5 ms·

I wouldn't go as far back as 1995. I remember using Netscape those days and IE was considered the "hip & modern browser" just like we do now for Chrome. It was

by nivla 12y ago

I wouldn't go as far back as 1995. I remember using Netscape those days and IE was considered the "hip & modern browser" just like we do now for Chrome. It was the best viewed in IE days and since there were no real standards or committee back then, everyone wrote their own feature set including MS. It did sure give us the annoying <blink> and <marquee> tags but remember it also gave us Ajax. The shit only really blew when Firefox came into scene with a faster, secure and more progressive browser than IE. Although, I personally feel if firefox doesn't catchup with the webkit browsers, we will soon be taking a full circle.

ConceptJunkie 12y ago
Yeah, MSIE was the best browser through version 4. The real reason Netscape lost the browser wars was that it became a huge bloated mess. Now it probably couldn't have beat IE regardless of how good it was because of Microsoft's monopolistic practices, but IE was the best browser for a few years in the mid-90s. Of course, they then proceeded to let it stagnate for the better part of a decade...
- nivla 12y ago
  >they then proceeded to let it stagnate for the better part of a decade... That is one of the side effects of being on top without the worry of competition AKA being a monopoly. Despite Chrome being my favorite browser, this is one the things that worries me the most when everyone yells "Port all browsers to Webkit!!!", we will inadvertently repeat history. Southpark best visually described it in one of their episodes [1]. [1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Something_Wall-Mart_This_Way_Comes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Something_Wall-Mart_This_Way_Co...
  - dblohm7 12y ago
    +1. I try to figure out where the "Port all browsers to WebKit!" crowd is coming from, but the only reasonable speculative theory that I can think of is that they weren't there for the first go-round.
nandhp 12y ago
> <blink> <BLINK> was from Netscape. http://www.montulli.org/theoriginofthe%3Cblink%3Etag http://www.montulli.org/theoriginofthe%3Cblink%3Etag In related amusements: https://www.google.com/search?q=%3Cblink%3E+tag https://www.google.com/search?q=%3Cblink%3E+tag
twistedpair 12y ago
Oh, but let's not forget page transition animations introduced by IE. Thank God those died a rapid death. The other thing that killed NetScape Communicator is that it had been costing $70 per copy. Remember... people used to pay for browsers.
- MichaelApproved 12y ago
  > that killed NetScape Communicator is that it had been costing $70 per copy. It didn't kill Netscape to charge per copy, that's how software works. People need to earn money for their work creating software. What killed Netscape was Microsoft taking advantage of its monopoly by pushing itself into a new market with free software. Microsoft didn't need to earn money directly from the browser, so they could afford to give it away for free and take a loss.
  - twistedpair 12y ago
    I was jesting. ;) I happily bought several copies back then, which was a lot on an allowance for mowing grass, but FREE was very hard to beat. Of course there was a little Anti-Trust case that came out of those dealings.
  - WettowelReactor 12y ago
    While the monopoly control provided a simplified avenue for distribution the free price tag alone cannot be held to blame. By that analogy any free, open source product can push its way into a new market and kill the paid for competition which is clearly not the case.
- nivla 12y ago
  >The other thing that killed NetScape Communicator is that it had been costing $70 per copy. Remember... people used to pay for browsers. Yes but mine came free with the ISP's installation floppy diskettes, which was very cool of them. If I remember correctly, wasn't Opera initially a paid browser too?
  - bcbrown 12y ago

by nivla 12y ago

ConceptJunkie 12y ago

Yeah, MSIE was the best browser through version 4. The real reason Netscape lost the browser wars was that it became a huge bloated mess. Now it probably couldn't have beat IE regardless of how good it was because of Microsoft's monopolistic practices, but IE was the best browser for a few years in the mid-90s. Of course, they then proceeded to let it stagnate for the better part of a decade...

nivla 12y ago
>they then proceeded to let it stagnate for the better part of a decade... That is one of the side effects of being on top without the worry of competition AKA being a monopoly. Despite Chrome being my favorite browser, this is one the things that worries me the most when everyone yells "Port all browsers to Webkit!!!", we will inadvertently repeat history. Southpark best visually described it in one of their episodes [1]. [1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Something_Wall-Mart_This_Way_Comes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Something_Wall-Mart_This_Way_Co...
- dblohm7 12y ago
  +1. I try to figure out where the "Port all browsers to WebKit!" crowd is coming from, but the only reasonable speculative theory that I can think of is that they weren't there for the first go-round.

nandhp 12y ago

> <blink> <BLINK> was from Netscape. http://www.montulli.org/theoriginofthe%3Cblink%3Etag http://www.montulli.org/theoriginofthe%3Cblink%3Etag In related amusements: https://www.google.com/search?q=%3Cblink%3E+tag https://www.google.com/search?q=%3Cblink%3E+tag

twistedpair 12y ago

Oh, but let's not forget page transition animations introduced by IE. Thank God those died a rapid death. The other thing that killed NetScape Communicator is that it had been costing $70 per copy. Remember... people used to pay for browsers.

MichaelApproved 12y ago
> that killed NetScape Communicator is that it had been costing $70 per copy. It didn't kill Netscape to charge per copy, that's how software works. People need to earn money for their work creating software. What killed Netscape was Microsoft taking advantage of its monopoly by pushing itself into a new market with free software. Microsoft didn't need to earn money directly from the browser, so they could afford to give it away for free and take a loss.
- twistedpair 12y ago
  I was jesting. ;) I happily bought several copies back then, which was a lot on an allowance for mowing grass, but FREE was very hard to beat. Of course there was a little Anti-Trust case that came out of those dealings.
- WettowelReactor 12y ago
  While the monopoly control provided a simplified avenue for distribution the free price tag alone cannot be held to blame. By that analogy any free, open source product can push its way into a new market and kill the paid for competition which is clearly not the case.
nivla 12y ago
>The other thing that killed NetScape Communicator is that it had been costing $70 per copy. Remember... people used to pay for browsers. Yes but mine came free with the ISP's installation floppy diskettes, which was very cool of them. If I remember correctly, wasn't Opera initially a paid browser too?
- bcbrown 12y ago