The Browser Cold War | Hacker News Reader

The Browser Cold War

extremetech.com

7 pointsmrsebastian12 comments

If the browsers are going to battle each other by parsing javascript faster, rendering styles more correctly and driving adoption of the newest version, the 'collateral damage' will be a better web for everyone.

Yes, but only if they don't try to compete on exclusive APIs. Compatible standards are key for all these browsers to stay relevant and a viable alternative to native apps.

True, but as long as no browser is really dominant, few sites will be coded to use browser-specific APIs. You don't want to cut out 2/3 of your users, after all.

Off-topic: I would like to find the person that made the decision to implement that POS "mobile friendly" theme and beat them to death with a shovel. These themes are crap on both my iPad and my Touchpad running Android.

"A graphic designer was violently murdered today by someone who had used her web site. The killer reportedly said that he 'didn't like the layout' and that this alone was enough to prompt him to bludgeon the designer to death. She leaves behind a husband and two children."

Well that just makes me sound like a psychopath.

Oh, wait, my original post did that.

Carry on.

"the only way to gain ground is through propaganda, FUD, and sleazy underhanded maneuvers"

Really? Browsers don't have to be neutral platforms that simply server a site's content to the best of their ability. FF long ago showed that with extentions. RockMelt did a good job of reimagining the browser experience from scratch. What about a browser that analysed your link history to recommend content? I think we're just scratching the surface for what browsers can be like. The machine OS might be pretty much done for a lot of people - its just a platform to host the browser. But with the browsers as the new OS, the ability to provide additional features* in a coherent, tailored and fast way will make a huge difference.

*features that enhance, not just features for features' sake

I loathe this chart. I find it impenetrable and hard to understand. Am I right, or is it useful and good?

Seems understandable enough, if you click to zoom in.

I find it interesting that Safari is not picking up with all the success they have recently.

And these plots should start to show more clearly what's going on in the mobile and desktop browser-space. I assume this plot (page 2) does not show mobile at all.

It's irritating -- there's surprisingly little data on how Mobile factors into the worldwide browser market share. NetMarketShare breaks it down by Desktop and Mobile/Tablet [1] -- but it's impossible to see them both on the same graph.

StatCounter has a bit more info [2], though.

[1] http://www.netmarketshare.com/

[2] http://gs.statcounter.com/#mobile_vs_desktop-ww-monthly-2010...

I don't think "Cold War" is a good description. They are actively fighting for market share, not sitting still, threatening to fight.

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