[Wolves] mozilla annoyances ? (Future of browsers)

[Chris Procter]

>
>I've read, here and there, that a new IE is in development. Does anyone 
>have any thoughts on how browsers are likely to go, in the short to 
>medium term?
>
iirc IE 7 is scheduled to appear with Longhorn and to be tied so closely
into the OS that it will be dubious to call it an 'application'.

<manifesto onRead="lightbulb.on();">

Browsers are heading into the mainstream. XUL allows you to build proper
user interfaces with mozilla using XML, and Microsoft seem to be heading in
the same direction with XAML for longhorn (their new wizzy XML based user
interface layout language) so in 5 years time the only difference between a
local app and a web application will be whether the business logic (for want
of a less pretentious term) runs on your local machine or somewhere out in
the ether (and with X-windows style network transparency even this line will
be blurry) rather then whether it uses "web technologies" or not, everything

All an apps interface will be described in XML and displayed in a browser
(or at least a window that renders XML the way browsers render html today,
no address bars needed), all acting as a front end to the c#/Java/c++/(add
your favourite language here!) type heavy lifting code which may or may not
be running locally (XML based GUIs can be downloaded just as easily as web
pages so why not put that dual proc. file server to some real use... you
could even combine the models and run a webserver locally).

I see html being a subset of a much larger user interface development
language kept around for backwards compatibility and to develop cross
platform lowest-common-denominator interfaces, useful during the next round
of browser wars fought over whose version of XML rules the roost (in the red
corner mozilla's XUL with low market share but cross platform/open source
goodness, and in the blue corner Microsoft's XAML with preinstalled with
windows type vast market share and added vendor lock in)

Which way is the browser going? Thin clients for the 21st century,
JavaScript and the DOM will inherit the earth.

</manifesto>

chris (whose thought a lot about this recently)

P.S. if anyone can think of a good way to get on this bandwagon before it
leaves the station I'm all ears!


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