Author Topic: Why don't they simply give it up? (Read 357 times)

Sandman · « **on:** April 30, 2002, 12:06:33 AM »

The Windows browser "war" is over and IE won it. (What a surprise.)

Review: Mozilla loaded up for browser wars

Quote

In our unofficial tests, RC 1 ran nearly as fast as Internet Explorer 6.

Quote

In our informal beta tests, Mozilla 1.0 displays Web pages almost as quickly as IE 6, and it seems faster than Netscape 6.2.2.

Quote

Still, if Mozilla cleans up its act before the final release, it may actually best its two most powerful competitors.

And then what? They start charging for it? Or... better yet, once they've grabbed a "market share" they can start packing in a lot of toejam we really don't need. Has anyone found a use for Gator?

I really like this...

Quote

Surprisingly, such speedy performance doesn't cost a cent. Sure, other browsers say they're free, but most have hidden costs. Mozilla, on the other hand, doesn't come bundled in your OS like IE, doesn't plant AOL icons onto your desktop like Netscape 6.2, and doesn't bombard you with banner ads like Opera's "free" version.

My OS bundled IE4.0 (or was it 3.0)... I'm using IE6 and it cost me NOTHING. I had a brief attraction to NeoPlanet, but it failed even though it was superior to Nutscrape, IMHO.

Maybe Mozilla is cause for rejoicing amongst the Linux users that have the time and talent necessary to configure it. I certainly don't have the time to acquire the talent.

Oh... then again... maybe there is hope... Ever hear of Lindows?

Conway · « **Reply #1 on:** May 13, 2002, 09:30:53 PM »

First of all, Mozilla won't start charging for the browser -- the codebase is open. Thus even if they decide to charge, anyone can produce a free one anyway.

Secondly, Mozilla is mostly developed by Netscape => AOL/TimeWarner employees (and numerous outside contributors), and AOL wants to have a browser they can embed in their service so that they don't depend on M$ for it.

Thirdly, I have no idea why you say that Mozilla is hard to configure or install. Have you tried? Its completely wizard-driven, and automatic. And in my experience, Mozilla (0.9.5 and higher) is more stable than IE 5/6.

Finally, Lindows, is crap. It basically packages already available linux distributions + Wine (http://www.winehq.org) -- a windows emulation layer. RedHat, Mandrake and others do all this already. The only thing Lindows has going for it is that its Windows-sound-alike. I personally would not switch to a marginal, not-necesseraly supported distribution if I can go with a mainstream Linux solution that enjoys a much larger user/test base.
(Plus the fact that Lindows in not playing fair, and not releasing their source code changes to the community where they got it. This is illegal under the GPL license that GNU/Linux is distributed under, but they seem not to care. That oddly, sounds like a certain company in Redmond...)

Exile · « **Reply #2 on:** May 13, 2002, 09:57:34 PM »

competition is good

mason22 · « **Reply #3 on:** May 13, 2002, 11:21:56 PM »

now if they would just get the code and browser compatibilies sorted out, us designers wouldn't have to cause so much trouble for our programmers!

Durr · « **Reply #4 on:** May 14, 2002, 05:53:49 AM »

I read that it will have a setting where you can disable all popup advertisements. That alone could make me give it a try.

Kanth · « **Reply #5 on:** May 14, 2002, 10:25:17 AM »

On my Linux box I have two browsers, Galeon and Konquerer.

Galeon will allow you to turn off popups and it's a very simple straight fwd browser. Konquerer has some neato doodads built into it like babblefish that will do page translations..Konquerer looks more kewl but Galeon is more clean and efficient for my needs..

I've got Redhat 7.2 and Wine (altho I haven't really done anything with wine yet, still smacking MySQL and PHP around)

I think I did look into Mozilla but there was something about it that turned me off, I can't remember what it was. (sorry not a very good review there)

I hate microsoft at this point and when Win98 no longer is useful for gaming I'll switch entirely over to Linux.

Bottom line here: Microsoft is ass.

fergot to add why I use two browsers: Konquerer wasn't displaying SIMHQ BBS properly ( I dunno why it does the rest of them fine) so I ended up using Galeon and really likeing it.

Kanthy

Kanth · « **Reply #6 on:** May 14, 2002, 10:31:56 AM »

Here are some reviews:

http://www.robval.com/linux/2002/browsers.html

when I said I tried mozilla I think , it was actually Opera and it was the stupid ads that bugged me.

so haven't tried mozilla.

Kanthy

Kieran · « **Reply #7 on:** May 14, 2002, 11:05:45 AM »

Quote

fergot to add why I use two browsers: Konquerer wasn't displaying SIMHQ BBS properly ( I dunno why it does the rest of them fine) so I ended up using Galeon and really likeing it.

