Just What the World Needs… Another “free” Browser… Costs Industry Big Bucks

September 29, 2008 · Filed Under Thoughts  - 1 Comment(s)

I admit I used Firefox until Microsoft’s latest, tabbed browser. At that time the tabs made a lot of browsing easier. And I ran IE when things didn’t work right with Firefox. That was a long time ago. I now use IE exclusively. No significant reason to use another browser. But now we have Opera, Fire Fox, Internet Explorer, and the new Google browser. I suppose this is, in some ways analogous to having different java environments (something I try to avoid) or multiple versions or .net for different applications. Thankfully I believe the majority of businesses have standardized on Internet Explorer. But what is the cost of testing software on a myriad of browsers? And keeping up the latest versions of browsers. How many SAAS systems stop working because the browser the user is interacting with just got “better” This certainly adds the test time that another version of a local OS does (groan… I hate to see developers testing for windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista (home and professional) and on and on.

PS It is important to distinguish between browsers used as the infrastructure for business applications versus people web browsing.  Hopefully organizations have some limitations on people “surfing” the web.  And getting involved with unsavory sites.  Perhaps those surfers need more consumer based surfing features.


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Comments

One Response to “Just What the World Needs… Another “free” Browser… Costs Industry Big Bucks”

  1. Lee on October 1st, 2008 8:30 am

    The one advantage of multiple browsers is a lower profile target. Though that advantage disappears as more browsers increase the cost. It also is a question of who bears the cost. Typically the software industry absorbs testing costs, while users reap the benefit of a new browser. I’d tell home users to use the least popular browser first, since it’s likely to not be a smaller security target.

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