Microsoft’s Real Threat?

Firefox is a new browser software developed by Mozilla that has knocked 2% off Microsoft’s browser share with 5 million beta downloads to date. Technically Speaking reports that the new browser - a free open-source browser that loads twice as fast as Internet Explorer - is a roundabout way to challenge Microsoft’s Windows monopoly – attempting to refashion the Web itself as an operating system where every bit of software is controlled through the browser.

Blake Ross, the 19-year-old lead architect behind Mozilla’s free FireFox browser hopes to “take back the Web” from Microsoft when the open source browser is officially released in November with his goal of “10 million downloads in 10 days”. Technically Speaking does warn us though:

“If that sounds hauntingly familiar, it’s because you’ve heard it before: Ross’s wunderkind forebear, Netscape co-founder Marc Andreessen, boldly predicted in 1995 that his browser would make Windows obsolete. Of course, it didn’t quite work out that way, and Microsoft used its lock on the operating system to crush the upstart.”

Technically Speaking Blog
Mozilla