Re: No fear of Mozilla

I read Pavel Houser’s No Fear of Mozilla with interest. The main point around which the whole article turns is right there in the first paragraph.

The release of the first final version of the Firefox web browser was presented almost as proof that Gates’s empire was about to crumble. In fact, the existence of an open-source web browser poses no threat to Microsoft’s position. The web browser hasn’t been a key application for a long time.

I largely agree that the release of another Firefox version hasn’t threatened and won’t threaten Microsoft. Neither will
any other browser. The browser isn’t tied to one platform to the point where we can’t freely decide which one
to use. But I strongly disagree that the web browser hasn’t been a key application for a long time.

The web browser is central to a wide range of web applications and to
three-tier architecture. In multi-tier architecture, what’s called a
super-thin client forms, or implements, the presentation layer. There are familiar limitations in today’s browsers, of course, in building a user interface with HTML and CSS and in communicating with the server.

The browser will continue to play a key role in the years ahead. It will be
the foundation for rich internet applications (RIA). The first tentative steps have come from
Macromedia’s Flex. There’s also Microsoft’s XAML and the possibility of XUL in Gecko-based browsers. The browser will be one of the key applications.

On the other hand, for the web outside applications, today’s
browser capabilities are sufficient. That’s one way to look at the development, or lack of it, of
Internet Explorer. Microsoft had no reason to make any
fundamental changes.

IE’s basic capabilities, bolstered by ActiveX, were
sufficient for existing applications and will stay that way for a while. I think that’s why
Microsoft wasn’t interested in investing more in the current browser. It could put its investment into the Longhorn operating system instead, which was due around the time
rich internet applications would become more widespread.

Related articles

• (Dagblog, August 15, 2004) Who Will Help Web Forms?
• (Dagblog, January 2, 2004) Web Browsers and the Future
• (Dagblog, January 22, 2004) Is the Flex Beta Program Opening to the Public?
• (Dagblog, December 19, 2003) Flex and the Web Application Framework
• (Dagblog, December 8, 2003) Web Applications Evolve with RIA (Rich Internet Applications)
• (Dagblog, December 1, 2003) XAML — Microsoft’s XUL
• (Dagblog, October 23, 2003) The Return of Smart Clients and the Twilight of “HTML Applications”?