5955 W Peoria Ave
Unit 6538, Glendale, AZ 85312
+1 623-930-1533
Customer Support
Mon-Fri: 8:00a - 5:00p
Other times, by appointment
Unit 6538, Glendale, AZ 85312
Customer Support
Other times, by appointment
Browsers are the gateway to the internet, and nothing proves that more than the epic browser wars that shaped how we surf today. Without them, we would be back to the infancy of the internet and bulletin board chat screens. Perish the thought!
Now we enter the Browser Wars. In the early days, we had Netscape, AOL, Prodigy, CompuServ, and, yes, Internet Explorer. At one point Netscape dominated the market with a whopping 86% share while Microsoft maintained a measly 10%. So, where is Netscape now? Great question. Sadly, it suffered the same fate as Novell Netware and WordPerfect at the hands of Microsoft’s sleazy tactics of bait and switch and dark marketing.
The standard for Microsoft is simple: if they can’t compete with it, they buy it, and if they can’t buy it, they destroy it. All in favor of power and mediocrity. In the case of browsers, Netscape reigned supreme. It was innovative, adaptable, and fully programmable for the end user.
Since MS couldn’t buy it, they decided to release Internet Explorer. Probably the largest failed attempt at software ever created, failing, of course, Windows Vista. It was slow. It crashed often. And, became the brunt of so many jokes that even the comedians stopped laughing.
What happened? Easy, MS forced every user of Windows to be assaulted with Internet Explorer at every turn. It didn’t matter if you used a different browser, they gave you IE anyways. Then they set all web and internet traffic to use their browser regardless of your choices. Reminds me of the scene in “Enemy Mine” where Dennis Quaid’s character is forced to eat an indigenous worm-like creature in order to stay alive. It was disgusting at first, but he acquired a taste for it over time. Users were forced to partake of the unglamorous, no frills, error-prone Internet Explorer, and, over time, got used to having it around. Dare I say, some people actually grew to like it…ugh.
Needless to say, use of Netscape and other similar browsers, dwindled and then died.
Cue the harps of Cherubim as a little known, but powerful, browser emerged, willing to take on the mighty Microsoft: It was Google Chrome. Google had the money, resources, and notoriety, to be able to challenge the status quo. To make things even more interesting, they opened their code for others to use and became the base of a lot of browsers. This was called the Chromium Projects. Open source projects that anyone could use to make their own.
Now here’s an irony for you. Google’s Chromium Projects was so effective, that Microsoft scrapped their bloated and useless Internet Explorer for their new flagship Edge – a browser completely based on Google Chromium Project. I guess, if you can’t beat them, buy them, or destroy them, then you join them.
In fact, many of the so-called safe, protective, or otherwise “not Chrome” browsers are all based on Chrome.Here’s a short list:
I’m not really sure how these browsers can say they are better than Chrome, when they are essentially…well, Chrome.
There are other browsers, though.
Every browser claims to protect your privacy, block third-party ads, and keep you safe. Spoiler: They don’t. As always, “If you’re not paying for the product, you are the product.”
So try a few browsers, find the one that bugs you the least, and remember—don’t even think about uninstalling Edge. The Microsoft Overlords are watching.