At present, the most frequently used software of a computer is probably the browser. People are very familiar with it, as familiar as the starting up and shutting down. Everything we do about the Internet should be accomplished by the browser. Do you wonder what browsers will look like in the future? How about we review the history of browsers at first?
Creative efforts
Lose for the instability. In 1994, the first commercialized browser in history Netscape was born. The value of browsers was then discovered, so the operating system can be left aside, and the demand of PC turned to the Internet. The idea and the goal of cross-platform of Netscape made itself a big threat to the Microsoft, and forced Microsoft to develop its own browser – IE (Internet Explorer). In the period of the “Browser War”, the Netscape and Microsoft updated their products rapidly, lots of functions were added, and the versions are escalated all the time.
Microsoft adopted the strategy of free bound. In the mean time, the Netscape browsers are supposed to be bought for its profit pressure. The pressure given by Microsoft became harder and harder to bear for Netscape. When IE4.0 came out, the advantages of Netscape browsers were hardly seen. According to the critics, the Netscape added functions all the time, without maintaining the stability of the browser. The users’ favourable impressions of Netscape declined and IE monopolized the browser market.
Lose for the insecurity. The lost Netscape did not vanish afterwards. In January, 1998, Netscape declared to open source – Mozilla plan started to be carried out.
Mozilla Firefox is based on Gecko, the core of the old Netscape browser. The developer hoped to solve the usability reduction caused by the variety of functions, and share the market once fully occupied by Microsoft.
The Firefox started to win the market shares of IE after the Firefox browser was officially released in September, 2004. The analysts thought that there were two reasons for why Firefox is well-received, one is the inward improvement, and the other is the outward conditions.
Firefox started to offer free and open products. Firefox has been more compatible since Firefox3, and lots of APIs were provided to developers (which is highly praised for its expansibility). The interface was more attractive, and the security was also greatly improved. IE, the one who had beaten Netscape, did not improve very much after IE6, and the update of version is rather slow, and it improved slowly on the compatibility and supporting the network standard. What was worse, the security problems of IE were serious. Trojans, junk ads and viruses spread on the Internet are all due to the security flaws of IE. To mend these flaws will always take Microsoft a large amount of time, let alone the update.
Facing the old-fashioned and arrogant IE, the users started to choose the Firefox which is more active. Security and stability are doubtlessly the motivation for the users to transfer.
Lose the favourable impression for the low speed. Firefox is more advanced in security and stability than IE (and more quick to mend flaws), but it also has its own problems. Firefox began to turn clumsy with expansions. Some pointed out that it took more time to start up Firefox than many other browsers, even the IE6 was faster than Firefox.
The Google browser (the open source version is Chromium) came out in September in 2008, which immediately cached people’s attention. The simple and efficient browser won the users for its high speed, and became the browser whose users increase the most rapidly. Only three years after its releasing, the global shares of it got close to those of Firefox, even the user number of it become the largest in some countries. Firefox lost its reliability from experts and users while competing with Google browser. Although the Mozilla fund is still engaged in some great goals, but Firefox is no longer what it was. Now we have witnessed that the Google browser era has come.
Constant evolution
The history of browsers is short but eventful. The brands were frequently replaced and the competition is fierce. Only an all-around developed browser can win the hearts of users. What will browsers be like in the future? We may see the future of browsers from the development of Google browsers.
The overall development goals of Google browsers are to improve stability, security and speed.
The browsers in the future should at first be stable. It is like a car needs a powerful engine, so that it can run stably. The Google browser adopted the multi-process architecture to keep the users’ confidence in its stability (it is a unique feature of it different from all other browsers, and a technique to ensure the stability when users are surfing the Internet. For every tab page is independent as a window procedure, if one tab breaks down, the whole procedure will not all break down, and the users can still visit other sites.
Besides the stability when surfing the Internet, the stability of products are also guaranteed. Four versions of Google browsers were released at the same time, and they can be updated spontaneously, which ensures that the browser is always the latest and most stable whenever the user use it.
The browsers in the future should also be secure. The browser is the gate which accesses to the Internet, so many ill-disposed people attempt to spy on the users’ privacy with it. Much effort has been made to improve the security of Google browser. Multi-process architecture was mentioned in the previous paragraph. Actually, every tap page of the Google browser is also a sandbox. In the sandbox, malicious programs cannot steal users’ sensitive data and control the computers, just like the prisoners in jail. After closing the tabs, malicious programs are wiped out.
Google browser’s security is also guaranteed by functions such as blacklist, and blocking fraud and malicious programs. In the 2011 Pwn2Own Hacker Contest, Google prepared $20,000 for the person who is able to break through the defence of the Google browser, but no one could take the money.
The browsers in the future should be faster. Compared with the slow IE and the clumsy Firefox, Google browser is like a light-footed teenager. It gained large quantities of users just by its public praise and its pleasant speed. The technologies behind the speed are worthier speaking: the core of the browser Webkit is the basis of the speed, and the newly developed V8 JavaScript engine, so it accelerates the speed of websites using plenty of JavaScript (including videos, online games and online IM). It is pretty unique in the era when Web2.0 is quite popular. It also has the GPU acceleration function. Although lots of tabs are opened, you can still shift freely.
Google browser’s configuration is very likely to be the standard configuration of all browsers. The OmniBox combines the address bar, the search box and the book mark together, which saves space and is fashionable. You just have to type the address in the address bar, and the instant pages will be loaded immediately. When you surf the Internet, you do not have to copy and paste, you just need to choose the text and press the right-hand button of mouse to search. It supports HTML5 well, for example, you can deal with e-mails and agendas offline.
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