Comments on: Browsers and Commoditization http://browsing.justdiscourse.com/2008/02/29/browsers-and-commoditization/ A narrative on the future of web browsers and web browsing Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:41:18 +0100 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Matt http://browsing.justdiscourse.com/2008/02/29/browsers-and-commoditization/comment-page-1/#comment-317 Matt Fri, 29 Feb 2008 20:52:51 +0000 http://browsing.justdiscourse.com/2008/02/29/browsers-and-commoditization/#comment-317 Thanks for the comments, Chris. I admit that I was being slightly provocative in denying the existence of a single popular general purpose third-party app besides Firefox. Nonetheless, I am still a bit skeptical. In my experience Firefox has a much more successful and well-known brand than OpenOffice. Is the latter commonly bundled with Windows in the UK? What other third-party apps ("dozens of such apps") did you have in mind? As far as bundling is concerned, Apple ships with all the iLife apps and Safari, with an option to add iWork (for a price but the principle is the same since other vendors will have a hard time competing). The covers all of what most users will ever need. As far as I know, the vast majority of Windows installations come pre-installed with IE and Windows Media Player, and once again MS Office has a huge leg up as far as productivity software is concerned. Thanks for the comments, Chris. I admit that I was being slightly provocative in denying the existence of a single popular general purpose third-party app besides Firefox. Nonetheless, I am still a bit skeptical. In my experience Firefox has a much more successful and well-known brand than OpenOffice. Is the latter commonly bundled with Windows in the UK?

What other third-party apps (”dozens of such apps”) did you have in mind?

As far as bundling is concerned, Apple ships with all the iLife apps and Safari, with an option to add iWork (for a price but the principle is the same since other vendors will have a hard time competing). The covers all of what most users will ever need. As far as I know, the vast majority of Windows installations come pre-installed with IE and Windows Media Player, and once again MS Office has a huge leg up as far as productivity software is concerned.

]]> By: Chris Cunningham http://browsing.justdiscourse.com/2008/02/29/browsers-and-commoditization/comment-page-1/#comment-316 Chris Cunningham Fri, 29 Feb 2008 20:43:29 +0000 http://browsing.justdiscourse.com/2008/02/29/browsers-and-commoditization/#comment-316 I should note that in point 1 above I was only looking at open source applications. The statement that "It’s hard to think of another popular general-purpose software application developed by an independent third party" is ridiculous when proprietary (freeware or commercial) apps are tekn into consideration; I can think of dozens of such apps with installed user bases in the tens of millions. - Chris I should note that in point 1 above I was only looking at open source applications. The statement that “It’s hard to think of another popular general-purpose software application developed by an independent third party” is ridiculous when proprietary (freeware or commercial) apps are tekn into consideration; I can think of dozens of such apps with installed user bases in the tens of millions.

– Chris

]]> By: Chris Cunningham http://browsing.justdiscourse.com/2008/02/29/browsers-and-commoditization/comment-page-1/#comment-315 Chris Cunningham Fri, 29 Feb 2008 20:39:44 +0000 http://browsing.justdiscourse.com/2008/02/29/browsers-and-commoditization/#comment-315 I rather think that both of the following points are unsubstantiated. <blockquote>Nonetheless, Firefox is increasingly looking like an outlier. It’s hard to think of another popular general-purpose software application developed by an independent third party. Practically all of the apps likely to be needed by most users are already bundled by both Microsoft and Apple. The real independent software market is now the web</blockquote> OpenOffice is better-known amongst inexpert computer users than Firefox in my experience. It's bundled on far more new desktops than Firefox in the UK at least. <blockquote>Personally I find it hard to imagine ten years from now that any user (beyond a tiny percentage of hard-core geeks) will ever install a web browser on their computer. They’ll use whatever is already there when they buy it.</blockquote> This is in absolutely no different to having stated such in 2003. I very much doubt that bundling is going to increase in importance in the future, what with Microsoft being legally prevented from doing so in important markets and Apple having little interest in doing so for apps which they couldn't be expected to sell. - Chris I rather think that both of the following points are unsubstantiated.

Nonetheless, Firefox is increasingly looking like an outlier. It’s hard to think of another popular general-purpose software application developed by an independent third party. Practically all of the apps likely to be needed by most users are already bundled by both Microsoft and Apple. The real independent software market is now the web

OpenOffice is better-known amongst inexpert computer users than Firefox in my experience. It’s bundled on far more new desktops than Firefox in the UK at least.

Personally I find it hard to imagine ten years from now that any user (beyond a tiny percentage of hard-core geeks) will ever install a web browser on their computer. They’ll use whatever is already there when they buy it.

This is in absolutely no different to having stated such in 2003. I very much doubt that bundling is going to increase in importance in the future, what with Microsoft being legally prevented from doing so in important markets and Apple having little interest in doing so for apps which they couldn’t be expected to sell.

– Chris

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