Browser Wars 2?

Updated!

By Tyler Downer
4/5/08

With the release of Internet Explorer 7(IE) last year, the upcoming release of Firefox 3 and the discontinuation of the Netscape line of browsers it appears the "Browser Wars" are about to erupt again. After years of fierce slugging between IE and Netscape in the late 90's, the web entered an uneasy peace after the release of IE6 SP1. Netscape began shifting toward the Mozilla Firefox project and Microsoft entered a period of apparent apathy. It seems now as if the combatants are waking up again. However, instead of being fought like the first war, by encouraging bad markup practices and incompatibility, this war will be different. Browsers will fight to have the most compliant, secure and innovative browser. Casualties will be those with outdated sites that are still designed for use with Netscape 4. (Unfortunately they do exist.)

The First Battle

In early 2007, Microsoft released the long awaited Internet Explorer 7, along with their new operating system, Vista. IE7 was more standard compliant than IE6, introducing several security features along with design changes. However, Microsoft crippled itself by only releasing IE7 to Windows XP SP2 users and Vista. Microsoft paved the way for this by discontinuing IE5 for Macintosh, and ending support for Windows 98 and ME, in a poor business move in late 2006. IE7 proved that Microsoft was preparing to enter the ring again.

The Next Stroke

Netscape responded to Microsoft's move in the summer of 2007 by releasing Navigator 9. This was a half-hearted attempt to strike back at Microsoft and gain time for Firefox. During the peace between the wars, Netscape became very interested in the open-source Mozilla Firefox project and based it's own browser almost entirely on it. Although Navigator 9 did introduce a couple of interesting features, such as URL auto-correction, it was holding onto the past far too much and was already beginning to decay, as it lost ait's user-base. This became apparent in late 2007 and early 2008.

Netscape Surrenders

Late last year, visitors arriving at the Netscape Navigator web site were shocked to learn that Netscape was discontinuing support for it's browser as of February 1, 08. The site also encouraged all users to move to Firefox. This move, although seen coming, was somewhat unexpected. By the removal of Netscape as a major player, the road was paved for Firefox 3.

Coming Soon

On February 12, 2008, Mozilla announced Firefox 3 Beta 3. This is a preview of what the next generation of Firefox will look like. It introduces several new built in security features, including major upgrades to all components of the browser. The final release of Firefox 3 is expected in the next month. When it is released, IE7 will have a run for it's money, with the growing number of users switching to Firefox and the next version of IE, IE8, not being expected until the release of Windows version 7, in 2010.

Microsoft's double strike

In response to Firefox 3, now in it's beta 5 release, Microsoft released two major updates to IE7 and Vista, as well as Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1. Because of the poor reception that Vista received when it was released early 2007, Microsoft pushed Vista Service Pack 1 was quickly as possible. It was released on March 18th. Read our Tech Opinion article on Vista Service Pack 1. This update included major fixes for the Vista Operating System, and also for IE7. This was an attempt to win some credibility to Microsoft's claims of a superior browser. Also, in early March, IE8 Beta 1 was released. This browser is expected to come out with the next Windows version, 7. But, this release was a sneak peak of things to come. Unfortunately for Microsoft, IE8 was reveled to have some critical flaws, one of the most glaring of which s it's incompatibility with the Windows Update web site. Another is it's extremely strict "Standards only" mode, which is expected to break thousands of web sites when IE8 is finally released. But a new contender is on the scene.

Apple?

Apple, maker of the Macintosh, iPod and the iMania. One of their lesser known innovations is the Safari browser. Apple has had a love-hate relationship with Safari. In years past, Macs often shipped with IE, but this ended with IE5.5. Apple has also seriously considered discontinuing the Safari program, perhaps moving to a browser like Firefox as default. No longer. This month, Apple made Safari available to users of both Macs and PCs. But the way they went about this has many up in arms. Apple began sneaking Safari as an optional update to iTunes and Quicktime, selected by default. This has enabled Safari to spread somewhat more rapidly than would otherwise happened, but has garnered much bad press. It is obvious that Apple means to increase their 5% market share and become a contender in the second Browser War.

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