I've been truly enjoying David Hyatt's commentary on browsers since he started. I wish more people working for major technology firms did this. In this post, David gives his commentary on the latest anti-Mozilla article What if Netscape had won?
from CNET's Charles Cooper.
Well, first off, that's a pointless question, because it was absolutely impossible for Netscape to
winagainst Microsoft once Microsoft bundled their browser with the operating system. Sure, technically Internet Explorer 4 was superior to Netscape 4, but even if Netscape 4 hadn't been, would it have mattered? No, of course not. Just look at how far beyond Internet Explorer other browsers have gone, and do they have any substantial market share? No.This gets back to my earlier blog about avenues of distribution. Without them, your browser gets nowhere. Microsoft controlled distribution on the platform that 97% of the world used. Therefore they won. End of story. Asking
What if Netscape had won?is like askingWhat if the Earth started rotating in the opposite direction tomorrow?It's not even worthy of speculation.
After noting the extensive innovation and improved features of other browsers he finally concludes:
From Opera's page zoom to Omniweb's bookmark scheduling to Phoenix's popup whitelisting to the Web services support in Mozilla, browser makers are innovating everywhere! The problem is not that we, the browser makers, aren't innovating. The problem is that you apparently aren't using the browsers we produce.
Agreed. Perhaps writing an editorial where he asks What if Microsoft wasn't an abusive monopoly?
would be more interesting and relevent.
<p>I've been truly enjoying David Hyatt's commentary on browsers since he started. I wish more people working for major technology firms did this. In <a href="http://www.mozillazine.org/weblogs/hyatt/archives/2003_03.html#002651">this post</a>, David gives his commentary on the latest anti-Mozilla article <a href="http://news.com.com/2010-1071-992568.html?tag=fd_nc_1"><q>What if Netscape had won?</q></a> from CNET's Charles Cooper.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Well, first off, that's a pointless question, because it was absolutely impossible for Netscape to <q>win</q> against Microsoft once Microsoft bundled their browser with the operating system. Sure, technically Internet Explorer 4 was superior to Netscape 4, but even if Netscape 4 hadn't been, would it have mattered? No, of course not. Just look at how far beyond Internet Explorer other browsers have gone, and do they have any substantial market share? No.</p>
<p>This gets back to my earlier blog about <a href="http://www.mozillazine.org/weblogs/hyatt/archives/2002_06.html#001647">avenues of distribution</a>. Without them, your browser gets nowhere. Microsoft controlled distribution on the platform that 97% of the world used. Therefore they won. End of story. Asking <q>What if Netscape had won?</q> is like asking <q>What if the Earth started rotating in the opposite direction tomorrow?</q> It's not even worthy of speculation.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>After noting the extensive innovation and improved features of other browsers he finally concludes:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>From Opera's page zoom to Omniweb's bookmark scheduling to Phoenix's popup whitelisting to the Web services support in Mozilla, browser makers are innovating everywhere! The problem is not that we, the browser makers, aren't innovating. The problem is that you apparently aren't using the browsers we produce.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Agreed. Perhaps writing an editorial where he asks <q>What if Microsoft wasn't an abusive monopoly?</q> would be more interesting and relevent.</p>
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