Browser Wars II

Back in the 1990’s, when the internet was just starting to become popular, and when dial-up was the only choice for connection (no such thing as broadband yet back then), the first browser war erupted. The protagonists then were the upstart, Netscape with its Navigator and the giant, Microsoft with its Internet Explorer.

Netscape was actually leading then, with almost 80% market share. But then, Microsoft started bundling IE with Windows, and that was the death knell for Netscape.

Now though, the protagonists are different…and there are more than two. IE is still there, and it’s still bundled with Windows. Its reputation though has been bad for the past few years, taking a lot of flak for having a lot of security holes, and lacking many features.

One of the more popular browsers now is the open-source Firefox from Mozilla. Its origins actually come from Netscape Navigator, as Netscape open-sourced its browser code after it was defeated by IE. One of the most popular features of Firefox is its plug-ins, with which one could personalize their browser. Another combatant in this war is Google’s Chrome, another open-source browser. Chrome, unlike its competitors, keeps everything simple. This leads to faster load times and a clean user interface.

There are other browsers out there like Apple’s Safari and Opera. This browser war promises to be more interesting than the first one.