Rant: One more browser to test

[Animesh K]

Errr, GNU just released Iceweasel. Ice isn't fire and weasel isn't a fox.

What is causing a new open-source browser (there were already so many to
test, Firefox, Opera, Safari, IE6, IE7, Netscape)? Wasn't FF good enough?

 

[Animesh K]

Errr, GNU just released Iceweasel. Ice isn't fire and weasel isn't a fox.

What is causing a new open-source browser (there were already so many to
test, Firefox, Opera, Safari, IE6, IE7, Netscape)? Wasn't FF good enough?

Sorry to follow up my own post...

I should not have said "just released." I meant I just noticed
GNU-released Iceweasel. I figured the browser was released a while ago.

 

[Ben C]

Errr, GNU just released Iceweasel. Ice isn't fire and weasel isn't a fox.

What is causing a new open-source browser (there were already so many to
test, Firefox, Opera, Safari, IE6, IE7, Netscape)? Wasn't FF good enough?

It's almost good enough but not considered free enough by some. See
http://www.gnu.org/software/gnuzilla.

It will probably render things mostly the same as Firefox.

The more browsers the better. If there are only one or two then all
their bugs and quirks become de facto standards.

 

[Chris F.A. Johnson]

Errr, GNU just released Iceweasel. Ice isn't fire and weasel isn't a fox.

What is causing a new open-source browser (there were already so many to
test, Firefox, Opera, Safari, IE6, IE7, Netscape)? Wasn't FF good enough?

Iceweasel is a rebranding of Firefox.

 

[Bergamot]

Errr, GNU just released Iceweasel. Ice isn't fire and weasel isn't a fox.

What is causing a new open-source browser (there were already so many to
test, Firefox, Opera, Safari, IE6, IE7, Netscape)? Wasn't FF good enough?

According to the link Ben C posted, it's nothing to get worked up about.

It's extremely unlikely Iceweasel will render differently than Firefox,
Seamonkey, Netscape, or any of the other gecko-based browsers.

Same browser, different wrapping and +/- a few features. That's all.

 

[dorayme]

The more browsers the better. If there are only one or two then all
their bugs and quirks become de facto standards.

Now that is an excellent point. (It probably follows from some
theorem in economics. <g>)

 

[Joel Shepherd]

Errr, GNU just released Iceweasel. Ice isn't fire and weasel isn't a fox.

What is causing a new open-source browser (there were already so many to
test, Firefox, Opera, Safari, IE6, IE7, Netscape)? Wasn't FF good enough?

Microsoft has browser monopoly => bad
Mozilla Foundation has browser monopoly => good

Some days my head pounds ...

 

[J.O. Aho]

Errr, GNU just released Iceweasel. Ice isn't fire and weasel isn't a fox.

What is causing a new open-source browser (there were already so many to
test, Firefox, Opera, Safari, IE6, IE7, Netscape)? Wasn't FF good enough?

It's just SeaMonkey and FireFox in new cloths and with a few new features, so
it's really not a new browser, it's just like Galoen, but better.

 

[El Kabong]

Microsoft has browser monopoly => bad
Mozilla Foundation has browser monopoly => good

Some days my head pounds ...

Mine too.

Remember when Netscape was "free" before they started charging for it and
then were forced by IE to make it "free" again?

Back in '94 and '95, the buzz was that Netscape is amazingly better than
Chameleon and "free" and the poor folks at Quartermaster who gave Andreessen
his start, were pushed right out of the business. Then, with Chameleon gone,
Netscape had the monopoly and soon brought out the brass knuckles, first
$14.95, then 24.95, then 49.95, and finally good ol' Marc was sticking it to
us at $69.95 a copy by late 1996. But good ol' Billy G. started giving away
IE with Win95 and soon Netscape was crying foul. (Don't you just love it
when the bully gets bullied?) and now, thanks to MS, any browser worth
owning is free.

Halleluiah!

