Ask Me Tomorrow

In case you wonder where this week's title comes from, it's my standard answer to Microsoft's question "Where do you want to go today?" Just a dash of trivia I was reminded of the other day when reading an article.

A while ago I dabbled in a bit of speculation as to what the future held for Netscape and it's browser; Navigator / Communicator, in the light of the fact that version 6 had finally made it into production. If you missed it, you can find it under Just Browsing.

It just goes to show that nothing is predictable or set in stone when it comes to the Internet and anything associated with it... particularly browsers. There we were all quite convinced that the big guys would carry on as usual trotting out new versions at regular intervals each one bigger than the one before. Each one just a little more complicated than the last and with a slightly higher number in the sequence.

In the case of Netscape Communicator... 4.74... 4.75... 4.76... we could tell the seasons by the latest update offering.

Not so. Version 5 ends up as a no-show and we are jolted forward in our complacency to 6, and Glory Be it's a lot smaller.

At least we can depend on Microsoft and Internet Explorer to get us back into a familiar tempo... IE6 can't be far away, and that's bound to be bigger.

Wrong... maybe.

Which brings me back to the aforementioned article I'd been reading.

Microsoft debates future of IE 6.

The integration by MS of it's browser with Windows has used up a lot of writing and discussion time in the not too distant past as well as making it into the courts. I don't intend to put even more time on that particular clock but at least the browser is still available as a separate download and usable as a separate application... just like any other program I call up and use.

Personally I don't want my hard drive files to look like browser windows and in my case there will always be two quite separate computing worlds for me. My own personal system, with everything it contains, and then when I go on line there is the World Wide Web... which I want my computer to connect me to, not be part of.

Call me old fashioned, but for me it's far less confusing.

It now looks that while there will be a version 6 from the MS camp, there's doubt as to what it's name will be - Internet Explorer or possibly MSN (MIcrosoft Network) Explorer. It's by no means certain if it will be a separate program or even available to use with Windows... we may all have to upgrade to "Whistler", if we want to use it.

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