The paragraph that takes the cake is the following:
There’s nothing particularly bad about the current state of browser technology–that is if you are frozen in a time warp, circa 1999. Internet browser design stopped being interesting years ago. That’s simply because Microsoft no longer faces any challenge that forces it to innovate. If Microsoft were still trailing behind Netscape, Internet Explorer would be a far better product. That’s what competition’s all about. If the forward and back arrows constitute the last stage in Internet browser interface design, then we’re an awfully sorry lot.
All this paragraph proves to me is that Charles Cooper hasn’t even tried other browsers. Before you bemoan the lack of innovation in the browser space, Charles, maybe you should try actually using a browser besides Internet Explorer for Windows.
You want better “breadcrumb”-style back navigation? Try SnapBack in Safari. You want better “threaded” navigation? Try tabs in Phoenix, Mozilla, Chimera, Galeon, NetCaptor, CrazyBrowser, Opera, Epiphany, or Konqueror. Sophisticated ad blocking? Try Mozilla or OmniWeb. Popup blocking? Safari, Mozilla, Phoenix, etc. How about smart searches using bookmark keywords? Typeahead find in Mac IE or Mozilla? Link prefetching? QuickSearch in History and Bookmarks? Bookmark groups using tabs? Tab home pages? How about the sophisticated user controls of Opera? What about site navigation controls in Mozilla and Opera?
From Opera’s page zoom to Omniweb’s bookmark scheduling to Phoenix’s popup whitelisting to the Web services support in Mozilla, browser makers are innovating everywhere! The problem is not that we, the browser makers, aren’t innovating. The problem is that you apparently aren’t using the browsers we produce.
a multi-tasked stream of consciousness or perhaps just emails to myself