Think about that for a few minutes...

Kanth · « **Reply #8 on:** May 14, 2002, 01:55:02 PM »

what?

Kanthy

Quote

Originally posted by Kieran

Think about that for a few minutes...

Kieran · « **Reply #9 on:** May 14, 2002, 02:31:15 PM »

You said "Microsoft is ass", but have to have two browsers to do the work IE does alone. Hey, Bill Gates may not be a pleasant person, I don't know, but IE is to me clearly the best browser currently available. I like competition, so if the other guys want to keep plugging, so be it, but IE can't be that bad if it does the job better than other browsers.

funkedup · « **Reply #10 on:** May 14, 2002, 02:53:57 PM »

Quote

Why don't they simply give it up?

Because hopefully Microsoft will not be able to get away with using anti-competitive practices to crush rival browser products.

They used their tried-and-true tactics to nuke Netscape and many other Enemies of Gates.
1. Buy #1 competitor to the Enemy's Product.
2. Repackage competitor's product.
3. Repeatedly release versions of Windows/DirectX which are designed to make Enemy's Product incompatible with Windows, causing:
a: Consumer dissatisfaction with Enemy's Product and subsequent loss of market share.
b: Enemy is forced to spend enormous amounts of programming effort just make their product usable after each new Windows/DX release.
c: The programming effort sucks up money and forces programmers to spend time fixing "bugs" instead of adding features.
d: The lack of new features decreases the "feature gap" between the Enemy Product and the Repackaged MS Product, eventually resulting in the MS Product becoming superior.
4. Give repackaged MS product away for free, forcing Enemy to follow suit in order to compete for market share.
5. Loss of revenues from 3a, 3d, and 4, plus increased expenses from 3b and 3c causes Enemy to implode.

They did this to Netscape and Roger Wilco and a few others.
But homey ain't playin that toejam no mo! At least not if the DoJ keep their heads out of their asses.

Kanth · « **Reply #11 on:** May 14, 2002, 03:01:04 PM »

Actually, K, Galeon does everything I need.

I think you are assuming that because I choose to keep Konquerer around that both aren't functioning fully.

The fact is, Konquerer is pretty and has the pretty babblefish on it and so I keep it also =) I can do that because neither will blow the other up

I also have Konquerer setup with all of my testing links and documentation links for stuff I'm learning and Galeon has all my news and bbs and fun links...

I have several types of alot of things that I use depending on what I feel like using, like I have several text editors, sometimes I want the pretty ones, sometimes I want the simple ones...

This is also the reason why I have more than one set of clothing =)

Microsoft *is* bellybutton

think about that!

Kanthy

Quote

Originally posted by Kieran
You said "Microsoft is ass", but have to have two browsers to do the work IE does alone. Hey, Bill Gates may not be a pleasant person, I don't know, but IE is to me clearly the best browser currently available. I like competition, so if the other guys want to keep plugging, so be it, but IE can't be that bad if it does the job better than other browsers.

Kanth · « **Reply #12 on:** May 14, 2002, 03:11:42 PM »

Btw, I never see you fly, when are you up?

I always keep an eye out for ya...which country do you fly for?

I've been primarily Knights lately but for no particular reason other than the majority of people I know are there.

Kanthy

Quote

Originally posted by Kieran
You said "Microsoft is ass", but have to have two browsers to do the work IE does alone. Hey, Bill Gates may not be a pleasant person, I don't know, but IE is to me clearly the best browser currently available. I like competition, so if the other guys want to keep plugging, so be it, but IE can't be that bad if it does the job better than other browsers.

Kieran · « **Reply #13 on:** May 14, 2002, 04:53:32 PM »

Hehe, good one Kanthy, got me.

I'm grounded for now. I have masters classes, I teach, I coach 2 softball teams, I work a couple sideline business projects, so there isn't much recreation time at the moment. I post in the slow moments between work here and there- I can't even seem to enjoy a quiet moment sitting still anymore!

Kanth · « **Reply #14 on:** May 14, 2002, 05:28:20 PM »

awww thats too bad for me.

I thot things were slowing down for ya but ya just never know what'll happen =)

hopefully it's all stuff you enjoy.

Kanthy

Quote

Originally posted by Kieran
Hehe, good one Kanthy, got me.

I'm grounded for now. I have masters classes, I teach, I coach 2 softball teams, I work a couple sideline business projects, so there isn't much recreation time at the moment. I post in the slow moments between work here and there- I can't even seem to enjoy a quiet moment sitting still anymore!