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Is It Time for a New "Browser War" - or Is It Already On?

Posted 09/11/08 at 08:07:07 PM |  by Mark Edward Soper

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Is Browser War II already in progress?

Yahoo's Douglas Crockford, the man who created JavaScript Object Notation (JSON), says it's high time for a new browser war, eWeek reports. In his keynote address to the Rich Web Experience conference earlier this month, Crockford claimed that the last time core building blocks of the Internet such as HTML and and ECMAScript were revised (1999) was the result of the Internet Explorer versus Netscape Navigator browser war.

While Crockford says we need a new war, I'd argue that we've already got a dandy one going on right now: IE is being challenged by Mozilla Firefox, while Google Chrome has just entered the ring to go head-to-head with Opera and Apple Safari to fight for third place.

If I'm right about the current five-way struggle qualifying as a real browser war, here are a few reasons why Browser War II may have a better outcome than the original:

So, how about it? Is Browser War II already in progress, or are these just skirmishes? Do you see the outcome as being better than BWI? Hit the comment button and let us know what you think.

COMMENTS:
5
TAGS: 
microsoft, operating system, apple, Google, firefox, Internet Explorer, Mozilla, Safari, Opera, web browser, chrome
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COMMENTS
avatarGoogle also happens to be

Submitted by Romestar on Fri, 2008-09-12 05:59

Google also happens to be incredibly slow at moving products out of beta.

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avatarim putting my money on

Submitted by dethdeks on Thu, 2008-09-11 22:46

im putting my money on google chrome, even though they have just entered the ring i think they will take out the opposition with out any problem as they have years and years of experimenting experience

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avatarI think what will be the

Submitted by sirphunkee on Thu, 2008-09-11 18:57

I think what will be the most interesting about BWII is that every one of the contenders will have more platforms available to it than in the first showdown between IE/Netscape.  Particularly interesting is the sideline fight (which is starting to spill onto the main court) going on in the mobile arena...this adds a whole a new aspect to it that will be as interesting to watch as the main event on your desktop.

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avatarThese are just

Submitted by Cache on Thu, 2008-09-11 18:36

These are just skirmishes.  The real battle will take place when someone (not saying who would be most likely to do it) decides to 'optimize' their 'browser experience' for different web features that are not in line with pre-determined we standards.  The result?  Every web developer sweating bullets trying to make their site appeal to each variation of the browser experience because instead of two that can't agree, they'll be stuck with five that don't.

It's too early to say what will happen, but at some point one of those companies is going to try to angle web standards to reflect their own philosophy.  Then we'll have a real war on.

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avatarooo!  ooo!  pick me!!  I

Submitted by sirphunkee on Thu, 2008-09-11 18:49

ooo!  ooo!  pick me!!  I know which one it will be!!

(hint...which of those 5 companies has the longest-standing history of exerting it's influence to affect acceptance of standards in it's favor?) 

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