DJYSRV

The battle of the browsers ultimately is the battle for which browser is the de facto Web-client platform that runs enterprise applications.

Here's another point of view.

December 04, 2005

Opinion: Microsoft Shows Its IBMness

By Scot Finnie
Techweb.com

[snip]

According to published reports, Mozilla's target for calendar year 2005 is for Firefox to surpass only 10% market share. I mention this to point out the sheer immensity of the advantage Microsoft has in browser share, because even if Firefox surpasses 10%, Internet Explorer would still likely be well over 80%.

In this David and Goliath story, the important battle isn't for the hearts and minds of end users; it's the battle for which browser is the de facto Web-client platform that runs enterprise applications. In other words, it's IT managers and CIOs who control the likelihood of whether Mozilla and other alternative browsers have a chance to succeed in the marketplace.

Enterprise applications designed to run clients as ActiveX or Microsoft JVM-specific apps in Internet Explorer could be re-written by enterprise app providers (whether inhouse or from third-party providers). IT organizations need to make this a priority, not just because it's the right thing to do but because it's the best thing for them over the long haul. There should be no one-horse software categories, even for clients like the lowly Web browser--no, especially not for such lowest-common-denominator categories.

By the same token, software makers need to work harder at this. ActiveX causes serious security problems for Microsoft, but it also cements the browser category for the software giant. Last June, Mozilla, Apple, Sun, Opera, Adobe, and Macromedia announced a partnership to update the open, scriptable plug-in model originally developed by Netscape, called NPAPI (Netscape Plugin Application Program Interface).

Microsoft's Nightmare - Internet could kill Windows

Microsoft's nightmare inches closer to reality

By Elinor Mills, CNET

Story last modified Fri Sep 23 04:00:00 PDT 2005

As early as May 1995, three months before Netscape Communications' initial public offering sparked the dot-com boom, Microsoft executives were worried that the nascent World Wide Web could one day become a significant threat to the Windows franchise.

In an extensive memo called "The Web is the Next Platform" that was introduced as evidence in Microsoft's antitrust trial five years ago, Microsoft engineer Ben Slivka described a "nightmare" scenario for the software giant.

"The Web...exists today as a collection of technologies that deliver some interesting solutions today, and will grow rapidly in the coming years into a full-fledged platform (underlined for emphasis in the original memo) that will rival--and even surpass--Microsoft's Windows," Slivka wrote.

What's new:

A decade ago, Microsoft worried that the Internet could become a software platform that threatens Windows. Ten years later, that amorphous nightmare has a name: Google.

Bottom line:

Microsoft isn't in danger of falling apart anytime soon: The Windows monopoly, Office desktop suite and Exchange e-mail system give the company plenty of money to battle the threat. But it's fair to say Microsoft's hammerlock is loosening.