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technofile Al Fasoldt's reviews and commentaries, continuously available online since 1983 Internet Explorer: Alas, no competition, but it's a good browserMay 16, 2001 By Al Fasoldt Copyright © 2001, Al Fasoldt Copyright © 2001, The Syracuse Newspapers Most people who have Windows PCs use Internet Explorer as their Web browser. It comes with every installation of Windows and is given away by most Internet service providers. Microsoft, as you might already know, has a virtual monopoly on Web browsers. This has come about in two ways -- through Microsoft's bullying in the marketplace and through an utter lack of genuine competition. One could argue that the first reason brought about the second, but I'm not convinced. I think good Web browsers are hard to design, and no one outside Microsoft seems to care much about creating one. This is just plain crazy. Imagine how you'd react if you found out that nobody in the autombile industry had enough guts to challenge General Motors or Toyota. What would you think if you bought a Chrysler minivan and discovwered that the engine, seats, steering wheel, springs, shocks and bumpers were all made by GM? Crazy or not, we're stuck with what we have. I consider the market for Windows Web browsers all but dead. The competition is all but gone. Even Netscape, the first successful browser, is a mere footnote these days. (Here's a puzzle for you: You'd think America Online, which owns Netscape, would make Netscape's browser the standard Web browser for AOL members, right? Not a chance. AOL chose Internet Explorer. I can't figure that one out at all.) Netscape worked on version 6 of its browser for a long time, finally coming up with the Porky Pig of Internet programs last year. Netscape 6 is so slow that you could reinstall Windows in the time Netscape 6 takes to locate and open a single Web page. The Mozilla project, which was supposed to produce a modern browser through the cooperative work of hundreds of volunteer software designers under the guidance of -- ugh! Netscape's own employees), is so far behind schedule that it's lost most of its credibility. I never got Mozilla to run properly -- and I'm an expert. What do you suppose your average surfer dudes were able to do? I think they just plain gave up if they cared about Netscape 6 at all. (And I doubt that they really cared.) Then there's the Opera browser, from Opera Software at www.operasoftware.com, a company that admirably insists on doing everything its own way. I'm a big fan of the Opera browser, and I've tried versions of Opera for Windows, Linux and the BeOS. It's fast and interesting. But Opera is VERY different. You can open a zillion Web pages inside one big window. Or one small window. You can confuse yourself in a big way or a small way. Opera's multiple-document interface is old and tiring. If the folks at Opera Software can make Opera look and behave like other browsers, they might have more luck getting the rest of us to use it. What's left? Internet Explorer, of course. In a sense, we're "stuck" with Internet Explorer the way we might be "stuck" with a lottery jackpot. Despite (or perhaps because of) its illegal monopoly, Microsoft has made Internet Explorer into a very good browser. It's full of security holes, but so is Windows itself. If you're willing to put up with (and find fixes for) its security problems, Internet Explorer can be a delight. Next week: Making Internet Explorer safer and even easier to use. |