djst's nest » microsoft

Five years ago, Firefox was born

David Tenser — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:59:07 +0000

When I blogged about the launch of Firefox 1.0 five years ago, I knew it was a big day that we would look back at in the future. However, I would be lying if I said back then that I knew what kind of impact Firefox would have on the web as a whole.

Five years ago, you couldn’t choose what type of computer of device you wanted to use to browse the web because all websites were designed to work with IE on Windows. Something as basic as surfing from your mobile device — we take this for granted today — was completely out of the question. Microsoft was in full control of the Internet and your web experience.

This all changed when Firefox was released on November 9th 2004. Finally, web developers could design web sites according to standards instead of designing them to work for IE. Finally, users could experience web sites the way they were meant to be. Finally, the web was accessible to everyone.

In a nutshell, Firefox is the reason why we can surf the web using our iPhones, Linux netbooks, or OpenSolaris PCs.

Firefox set the web free.

Microsoft – Making it easier

David Tenser — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:28:34 +0000

Remember back in 1984, when people were using Word to compose their e-mail messages that were sent around to colleagues and friends? We’ll chances are people will keep doing that in 2014 as well.

We’ve made the decision to continue to use Word for creating e-mail messages because we believe it’s the best e-mail authoring experience around, with rich tools that our Word customers have enjoyed for over 25 years. Our customers enjoy using a familiar and powerful tool for creating e-mail, just as they do for creating documents.

The Power of Word in Outlook

How do you want your e-mail experience to look like in the next five years? If you think Microsoft is on the right track, take no action. If you think they should switch to modern standards, send a tweet asking Microsoft to improve standards support and make sure you include fixoutlook.org in your tweet.

Or just switch to a better e-mail program.

Thanks, Microsoft, for proving Mozilla’s relevance on the Internet

David Tenser — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 16:29:39 +0000

Part of Mozilla’s Manifesto:

The Internet is a global public resource that must remain open and accessible.

Part of Microsoft’s “Ten Grand Is Buried Here” campaign (emphasis added):

If you’re the first to locate the buried ten grand, you keep it.

How will you know if you’ve found it? It’s a cleverly concealed webpage that only Internet Explorer 8 can view. When you find it, it’ll be obvious that the $10,000 is yours.

Microsoft is still dreaming of that world of the past where the Internet was controlled by one company and accessible only from one platform, owned by that same company. Sorry, Microsoft, but I’d rather be without your ten grands and have an open web.

(Thanks to Patrick for pointing this out.)