Why Microsoft must not add Tabs to Internet Explorer.
Firefox has changed the way I use my desktop. There are days together when I am not using any of the desktop apps other than say IM and Winamp, besides that most of the installed applications go pretty much unused. Makes me wonder, do I keep upgrading to the new OS release from Microsoft. Can Linux serve my purpose?
With wonderful tabbed browsing experience from FireFox, one tends to click on the
task-bar (which is meant for switching applications) less frequently. If browser is the only application one is being used, then why would one switch? In addition, the number of times a user goes to Windows “Start” menu or to the desktop goes down drastically. Users can read their mails on webmails, read RSS using aggregators like bloglines and do desktop publishing using blog post. So where does Microsoft figure in the scheme of things? Do we pay so much just to get browser apps and few other utilities running on one’s PC?
Tabbed browsing is a threat to Microsoft, which takes away user attention from the taskbar, to the browser tabs. This makes users do more on the internet via the browser. User start depending more on the browser and less on the OS for their daily needs, and the OS is no longer the center of their universe. Today users are driven back to the OS because various reasons like files being stored locally, most of the Microsoft applications run as desktop clients and users don’t great many choices today. If one gets an attachment via mail, which happens to be a zip file or a word doc, one is forced to use a desktop application to view it. We don’t have an option to view it online right now. But this is not going to be so for long and soon users can do lot of more without launching a client application. How long before somebody like Google launches Gdrive, integrates with an online word processor, spread sheet and power point viewer? This in my opinion is the biggest threat to Microsoft and Microsoft realizes that. How do they counter it?
By delaying the launch tabbed feature as long as possible and do it only they must. Dominating the browser and making sure the one used is your own. Plug-in other desktop applications within browsers, so users use the desktop applications more. Introduce features that make users use the windows taskbar, start menu etc rather than limit their attention span to browser tab. For example, grouping all browsers windows in XP, one is forced to use the task bar and subsequently one tends to use more desktop applications. Office live is going to play a critical role for Microsoft in the future and the smart people at Microsoft realize that more than anybody else. They can control the direction of technology to their advantage, as they did with the browser or lose their dominance to a web OS.
Update : Via Digg.com, came acrossed a new plugin for creating a virtual web-top within Firefox, more information here. We would be seeing more and more of this in the future, where FireFox is the center and drives all the click to various different applications.
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December 1st, 2005 at 6:28 pm
There is already tabbed browsing on IE. If you download the toolbar. Too late dude.
December 1st, 2005 at 6:33 pm
Yeah I know, I am talking about how it impacts them and why it took them 5 years to figure out that this could be good feature to have and finally add it.
December 1st, 2005 at 6:38 pm
To add to the point, browser is not critical to Microsoft’s revenue’s, infact too many innovations in browsers could really kill some of their desktop apps and best way to counter this is to control the browser market with your own browser. Make sure their is no new innovation in browser market which can impact your revenues. Why the hell would they risk a anti-trust case if they were not so sure netscape is a big challenge to their revenue stream from OS and desktop apps.
December 1st, 2005 at 8:32 pm
Very interesting article venkatesh, but it does not really hold true. Probably the impact might be true for only the very very few percentage of people who would use the pc only for browsing as they would switchon-stay(with tabbed browsing)-switchoff. The rest does switching applications, and probably thats the reason why every tool/application has a windows version
December 1st, 2005 at 9:21 pm
Hi Sunny,
1. Other than IM/Media, I don’t thing any great applications are client based. Look what Google did to maps or to gmail or what Yahoo is doing to Yahoo Mail. Now RIA is the standard and I don’t think anybody is thinking of client Apps. Industry is moving towards RIA and AJAX paradigm. Some of the greatest apps for the past 5 years are eBay, Yahoo, Amazon, Google and Wikipedia are running over the browser and some of the other innovations are going to be browser driven. What ever else is client based is free; nobody is going to buy a client based apps. IMs been around since start of internet and other than SKYPE nobody’s figured out how to make money out of it.
2. I am not denying we need client apps, but we do not need MS to run these applications. Why do you think Microsoft is launching office live, because they see that in future applications are going to be delivered over the web, not using clients? Please tell me one application other than Office and Norton Antivirus which you are FORCED to buy when you buy a PC? If you can get Office online then the only one left is Norton. So only way for Microsoft to make revenue is through OS. Now if I am not going to run MS office or outlook or any Microsoft propriety code , then why will I have too choose Microsoft ? I can use any other Free OS , if it were available(read linux) .
So you see, Microsoft loses it’s strangle hold over the two most profitable products, Office and OS. They can’t afford to lose money on this, since they are bleeding elsewhere.
From a developer’s perspective, like me, I cannot do without windows desktop, because I run my Development IDE on windows. So I agree with you on that. Corporate customers might still continue using it, but it just throws open the door for a new competitor to MS.
There are lots of other things , I guess I will post all my arguments in a separate post.
But I would appreciate your feedback.
Rgs,
Venkatesh
December 1st, 2005 at 11:08 pm
Yeah, as anonymous said, I’m running IE7.0beta and not only does it have tabs, it’s a darn interesting implementation of them, Venkatesh. I don’t think that it took MS five years because they couldn’t figure it out, but because they were simply complacent with the development point of IE6.0. Why? I dunno, IE6 is not a very good browser and has scads of gaping security holes.
On the other hand, if there’s one strategy that Microsoft has mastered, it’s letting smaller, more nimble companies innovate, then adopting those innovations in its flagship products. Like the integration of RSS in MSIE 7.0, and, yes, tabs.
December 1st, 2005 at 11:17 pm
Hi Dave,
That’s precisely the point I am trying to make. It does not take much to add a tab to browser and Netscape had tabs since 2001 i guess (not sure). So IE could have added it, but it didn’t since it is counter productive to them.
Regarding being complacent about IE, why did they become complacent when there was no Netscape and why a new release when there is firefox. No, I am not ready to believe they were complacent, but it was a strategy to not allow web based applications to take away the revenue from their desktop apps.
Now with Ajax and web2.0 paradigm, microsoft knows they have to change or they lose market. So they will adopt the new paradigm whole heartedly, and perhaps control the direction of technology as with browser.
That’s why the impetus towards office live and Windows.
Best
December 2nd, 2005 at 3:47 am
Venkatesh,
hmm, fine you have point. But why you think users would move to linux ? in my opinion it will make users not to upgrade their existing windows version and this will indirectly hurt microsoft as they might find it hard to convince users on the reasons on why they need to upgrade to the latest windows.
SunnyVijay.
December 2nd, 2005 at 1:51 pm
Sunny,
what is the life of a average desktop ? Or that of an average laptop. Just consider this, can you use the lincense (of MS OS and MS Office) of a notebook you had in 2000 for a new laptop you buy tommorrow? Does MS still support that version ? The answer is no. So I am bound to upgrade and buy new.
hence the point, there is an opportunity that new installs can be non-microsoft.
Another thing, do you pay to Gmail or yahoo when they add a new feature ? Today Gmail added Ant-virus, did you have to pay for it ? Why should one pay Microsoft when they are just improving something.
Ant-virus is the only field that needs constant updates and Microsoft is doing the right thing by entering into that field. They have to make sure they have steady revenue since they are into too many things and other units are basically bleeding.
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