Berst Alert!

Monday, February 3, 1997 by Dave Winer.

Gooood Afternooooon.

Check out the Alert! on Jesse Berst's AnchorDesk website.

http://www5.zdnet.com/anchordesk/story/story_665.html

Hey I like the name Berst, it's a great one. It's even better followed by an alert!

So, Berst says that IBM's Lotus division is thinking about becoming the third browser company, after Netscape and Microsoft. He thinks it's a ridiculous idea.

I disagree 

The two browser companies have their hands full trying to blow each other out of the water. There's a big hole between them, one that could be filled with a browser that displays HTML, of course, and something else...

What else? Something that could be totally customized by people who aren't of the ilk to write applets in Java or plug-ins in C++, but who are ready to move beyond HTML. I think there are a lot of people in this boat.

Cascading style sheets are boring. Java is difficult. JavaScript is limited, some would say crippled. Shockwave is just Director. Layers are for graphic designers.

The geeks want some new toys. Please!

A flipped-around browser would be wonderful to play with. Microsoft and Netscape have promised to make this possible, with libraries that display web content in any app, but their promises haven't come to fruition.

No lock-in yet 

Browser users could still turn over, no one is really locked in to one or the other. Given six more months of boring stuff from MS and NS, something exciting could come from a company with a strong reputation and a great name, like IBM.

There are a ton of compelling applications for an open browser. I find myself scanning the net now for other browsers. Waiting and waiting. I'm bored with Microsoft and Netscape. It's time for something more.

Berst says the world revolves around Gates and Andreessen. In their dreams it does. The web is what's happening, not the companies. Watch, people are going to get tired of the corporate games. There's room for something new.

Dave Winer

PS: Please don't tell me the answer is Cyberdog! No way.

PPS: My news page has moved to http://www.scripting.com/. Please update your bookmarks. Thanks!