On Jun 10, 2005, at 3:00 AM, Gianluca Drago wrote:

> On the other hand, Firefox is free, anyone can install it from
> the web, without the need to throw Internet Explorer away, he can
> have both browsers coexist together inside his desktop. What if,
> instead of running inside a Firefox window, the toolbar could run
> inside its own container, as for instance in the Mozilla Amazon
> Browser (http://www.infodraft.com/~faser/mab/)? I think the real
> node is: "Is this kind of technology useful?" If yes people will
> start using it no matter if they usually surf the web with a
> different browser.
>
> For my work is really valuable this exchange of thoughts, I hope
> I didn't abuse of your patience.


In no way is anybody abusing my patience. Believe it or not, that is
one thing I have in great abundance, but that is another story.

Whether we like it or not, the most useful technology is not
necessarily the one that gets... used. The classic example is Beta
versus VHS. I could bring up operating systems, but that would be
preaching to the choir. I use Firefox as my primary browser mostly for
its XML display features. I liked IE for the Mac for the same reason. I
am now playing with Safari because of its cool RSS reader capabilities,
but it don't do the XML thing. These sorts of differences are subtle
when compared to most people's needs, and most people are going to use
the browser that is installed on their (Windows) desktop. For better or
worse, I am almost compelled to work with that environment.

The best I can hope for are company-independent standards and
implementations. No proprietary features or additions. No operating
system specific thingees. The Firefox Search Bar extension examples go
in the right direction because they require just a text editor to
create and work across operating systems. No need for operating
system-level libraries and such.

--
Eric Morgan
University Libraries of Notre Dame