4 ms·

Isn't that exactly what Cromebooks were when they were released many years later?

Spooky23 5y ago
Sort of. Microsoft’s goal was to funnel you into a minimally viable browser and funnel you into grownup apps. Once they killed Netscape, they literally disbanded the IE team. They also did anti-competitive shit like buy and slow-roll Hotmail to protect the golden goose. (enterprise EAs of windows and office + oem licensing.) They are doing the same thing today with identity and security for enterprises. Chrome is Google’s attempt at a first party solution stack. It’s weird though as chrome is owned by different teams in Google than other user facing products.
- kevingadd 5y ago
  I don't know that I buy that being the strategy, at least all the time. HTAs were a very early swing at what 'Progressive Web Apps' are today and back when you had access to activex components, etc those apps could do tons of stuff. Of course, the security attack surface was a nightmare so that all got slowly murdered, but I think at one point there probably was a serious attempt to let people build real apps using web technologies.
  - solarkraft 5y ago
    > at one point there probably was a serious attempt to let people build real apps using web technologies Tied to Windows, mind you.
    - kevingadd 5y ago
      Hey, they shipped IE for Mac!
      - GekkePrutser 5y ago
        Without ActiveX support of course as that depended on Windows DLLs. Not that that was a bad thing though. As mentioned it is a really bad idea to auto download code off some random website and execute it. Naive we all were back then...
    - forgotmypw17 5y ago
      Google promotes building (and builds themselves) in such a way that it only works well on Chrome, just barely works on Firefox and Safari, and doesn't work at all in any other browser. Unless you count reframed Chromium as "other browser", the equivalent of using Microsoft's IE-based WebBrowser component back in the day. I really don't see much of a difference.
  - Spooky23 5y ago
    Maybe. But there were a thousand other cuts. The weird Java integration, IE5 forever, etc. Microsoft isn’t run by dumb people.
- ChuckNorris89 5y ago
  >Once they killed Netscape, they literally disbanded the IE team. I find that dubious. Do you have any sources for that?
  - kanwisher 5y ago
    Look at release schedule after ie 6 there were almost no major upgrades for years. Ie 7 was a pretty minimal upgrade. It wasn’t until ie8 did they start doing new features again and this is only after chrome started taking massive mindshare First link on a google search confirms all this https://www.quora.com/What-strategic-thinking-persuaded-Microsoft-to-disband-the-Internet-Explorer-team-when-IE6-was-launched https://www.quora.com/What-strategic-thinking-persuaded-Micr...

Sort of. Microsoft’s goal was to funnel you into a minimally viable browser and funnel you into grownup apps. Once they killed Netscape, they literally disbanded the IE team. They also did anti-competitive shit like buy and slow-roll Hotmail to protect the golden goose. (enterprise EAs of windows and office + oem licensing.) They are doing the same thing today with identity and security for enterprises. Chrome is Google’s attempt at a first party solution stack. It’s weird though as chrome is owned by different teams in Google than other user facing products.

kevingadd 5y ago
I don't know that I buy that being the strategy, at least all the time. HTAs were a very early swing at what 'Progressive Web Apps' are today and back when you had access to activex components, etc those apps could do tons of stuff. Of course, the security attack surface was a nightmare so that all got slowly murdered, but I think at one point there probably was a serious attempt to let people build real apps using web technologies.
- solarkraft 5y ago
  > at one point there probably was a serious attempt to let people build real apps using web technologies Tied to Windows, mind you.
  - kevingadd 5y ago
    Hey, they shipped IE for Mac!
    - GekkePrutser 5y ago
      Without ActiveX support of course as that depended on Windows DLLs. Not that that was a bad thing though. As mentioned it is a really bad idea to auto download code off some random website and execute it. Naive we all were back then...
  - forgotmypw17 5y ago
    Google promotes building (and builds themselves) in such a way that it only works well on Chrome, just barely works on Firefox and Safari, and doesn't work at all in any other browser. Unless you count reframed Chromium as "other browser", the equivalent of using Microsoft's IE-based WebBrowser component back in the day. I really don't see much of a difference.
- Spooky23 5y ago
  Maybe. But there were a thousand other cuts. The weird Java integration, IE5 forever, etc. Microsoft isn’t run by dumb people.
ChuckNorris89 5y ago
>Once they killed Netscape, they literally disbanded the IE team. I find that dubious. Do you have any sources for that?
- kanwisher 5y ago
  Look at release schedule after ie 6 there were almost no major upgrades for years. Ie 7 was a pretty minimal upgrade. It wasn’t until ie8 did they start doing new features again and this is only after chrome started taking massive mindshare First link on a google search confirms all this https://www.quora.com/What-strategic-thinking-persuaded-Microsoft-to-disband-the-Internet-Explorer-team-when-IE6-was-launched https://www.quora.com/What-strategic-thinking-persuaded-Micr...