX IT!

damn i love open source

*IE is dying

[Anonymous Coward]

No, no, not a troll. Just a subject to grab attention.

Compare IE v5, v5.5 and v6.0. Nothing much really changed between them. Sure, they cleaned up some of the CSS support (although there are still some large gaps), and added some non-browser type things, but overall, they're basically the same. Now compare that to the changes between IE 3, 4 and 5. There were HUGE changes, and they happened quickly.

What changed? Well, for one thing, the web was still fairly new, and people were still figuring out what would be possible to do with it. But, more importantly, during that time, they had heavy competition from Microsoft. IE didn't win the marketshare battle simply due to being in Windows (although it helped). It leapfrogged over Netscape in features. And as long as Netscape was stuck on the 4.x codebase, it stayed that way. That code was crap.

But, now, here were are in 2003. NS 4.x is dead, IE 4.x is dead, and the web is growing up and finally truly embracing CSS. And you know who's in the lead? Mozilla, followed by Opera and others, and in last place? IE. This, plus innovative features in non-IE browsers is beginning to show IE users what they're missing. And some are switching. For the first time since "winning" the browser war, they're facing real competition. And, the early signs of IE 7 don't make it look like anything too revolutionary. (Will they even manage to get PNG right this time?)

IE is dying, and if Microsoft doesn't act quickly, it'll be too late for CPR. Being a part of Windows gives IE a competitive advantage, but it doesn't stop people from finding something better.

The job is not done yet.

[ptaff]

We may have super-elegant-configurable browsers now. But innovation remains important: the people at w3c are working hard to set new guidelines for the future:

• CSS3 will allow even better control of look/layout reducing the need for graphics which still plague the web and waste bandwidth;
• MathML which is now only a hack for a few browsers will make it possible to export scientific data 'a la LaTeX' instead of relying on poor resolution images;
• SVG reducing the need for Flash and other alternative proprietary technologies;

Trouble is, if MSIE doesn't follow, will the web evolve? I mean, why are there still GIFs all around as they were designed for 8-bit VGA (remember the pre-web times in its glorified 320x200 mode?) Why is there a problem with PNG implementation on MSIE? It's a 1996 recommendation! Will that be the same principle holding us back from browser innovation?

Overall a decent article, but one point...

[RalphBNumbers]

It is, however, different from Camino, whose development is not based on the perspective of a single vendor.

This is just plain not true in my experience. Chimera, now Camino, is developed by a small team of employees securely loyal to the company.

They are not especially receptive to patches concerning anything they're not allready looking at doing, and they have been known to ignore user input in favor of following the Netscape party line.

The most obvious and complained about example is there splash screen. It ties up memory, noticablly slows down launch times, leaks memory, and impedes usability when users are waiting for the browser to launch, There have been many complaints about it on bugzilla, and far more on various mailing lists and bulletin boards. Patches to add a prefrence to disable it have been submitted. Yet they continue to prioritize branding their browser above user needs. The splash screen is still there, and the only way to disable is if to hack arround in the application's contents, and exploit a known bug in apple's NSImage object by substituteing the wrong kind of data.

There are other examples. Key behaviors that follow Netscape precedent at the expense of usability and Apple HIG compliance, tab options and layout, etc...

The source may be open, but the project isn't especially open to outside direction. I like the browser alot, and really look forward to the .8 release, but I have to say the browser is just as corporate controlled as Safari.

"Netscape, I only use Netscape"

[Spoing]

This is about whether *big* innovations are possible; innovations that will convince the masses of IE users to switch.

I think that Mozilla's current feature set is good enough. It doesn't wash your dishes for you, or take out the trash, but it does browsing very very well. When I get a chance, I show it or Pheonix to folks and most decide that they do want to switch -- for reasons that they think are substantial enough. That said, here's a true story;

Like many of you, I get tapped as tech support by friends and relitives. In one case, I was attempting to figure out what was wrong when a friend of my little sister went to a web page.

When asked what browser she was using, she replied "Netscape -- I always use Netscape". Asking the version was painful, so I skipped that question (bad idea).

After going through the menus for 15 minutes over the phone, looking for an option that might enable support for what she said was "broken", I decided that she was must be lying. For one, she seemed so certian ("definately Netscape -- it's all I use"). Also, she kept telling me how "I don't know about this new version -- it's not as nice".

An old tech support method kicked in;

1. Me: "Could you describe what you see?"

2. Her: "I dunno -- it's just not working."

   "Do you see an N in the upper right hand corner?"

   "No...why?"

   "Do you see a little E or a globe in the right hand corner?"

   "Yes! The little globe."

Five painful minutes later, and a couple misdirections, I figured out what to tell her to get her to make the repair.

Last time I asked, she still insists that she uses Netscape, only Netscape.

Point 1: Many Janes and Joes don't have a clue what software they are using -- yet they will brag or defame it at the drop of a hat.

Point 2: People won't switch but will use what they get -- and only if it's bundled. This is the core problem with adoptation of software -- from browsers to operating systems.