Do we need another web browser?
It was just a few months ago that Google debuted their much ballyhooed Chrome web browser yet it hasn’t taken off and we’ve all pretty much forgotten about it. We seem to be happy with IE, or Firefox for PC use, and Safari and Firefox for Mac use.
The original web browser inventor, Marc Andreessen, has a different opinion and it comes with a better concept than just another web browser offering. Its called RockMelt. So what will it do that the others already don’t?
A bit of history will help explain his latest venture.
Mr. Andreessen created Netscape (from Mosaic) in the early formative years of web surfing (1994) when web pages outnumbered web sites. Simple viewing of rather non-complex web pages (or a handful of pages strung together) was all that was needed. Netscape provided the means into exploring the new frontier of html-coded pages containing text and simple graphics. Then came along Microsoft with Internet Explorer. In an instant IE overpowered Netscape as the web browser of choice.
IE took a commanding and overpowering 90% market share giving no one much impetus for challenging such a commanding lead. The only serious competitor debuted in 2004 with Firefox (via Mozilla) exploiting IE’s most vulnerable issues…essentially, it was speedier, safer, and more innovative. The browser wars resurfaced with IE and Firefox leapfrogging each other’s significant product upgrades. Reportedly, the market share for web browsers is IE with 68%, Firefox with 23% and Chrome with 2%. (The source for this data was obviously PC-oriented as Safari has a commanding share among Mac users).
Information about RockMelt is tight; however reporters for the New York Times probed far enough to determine that RockMelt and Facebook may have a serious relationship toward development of this new application. And to no surprise, Marc Andreessen is on the board of Facebook.
Perhaps more significantly, others in the industry are crediting Mr. Andreessen with his forward thinking – the web has moved beyond viewing pages; it’s now developing into facilitating workflow. And to dynamically facilitate this requires greater flexibility than the present web browsers can afford.
Google is now set to debut Chrome, the operating system, squarely taking aim at Microsoft and marrying their web browser to their operating system. Interesting days ahead indeed.
1 Comment to Do we need another web browser?
In a lunch discussion today, we drifted to higher thought levels on this subject. What if RockMelt goes beyond serving as a mere browser? What if Facebook goes beyond being the facilitator of social media? What if together they create an application that puts you at the center of the universe, not Google, that surfs YOUR world the way you want it? Need opinions or referrals? Check your trusted sources first, and their trusted sources and so on. Need advice? Your friends become your mentors. Your social network becomes your board of directors. How cool would that be?
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August 21, 2009