Vista is well criticized for being bloated beyond what the market needs. Some of it is justified. Some of it not. The argument can sometimes be a bit like the aged RISC vs complex instructions set processor arguments of the ’90s. Thin is not necessarily the best idea as the last few years have proven out.
However, as products age and market needs ebb and flow, the code base can get a little muddled. This isn’t terrible–our bodies’ DNA sequence knows how to handle legacy pretty well, for instance–but it sure can lead to some non-optimized features. And that’s where the problem really comes in.
Anyway, even though IE is much younger than Windows, I think it’s showing its age and just as with Vista, it’s time to think about doing a redo.
You see, how we use a browser today is different than it was even ten years ago. Yes, we still go to web pages, but we sure do a lot more video watching and editing than any old browser would presume, for example. We also spend lots more time within a browser than a decade back.
Now the IE team is not exactly being caught as flatfooted as they were say five years back. The IE team is working on a new engine with IE 8, but I don’t think that’s good enough. Why? Because they are still thinking in terms of IE of old. They need legacy support. And from the looks of it they seem intent on adding dodad features rather than fundamental improvements. Leave all this for a desktop or enterprise version of IE. For everyone else–for our Netbooks, MIDs, Tablet PCs, cellphones, eBook readers and the like–let’s start over. I mean, really start over. In other words, for the growing market, there ought to be something else. Maybe dumping FrontPage wasn’t the key. Maybe dumping IE is.
I’ve argued in the past that a better browser can be made by starting back at the beginning and thinking in terms of how people really use a browser. It’s not just about rendering a page. That’s the old model. That’s the sliver of what needs to be supported.
I’m glad to see some of the efforts being made here with HTML 5. We need more structure and control in the pages not just for us humans but to make our content more accessible to computers that can process it. HTML 5 is a step in the right direction.
But there’s lots more. Take, for example, what would make a great browser in an eBook. How transparent should it be? Should it essentially be the conduit for backing up all notes and page settings to the cloud? Is the browser more a collection of services than just a UI?
And for all of us that use the browser for communicating, writing and drawing and sharing pictures and videos and the like is too much work. Requires too much care on the part of the user.
Anyway, is it time to redo the browser? I think so.