There was a time when browser used to be a separate application that was not a standard part of Operating System. People had options. Then came a big giant, and things would never be the same. Air would never be clean again. A cold war was set off. Do I need to tell more?
Internet Explorer, the blue E, had become synonymous to internet the same way Windows became synonymous to computer. [I have deliberately used internet in place of browser and computer in place of OS, so please, no hullabaloo regarding the same ;) ] . The little blue E was made an inseparable part of ubiquitous Windows. Though there was an Antitrust suit blah blah.. (which I don't want to discuss here).. it hardly made any difference.
Time kept passing by. The big M had now become a symbol of tyranny. The little E kept reigning the browsersphere. Given the backing of the big M, nobody could move E from its throne.
Meanwhile there was born a little g (then little), who had all good intents of organizing information. Little g would not intrude into business of others. It would just innovate (or take over small fishes in the pond).
At around same time a little m was born. By 2004 little m devised its flagship product named ffx (firefox, if you don't know). It was open source browser, all set to set all the records straight with M for whatever it had done to the poor chap NN (Netscape Navigator). And by far, it is climbing the ladder of success, successfully.
During all this, little g's growth had been exponential. Its journey from little g to bold face, font size 64, underlined, hyperlinked G was record breaking, jaws dropping.
G liked the good deeds of m. Shook hands. Together they looked like becoming a synomym of web 2.0. Glory of browser was coming back. People started realizing that Internet cannot only be explored by IE (and also computer cannot only be operated through a small service Window). G was ruling the web.
G should be having data of users like no other on the planet. G's offerings were increasing day-by day. G Offered win-win situation for businesses and end users by its Advertising services. G took control of everything, from search to email, blog to documents, code to health, finance to patents (and the endless list goes on). But somewhere in the back of its mind, G realized that all services it provides are still accessed through a medium (browser) on which it has little control.
Bang!!!! G lunched its own browser named chrome. They are giving good reasons as well. (Psst psst... has it got anything to with impending release of IE8)
As of now (2-Sep-2008), it (like all other Google products) is under Google's cool, all-new, exclusive forever-beta tag. Do they also think putting beta is trendy? because gmail, after 4 years, still has beta.
Anyways, I've always liked almost everything Google has offered. And am going to try this out as well and very soon gonna update you about it.
PS: Don't be deceived by the cynical language of this blog. I am a Google fan. I have respect to MS as well. They have done a lot good to the computing world. Please don't always disparage MS. It should really hurt the good folks working there.
PPS: Throughout this blog I have not mentioned the super brand with little i (and their broswer Safari). And also the browser with big O (Opera). This does not mean their contribution is insignificant. They were not here just because they would add a very little to the discussion. Now I have mentioned them, I feel better. Feel much safer from those iFanatics.
PPPS: You can find more on browser comparison (and almost anything that you can think of) on wikipedia
10 comments:
chin 2, good info...its gr8 to see u always upfront 4 the new things..(like google :)- )....
keep it up...
This is really fantastic and the way the content has been organised , comprehensive enough to make no-geek type people like me understand the context. Moresover the respect paid to all "the brains behind browsers" shows the good intentions towards fellow professionals.
Chrome has 2 really interesting features. The first is V8, the JavaScript virtual machine. That will be huge because of the speed.
Second is the use of processes. This isolation will have a huge impact because of memory usage and the fact that one tab cannot kill the other.
The third item that is somewhat less interesting to me. It is the inclusion of Gears. It is a Google desktop play.
This is really very useful info
excellent info....once again you back with bang. As far as Google ...i am the 'PANKHA' of google.
thanks
you should have elaborated more on browser wars.......
funnily,you said 'do i need to tell more?'...i mean we coders know about NetScape v IE thing but a layman wouldnt...just in case....
but all in all it was a cool one..
with a typical sarcastic bent on everything,...hahahah
embed this link if possible ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_web_browsers
keep up the good work....
PS: are i have heard abt this site called scribd....its got an interesting premise of user-generated content[which forms the cornerstone of Web 2.0]...if you could research on it.....do blog it.
Thanks all for your comments. I really appreciate you taking time out to go through my post. By the way, I've covered more on chrome in this next blog (I am mentioning it here coz nobody has commented on that yet ;)
@ryan - ya, these two factors are making big difference towards the speed and stability
@kp - i've included the wiki link. Will surely try to blog on scribd
hey kunal! nice to see ur blog.. :)
but yaar dont mind.. u'v made it too technical... people like me who r not related to CS dont hav much to comment on.. :)
tu kya kehta hai kaustubh? :-D
all u'l get 4rm lay man lik me is... "its a nice/gud article.. cool information.. " like dat..
he he... but its gud neways.. [see, der i sed it.. :)]
if u cud start wid som of more general issues den may b i cud provide ma perspectiv n infos..
chal... badhiya hai par.. atleast som1 started writtin amongst us..
keep it up..
n do send me updates..
bbye..!
@malyaj - Thanks for writing back. I'll take special care next time on. Have you gone through the other blogs which i posted later?
hey! arey i dint check dos two blogs (dos of jan n april)..jst 2de i checkd.. i only saw those programs n chrome tings..
but dat "complicatin tings..." vala blog is cool..dat luks lik realy reflectin ur one of d face..
:-D
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