The Return of the Browser Wars

So Google  dropped any pretense of Chrome being anything other than a full fledged entry into the browser market by introducing extensions.   At the same time Microsoft has released IE8 as the latest installment for Internet Explorer and something tells me that automatic upgrades are on their way. Welcome to the latest installment of the browser wars.

This wil ultimately be good news for endusers as it spurs innovation.  In the meantime, it means even more of a nuisance for developers as there are more and more platforms to test on.  Of course using Javascript libraries helps (handcrafting Javascript without a library is basically crazy at this point), but the myriad of potential differences from interactions between HTML, CSS and Javascript requires actual testing and often some small modifications for every single platform.  Add to that the need to support mobile browsers and creating a highly functional and attractive user experience will be by far the biggest effort.

The reasons for wanting to control the browser are obvious.  Not only does the browser shape the enduser experience (the argument that Google emphasizes), but it also captures all of a user’s attention data.  So the browser war is likely to be with us for a long time, beause “it’s the attention economy, stupid.”