November 30th, 2004
where is this going?
Over at BetaNews, (via Slashdot) I was reading about AOL’s new Netscape web browser. Basically, it’s a clone of Firefox 0.9.3 with some Netscape specific extentions. More interesting however, is the ability for this browser to switch rendering engines from Gecko to Internet Explorer via Active X controls.
Why is this?
It’s because web designers or developers (whatever you call them) are generally lazy. And AOL is stupid. Check this out:
A source close to the company said AOL opted to include IE engine support in order to offer users more choice, as some sites are optimized for certain browsers. But to avoid security vulnerabilities found in IE, Netscape “gives the user the choice through Site Controls of what sites they trust and don’t trust by allowing them to turn off Web functionalities that expose security holes on a per site basis,” the source told BetaNews.
After I read this paragraph, I was finished reading the article. I was even going to consider downloading the trial version just to see what it was like.
I mean, give me a freaking break! “…gives the user the choice through Site Controls or sites…” If I had a link on my page that said “Win 1 Million Dollars” I’m sure I could get people to commit. That is, if I had many visitors. My point is, the users that are given the choice wont know what to do with it, and get infected with even more malware. I especially liked the part, “… expose security holes on a site by site basis. Horray! A buffett of hijacked computers to choose from!
I don’t know about everyone else, but it seems that if certain sites were designed for certain browsers, then we’re back to square one as far as I’m concerned. If this browser catches on (which I doubt), you can kiss your web standards goodbye, as more and more “designers” will be coding in Front Page for Internet Explorer.