Browser Wars: Good or Bad for Users?
Is it good or bad that the browser wars might be back?
One the one hand, if everyone uses IE we have something akin to standards. I won’t say what kind of standards, just that there are standards. On the other hand, if there are multiple browsers, there is choice. Choice is usually good.
What do you think?
July 8th, 2004 at 8:34 am
As a fly by night designer, I HATE the browser wars, I have spent so much time Netscapeafing my sites that I have built that it drives me crazy. I see no need in the choice since all the browsers are free anyway, why clutter the standards if no one is even making any money on it. It wastes my time and it wastes the browser developers time. Not good at all…
July 8th, 2004 at 9:05 am
THe key is that all the non-microsoft browser makers are cooperating and are working towards creating a standard to improve web application functionality. All the work is out in the open and is working towards a standard. So, while the extentions may not be endorsed by the W3C, that does not make them propritary. The only reason the work is being done outside the W3C is so that the work will actually be done. W3C will be free to adopt the standards, but web users should not have to wait for a dysfunctional process that has been hijacked by Microsoft’s idea of the future for the web.
July 8th, 2004 at 9:06 am
Only one company could ever have achieved the dominance IE did. At best, this “war” is going to be a skirmish, and we’re going to end up with a balance of browsers. That can only be a good thing, as he only way to make a site work in a selection of browsers is to write decent HTML. And what is decent HTML will be decided by a consortium with no commercial agenda. Nice.
July 9th, 2004 at 2:02 am
Could it be reasonable to say that HTML defined by a commercial agenda could just as well provide its customers with the “right” HTML standards? But maybe their focus would be different? Effective instead of decent HTML?
Not to belittle what a consortium with no commercial agenda can provide. But honestly we are all on the web to do business in one way or another, and having to use decent HTML is not always the best choice.
I am all for one browser - or if that fails - one standard. And if you are smaller than the biggest browser a good idea IMHO would be to adopt their standards. What customer benefits from any other choice?
TKL
July 9th, 2004 at 12:23 pm
I think that it would be a good thing to have a browser war, simply due to the fact that it will ‘up the standards’ of the companies to produce the ‘best’ browser instead of getting away with the bare necessities!
Just my 2p!
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ITIL Consultant
July 11th, 2004 at 12:04 am
Mozilla Firefox. Fast to install, load and renders pages much faster than IE. Its IE on steroids :)
July 12th, 2004 at 1:27 am
As long as IE is bundled with Microsoft’s operating systems the average user is going to use it… war over.
I will have to agree that choice is good, but when it comes to designing a consistent looking site, choice becomes a headache. Designing with transitional XHTML and CSS will help minimize inconsistant looking sites between browsers. It is time to trim the fat from all of the browsers so that they only read valid code. Think of the resources that are used to download, store and run these bloated browsers so that they can display sloppily written code. It would be interesting to see a level playing field.
July 17th, 2004 at 10:57 pm
I’ve just Switched to Firefox, and I love it. Sure I’m a web guy and I had my reasons, and I still keep IE around for special occasions, but firefox is awesome. Does the public know how bad it is, no. Is it our job to tell them, yep.