Firefox 3.1 raises the browser bar ... again
Competition is a good thing, and the way that Mozilla's Firefox and Google's Chrome have re-invigorated browser development will mean good a better web experience all round. — Let's be honest, Internet Explorer never really offered Firefox much of a challenge.
Context & Ripple Effects
Firefox’s 3.1 beta arrives after Mozilla publicly pushed back on Google’s browser speed test in September, making performance measurement part of the competitive contest rather than a background engineering detail. An earlier Firefox 3 beta assessment also framed Mozilla’s release process as a balance between new capabilities and product polish.
First-order effects
- Mozilla gains an early channel to put Firefox 3.1 in front of users and web developers, while Chrome gives Google a direct browser rival against which Firefox will be judged.
- Internet Explorer faces added pressure from two faster-moving challengers as browser features and performance become more visible points of comparison.
Second-order effects
- Mozilla and Google have an incentive to keep answering one another’s performance claims with tests, releases, and developer-facing features rather than allowing browser choice to rest on installed-base advantage.
- Web developers must account for a more actively changing set of browser capabilities as Firefox and Chrome compete to define a better web experience.
Third-order effects
- If this release cadence holds, browser competition shifts from occasional version upgrades toward a continuing contest over performance, features, and the web platform developers target.
The trend: The browser market is becoming a faster product cycle in which Mozilla and Google use performance and web-platform improvements to challenge Explorer’s relative inertia.