A narrative on the future of web browsers and web browsing

In Defense of Chrome Frame

Sunday, October 4th, 2009

Web technology's pace of evolution is vexingly slow, the result of the wide range of browsers (new and legacy) that must support any innovation in order for it to take hold. Even back in the good old days (basically any time before 2005), when only the Netscape lineage of browsers ...

Do We Need a Firefox OS?

Wednesday, July 8th, 2009

Google Chrome has achieved striking success considering that it has yet to celebrate its first birthday. Mike Arrington at TechCrunch claims that the browser now has 30 million users (citing Google as a source). [Update: The Google OS post mentions this in the second sentence so I'm not sure why ...

The Browser Platform Wars

Wednesday, March 4th, 2009

I was chatting recently with the founder of a high-profile startup that is making strategic use of Mozilla technology. "People keep telling me that WebKit is the future," he complained. "Have we made the wrong choice?" I did my best to reassure him of course, providing arguments that support their choice ...

Browser Bits and Bobs for October 14, 2008

Tuesday, October 14th, 2008

Let's call this an "in case you missed it" edition of Browser Bits and Bobs, since I've been disgustingly busy and haven't posted anything in far too long. But for those who have been preoccupied by events outside the tech sector (MLB postseason, impending financial armageddon, talking chihuahuas, etc.): this ...

Browser Bits and Bobs for Septembers 16, 2008

Tuesday, September 16th, 2008

I didn't see a compelling reason to switch to Opera when I tried it, so in the interest of fair and balanced coverage, here are 10 reasons why you should use the Opera browser, according to one commentator. Interview with Aza Raskin (Mozilla's head of user experience) about the future of ...

Browser of the Week: Chrome Conclusions

Friday, September 12th, 2008

I cannot tell a lie. I hardly used Chrome this week. The problem, as I mentioned when I kicked off this Browser of the Week installment, is that my primary work computer is my Mac Book Air (from which I access my Mac Pro remotely to do development). I don't ...

Is Chrome a Prism Killer?

Thursday, September 11th, 2008

I have my Twitter set up to show me all tweets with the word "prism" in them, and over the past few days I've seen a surprising number along the lines of "I'm dumping Prism in favor of Chrome web apps". This is how I first found out how badly ...

Why Did Google Make Chrome?

Wednesday, September 10th, 2008

Yep, it's Chrome week and I'm just going to blather on about it through Friday. Today we have a piece by the one-and-only Robert X. Cringely speculating on why Google decided to make Chrome in the first place. (Actually the post is four days old, but I'm perennially behind in ...

Rabid Register Chromes at the Mouth

Monday, September 8th, 2008

There's much to like about Ted Dziuba's frothy rant in the Register, in which he takes the media to task for overhyping Google's new Chrome browser. I wish I'd coined the brilliant term "Googasm". He says "fuck" a lot, which makes a funny piece even funnier, at least for those ...

Browser of the Week: Google Chrome

Monday, September 8th, 2008

As I mentioned last week, Google Chrome is a no-brainer for Browser of the Week, and I've gone ahead and installed it, configuring it as my default browser. The one hitch is that it only runs on Windows, and I am a Mac-only shop. I do have Parallels running on ...