It used to be “The Daddy” of web browsers and in reality it is probably now the Grandfather, but Microsoft Internet Explorer often gets a lot of bad press, particularly from the tech-savvy. Some possibly deserved, but whatever it’s faults and failures, the way we now use the web and enjoy functionality formerly in the realms of sci-fi films owes a massive thank you to Internet Explorer.
That’s we why though it important to share this blog by Nicholas C. Zakas. It is a thoughtful, well set-out piece about how Internet Explorer actually was the force of innovation for the internet.
There’s some really interesting points made, some more techie than others, but basically almost every browser you use now draws upon technology or processes first put into the public domain via Internet Explorer – such as Internet Explorer 3 being the first browser to implement Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). Even HTML5 draws from the browser developments introduced by Internet Explorer to form part of its big sell – drag-and-drop, rich text editing and clipboard access to name but three.
As Nicholas points out “While it’s easy and popular to poke [fun] at Internet Explorer, in reality, we wouldn’t have the web as we know it today if not for its contributions.” What is interesting to note is that the Bill Gates approach of saturating the market with Microsoft products that so often led to criticism probably played a massive part in the development of browsers and the web. In the modern era alive with news stories of this technology patent infringement and that potential law suit, it is also easy to forget that back in the day Microsoft didn’t saturate the patent book. That enabled others to adopt the technology and help develop it to where we are today.
Certainly a thought-provoking read.
