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Subject: I predicted the end of the web browser.
Back in 1995, the internet was brand new. In 1996, bookstores were filled with esoteric tomes instructing newbs on things like IRC, Gopher, and e-mail (back when it still had a hyphen). In the nineties it was still hard to find many companies with a website, and in 1993 someone who didn't sell hamburgers registered MacDonalds.com.
And around 2000, when the pace of change was staggering, when gopher was long dead, IRC was a hangout for the techie elite (ie: geeks) and the mainstream was discovering wowie programs like Internet Explorer and Netscape, I predicted the web browser would be dead in five years, replaced by things we couldn't even imagine.
And why wouldn't it be? All the other programs were falling down and being replaced by other things. Instant messaging arrived with ICQ, and later MSN and Y!M. The web browser was one more myopic viewport through which we surfed the cyberspaces exploding into existance around us. And really, the web browser was just gopher plus images, an interconnected HyperCard.
Who could have imagined that the myriad changes happening all around would implode into a razor focus on one single app? I still can't believe the shit crammed into my web browser, and with the ridiculous things promised by HTML5, there's just no end to the browser innovation.
I mean, if Microsoft had its way, browser innovation would have stopped dead with IE6, but luckily we had companies like Opera and Mozilla flogging this horse, so that now it's a massive zombie horse with laser eyes, powered by Flash and javascript and other crazed technologies that, quite succinctly, moves our world.
And my belaboured point is that I predicted the death of the browser. In writing this disgusting prose fart, I thought of something else:
This is why standards are so important. This is why we must support interoperability between browsers, why we cannot grant a monopoly to any one company. The web is everything, the internet synonymous with web browser for vast swathes of people.
Keep the web open, 'cause it is everything for the forseeable future.
And hey, I was right with the last prediction, so I must be right this time, right? Right. =)
And around 2000, when the pace of change was staggering, when gopher was long dead, IRC was a hangout for the techie elite (ie: geeks) and the mainstream was discovering wowie programs like Internet Explorer and Netscape, I predicted the web browser would be dead in five years, replaced by things we couldn't even imagine.
And why wouldn't it be? All the other programs were falling down and being replaced by other things. Instant messaging arrived with ICQ, and later MSN and Y!M. The web browser was one more myopic viewport through which we surfed the cyberspaces exploding into existance around us. And really, the web browser was just gopher plus images, an interconnected HyperCard.
Who could have imagined that the myriad changes happening all around would implode into a razor focus on one single app? I still can't believe the shit crammed into my web browser, and with the ridiculous things promised by HTML5, there's just no end to the browser innovation.
I mean, if Microsoft had its way, browser innovation would have stopped dead with IE6, but luckily we had companies like Opera and Mozilla flogging this horse, so that now it's a massive zombie horse with laser eyes, powered by Flash and javascript and other crazed technologies that, quite succinctly, moves our world.
And my belaboured point is that I predicted the death of the browser. In writing this disgusting prose fart, I thought of something else:
This is why standards are so important. This is why we must support interoperability between browsers, why we cannot grant a monopoly to any one company. The web is everything, the internet synonymous with web browser for vast swathes of people.
Keep the web open, 'cause it is everything for the forseeable future.
And hey, I was right with the last prediction, so I must be right this time, right? Right. =)
BLEARGH
