The Netscape vs Microsoft dilemma - in case you do not know - has to do with the fact that there are substantial differences between WWW browsers produced by Netscape and those produced by Microsoft.
Although it is safe to say that both are bad, the question of choice is still very important becasuse they are not equally bad. In any case the following question is on the agenda: which one of these browsers should you use ?
This question can be examined from various perspectives. We mention just two:
- From the view point of web surfers
- From the view point of persons developing web sites
Our discussion focuses exclusively on the second perspective.
The Netscape vs Microsoft dilemma is very important to us at WORMS because we wish our products and services to be as "browser-independent" as possible. Records show that in the OR/MS area, about half of the WWW surfers use Netscape browsers, the other half use Microsoft browsers, thus it is important for us to make sure that our web pages are fully compatible with these two types of browsers.
So far so good!
You may wonder at this point what is the purpose of examining this dilemma. Afterall, it is very unlikely that such a discussion will change in any significant way the browsers themselves!
So here is the explanation. It has two parts:
Obvious explanation
In many situations we do have "control" on the browsers used by our visitors. (eg. students using our labs)No so obvious explanation
In many application areas Microsoft browsers are much superior to Netscape browsers.The bottom line is this:
Unless Netscape puts its act together soon and substantially upgrades its support for Dynamic HTML - including JavaScript - we may have no choice but be forced to resolve the dilemma by abolishing our "browser-independent" policy.
Should we be forced to do so, some of our pages dealing with applications requiring Dynamic HTML will not be accessible to visitors using Netscape browsers.
Just in case this declaration may trigger a radical reaction by Netscape devotees, it would be useful to add the following:
Dear Netscape Aficionados
If you have any doubts regarding the major difficulties caused by Netscape's not providing yet full support for Dynamic HTML - including dynamic content - have a quick look at any comprehensive book on Dynamic HTML (eg. Danny Goodman's book).
Hopefully, the kids at Netscape will rectify this in the next major upgrade (version 5 ?). If not, then I suggest that you take 30 minutes of your time and check the differences between the support provided for DHTML by Netscape and Microsoft browsers.
In any case, please note that our decision to reconsider our future support for Netscape browsers has nothing to do with religion. It is based exclusively on technical considerations and our extensive attempts to develop "browser-independent" dynamic HTML applications.
If you have complaints, please do not send them to us but rather to Netscape's Head Quarters.
We shall reexamine this dilemma when Netscape releases its new browsers.