In the meantime, the Mac fanboys have continued facing toward Steve Jobs
five times a day on their knees and noses praising any garbage Apple Corp
squats and dumps on them. Safari? Saints preserve us.

Now it's Ice Weasel?

Yep, I'm getting a headache... again.

End of my rant.

El

 

[Blinky the Shark]

Back in '94 and '95, the buzz was that Netscape is amazingly better than
Chameleon and "free" and the poor folks at Quartermaster who gave Andreessen

Quarterdeck?

 

[Ben C]

According to the link Ben C posted, it's nothing to get worked up about.

It's extremely unlikely Iceweasel will render differently than Firefox,
Seamonkey, Netscape, or any of the other gecko-based browsers.

Same browser, different wrapping and +/- a few features. That's all.

Yes although one thing I'm not completely clear about-- do they
continuously integrate Mozilla sources for Gecko or is it a fork, i.e.
they took a snapshot and went their own way after that?

 

[Bergamot]

Yes although one thing I'm not completely clear about-- do they
continuously integrate Mozilla sources for Gecko or is it a fork, i.e.
they took a snapshot and went their own way after that?

You have to ask the folks who are distributing the browser, but it would
be foolish to ignore bug fixes and enhancements to the core rendering
engine.

 

[Travis Newbury]

The more browsers the better. If there are only one or two then all
their bugs and quirks become de facto standards.

I disagree, I think a single browser would be best. And yes, it would
be the de-facto standard which I see as a good thing.

 

[Tim Streater]

I disagree, I think a single browser would be best. And yes, it would
be the de-facto standard which I see as a good thing.

Not Explorer then. I favour Safari.

 

[Ben C]

I disagree, I think a single browser would be best. And yes, it would
be the de-facto standard which I see as a good thing.

The problem is that something that's full of bugs and quirks is
unpredictable and annoying to work with even if you do have the
consolation of knowing that once it works on your desktop it will work
the same (up to a point) for everyone.

If there was only one browser but that had a clear published
specification that it implemented correctly that wouldn't be so bad. But
with only one browser around there's much less pressure on its vendor
either to publish such a specification or to stick to it. So web
development becomes a frustrating trial-and-error process of throwing
mud at the wall.

 

[CptDondo]

I disagree, I think a single browser would be best. And yes, it would
be the de-facto standard which I see as a good thing.

Google monoculture, dutch elm disease, and probably some others that
escape me ATM.

 

[Animesh K]

Not Explorer then. I favour Safari.

Ewww. Safari doesn't even cuts n paste properly in Windows. I copied a
paragraph and for some reason it pasted only one and half line from the
paragraph. I tried 3-4 times using Edit-> Copy or Rightclick->Copy etc.
Finally had to refresh the page to get it right.

 

[Animesh K]

According to the link Ben C posted, it's nothing to get worked up about.

It's extremely unlikely Iceweasel will render differently than Firefox,
Seamonkey, Netscape, or any of the other gecko-based browsers.

Same browser, different wrapping and +/- a few features. That's all.

It may fork very soon. That's what bothers me at the moment.

 

[Sherm Pendley]

Ewww. Safari doesn't even cuts n paste properly in Windows.

It's a *beta* - have you reported the bug to Apple?

sherm--

 

[Bergamot]

I think a single browser would be best.

I don't care if there is one rendering engine or 10, as long as they all
give comparable results. Browser bugs can be a PITA sometimes, but
usually it's just IE crap that has to be dealt with differently.

As for only one browser choice, that would suck. People who actually
choose a browser don't usually do it just because of how it renders, but
for what other features it has. For example, I don't like IE, Firefox or
Netscape and cringe at the thought of being stuck with any of them.
Opera and Safari don't have anything special that I particularly want,
either, though I could tolerate them if I had to. On the other hand, I
do like Seamonkey and will happily use it until something better comes
along. Note that "better" is extremely subjective.

And yes, it would
be the de-facto standard which I see as a good thing.

There goes the incentive for innovation and improvement, and not just
where rendering is concerned. :-\