Some days ago, I stumbled upon this picture which made me think a lot about how I personally evolve in a choice as simple as which environment I’ll use to navigate through internet. The main question was: “Why is the tool choice so important that this question pops up in your mind?”
I always kind of knew that I’d become an engineer of some sort, passed through the Lego, electric train, Mc Giver, Star Trek, Wars, Gate, Sliders, etc. The choice of Software Engineering came rather late.
I have been among the early adopters of the idea of Internet and as soon as I got my hands on a computer connected, I was already litterate about basics of coding and how it was meant to work. And I was using Internet Explorer. It was slow, of course, though it didn’t matter much, we seemed to have the time. Limited by the bill of course. 😛
Internet Explorer fall seems to me like a great example of a decline in many fields. This one is particular because by some ill paradigm, weird GUI choices in their development path, ludicrous marketing,… they kept on raising the level of discomfort of their users. These turned to be so fed up that more then just looking around, some of them started to work on alternatives, supporting whoever was providing a better internet experience.
Due to their virtually eternal dominant position, they disregarded their competitors for way too long. While these were improving the quality of their products, GUI, helping people to truly benefit from fast connections, IE kept on its inane path “We’re #1, present on all computer, we change on our terms“. Indeed, all new Windows laptops have IE installed. Though every time I’m in such a case, my first move is to launch it, install a concurrent and never open it again. Internet ExTroller? No thanks! And good luck Marketeers to change that…
My first adventure out was with Netscape. It allowed you already to see your code and interact immediately with it seeing the result on the browser. With all its innovations, I was spending ours on it as it allowed to truelly interact with the pages, using tabs and even interactions among users with a built-in chat. RIP and thanks for having helped in the rise of the fox.
Then it became my so loved Firefox by Mozilla. It’s changing, moving, though I have rarely been disappointed. I love the modularity of the extensions system. I also start learning my web development skills on that browser, working for many companies and NGOs.
I could use a browser that I would customise in order to suit my needs with the latest highly technological tools and tricks developped throughout the planet. This is close to perfect as my main use of this browser is to interact with my pages, get contents out of it.
They’re in a race now though for as long as quality will be there, I’ll be around.
Personal message: “You ought to have sticked to Google pals.”
Nowadays, Chrome is also among my favourite: sharing the place with Firefox. It has the same innovation spirit as the fox, is indeed fast and has even more ways to integrate awesome tools.
So far, I am intentionally keeping it free from extension, which make it a super vessel tool to navigate through the Internet. I like its reactivity and also the integration with Google features which enhance my collaborative mindset.
Personal message: “It’d have been nice to stick to Firefox and work it out together. ;)”
About the others? I am rather knowledgeable about them though never had to really interact with them for a long period of tume. I tried a few which disappeared, though stick not to just one but at least 2 slightly different philosophies about Web Navigation.
Among many things, I believe in sharing, collabartive work and learning. All this can be accelerated by interactions one can have with the world. A tool that helps you keep that connectivity as effortless as possible deserves my attention. The philosophy of the company running it also influence the choice as it tells you how the tool may be, not just look, like in the future. When innovation, customisation and positive mindset are connected one can do huge things, even beyond the “facebook” ovni.
I made my choices, and you…