innovation

Dave Hyatt, of Mozilla, Chimera, Phoenix and now Safari fame, points out the flawed argument that innovation in browsers is over.

I was in the middle of a long-winded post on "Browsers 10 years later" but Dave covers a lot of the same ground so rather than blather on about how the web and web browsing have changed, I'll just quote him.

You want better "breadcrumb"-style back navigation? Try SnapBack in Safari. You want better "threaded" navigation? Try tabs in Phoenix, Mozilla, Chimera, Galeon, NetCaptor, CrazyBrowser, Opera, Epiphany, or Konqueror. Sophisticated ad blocking? Try Mozilla or OmniWeb. Popup blocking? Safari, Mozilla, Phoenix, etc. How about smart searches using bookmark keywords? Typeahead find in Mac IE or Mozilla? Link prefetching? QuickSearch in History and Bookmarks? Bookmark groups using tabs? Tab home pages? How about the sophisticated user controls of Opera? What about site navigation controls in Mozilla and Opera?

The web is a much more interesting place than it was 10 years ago. With the second wave of web publishing (blogs), and the arrival of web services based on XML protocols like SOAP, I think the next couple of years are going to be extremely dynamic. Browser builders and other toolsmiths are going to be creating some very interesting and powerfull applications. The lethargy of one company, even a dominant one, can't stop innovation. Stay tuned.

Posted by asa at March 14, 2003 02:25 PM