Are web browsers the Holy Grail of GUI standards?
Some people think so. Even some people who don’t sell browsers think so. 😉 But we don’t think so, because browser functionality is tailored to display HTML with some HTTP methods thrown in, and HTTP is a very narrow client/server protocol. Take the transport’s batch-mode nature, for instance. When a client fills out a form using a web browser, it’s an inert data entry screen, not much different from that on a 3270 green screen. Only when a batch of data is submitted does the system exhibit intelligence. That’s the paradigm PCs were invented to transcend. The question gets fuzzy, though, if we open the notion of “browsers” to include virtual machines (e.g., Java VM), script interpreters (e.g., JavaScript) and platform-specific components (e.g. ActiveX). These technologies, which augment standard HTTP on the client side, have a shot at Holy Graildom … market forces permitting. An interesting side question is which of two competing approaches to GUI unification will win. Netscape and
