"The future is no longer important to take the user's desktop, but take the user's browser."
Last weekend, Microsoft's new browser, IE8's official release to become the hottest topic in technology. From Silicon Valley to China, the global IT industry for many years in the discussion of this free product. From the last century to the operating system Microsoft has bundled in the IE, Netscape thus disappeared, apart from individual stubborn technical engineers occasionally look at Netscape, IE has become synonymous with the browser. After ten years, there is little innovative small companies and then try to develop a new browser, and no investor funding Microsoft win this war.
But since last year, this quiet market has long quietly started a browser war, including GOOGLE, have joined the battle, including Apple, IBM, called the "blue cedar," the secret of the project team is focused on the browser platform . Why the giants have in this browser war in the lit smoke, overweight commercial value of this long lost the ambition behind the product is it?
Vision of the future under cloud, IT be the same as the power of public resources has already arrived. By then, the browser may become the operating system's demise.
The establishment of ecological chain around the IE
"IE8 Microsoft's dream of carrying on behalf of the company's future strategic direction." Microsoft's Greater China general manager of consumer and online division, said Wei Qing, Microsoft plans to create a similar operating system to play IE8 platform software for Microsoft be regarded as a milestone products, "the future is no longer important to take the user's desktop, but take the user's browser."
IE8 now supports 25 languages, according to Wei Qing introduced its speed and security, ease of use has improved. This is more than a year, Microsoft's rivals are often released research report, take public opinion on the IE browser security big issue, so in IE8, Microsoft claims it is "by far the safest, most reliable IE version", can prevent more than other browsers 2-4 times the number of malicious software attacks.
Wei Qing and expressed the hope that IE built around the ecological chain, starting from IE8.0, Microsoft will InternetEx-plorer planning to become a platform product, not just a free software, "IE8.0 will be more open, working with many partners to develop related applications, Baidu, hence the saying, Taobao, Sina, CNNIC and many other famous sites have been the first to join in visual search, WebSlice and accelerator features the development team, the IE ecosystem has prepared a considerable scale. "
IE market share decline
Real importance to Microsoft's browser since it is from last September 2 GOOGLE officially launched its web browser CHROME start. GOOGLE to influence their own brand, released on the first day of hundreds of millions of downloads, light a portal in China, there are more than 20 million users to download.
In fact, over the past four years, that to fans as the main body of the "Firefox" from scratch development to the present 20% market share. Another to be reckoned with is Apple's Safari browser, the browser Apple mac the only operating system exclusively, as coveted the desktop browser market, it also introduced a windows version. Today, more minority browsers, like Opera and the nostalgia of Netscape, and even China's Tencent, Sohu, odd tigers are released browser, crush with IE.
According to Internet research company NetworkApplications latest data show that Microsoft's browser market share has dropped to 67.4%. At the same time, Mozilla's Firefox has 21.7% of the users, Apple (AAPL) for their Mac with the Safari market share 8.0%, Google (GOOG), Chrome market share of 1.1%.
However, in 2008, the company also owns nearly 73% of the market then as Firefox and Safari market share is 19%, respectively, and 6.4%. "IE ignores 1 / 3 of the browser market, Microsoft is now recovered by IE8 lost. "
Entrance into the Internet browser?
In the end this is what ignited browser war, war in turn go from here?
90's of last century, "the network is the computer" was made after SUN founder McNealy sought after Silicon Valley bigwigs, when Apple, Oracle, SUN and other such giants of the Microsoft-driven client / server architecture and more a criticism of Microsoft, more and more that the PC application software bundled into a "fat man" approach is too proud to care. In their vision, the more technical content of the practice should be a big server terminal, the end user is less than 500 dollars worth of "thin client" applications software on the server, end users only entrance with a browser can be, what the software needed to get up through the network to the server.
Corresponding to the PC was being ridiculed as a bloated "fat client" and that "fat" at the time --- nearly 3,000 U.S. dollars expensive. But the technology is not the only, but also the maturity of various conditions, such as the hardware, and costs, such as in network speed, industrial chain and other factors, Intel and Microsoft jointly standardized platform for the PC more and more expensive, when the PC is also dropped below 600 U.S. dollars, this "fat" PC and "thin" network computer end of the war, PC victory, Microsoft will become synonymous with PC.
However, development of the Internet changed the rules of the game, the number of Internet users, bandwidth, storage and server costs and the year is quite different, more mature infrastructure, that Internet users have access to their online applications become possible. PC users rely on smaller and smaller, what the software needed to take on the network, not necessarily to be installed in this machine a reality. Under this idea, IBM, Amazon and other proposed "cloud computing", even though giants of "cloud computing" concept is also unclear what the "cloud" of the business model is still groping, but most users are using the "cloud" applications.
They explain what is in the giant cloud computing, the most common example is to compare the power network, a public resource in the power before the generator is everywhere. Vision of the future under cloud, IT be the power of public resources, like the time has come. If the time has finally come, we need is a browser, plus an input interactive device.
By then, the browser as an Internet portal. The browser may become the operating system's demise.
Google is also a reason for Microsoft's number one killer. High Gun reporter
Attention
Browser in the "cloud" operating system under the alternative?
Development of the Internet changed the rules of the game, users rely less and less PC, what software needs to take on the network, not necessarily to be installed in this machine a reality.
Despite the giants of "cloud computing" concept is also evasive, but most users are using the "cloud" applications, such as graphics and tables are no longer download the software directly online operation chart, the photo files are kept on the network.
Vision of the future in the cloud, we need to be is a browser, plus an interactive input device.
By then, the browser as an Internet portal. The browser may become the operating system's demise.