Firefox v. IE: an AOL View, pt 3

[continued... read part 2 first]

b) Firefox is more standards compliant
Again, yes.

Unfortunately, I think this is largely (though not entirely) a non-factor for two reasons:
(1) Our priority is to our customers and consumers first, the industry second. Making things easier for developers ranks below making them WORK for our members. Remember that all of our efforts succeed only on the backs of their clicks.
(2) Compatibility is FAR more important than compliance.

Oh wait, that’s the same point.

Forunately, Microsoft is doing a lot to improve IE’s compliance in this regard, though they are (somewhat) limited by the higher goal of broad compatibility. And there's part of the benefit for AOL - let the OS take care of the guts - we'll do the application. If we did a Mac version of AOL Explorer, we'd use WebKit (which powers Apple's Safari browser).

Its not clear what "standards" means from a consumer context - I'd argue it means "compatibility".


c) Firefox provides a better experience/is more powerful
Note that I did NOT say that Firefox is faster or leaner or faster or leaner. It is faster at some stuff, but IE performs better at others. Over time, though, I do expect the balance to tip more in favor of Firefox, if Microsoft can't stop the slide of developers in particular - there will be a natural tendency to optimize for the platform on which you are developing...

...But I digress...

If we’re not talking about security, standards, or speed, we’re no longer talking about the browsing ENGINE - we’re now discussing the browser as a PRODUCT, when we say "better experience/more powerful".

I mean, if you were REALLY serious about security, standards, or speed in your browsing engine - why, you’d be advocating Opera. I know I did.

Its free.
And cross-platform.
And light-weight.
And more secure than Firefox
(i.e. there are degrees of security: its not a black and white issue)

Unfortunately, the code's not available (we asked :)), and there are other issues, as well - but if these are the things that move you, YOU should go get it!

But in terms of IE vs. Firefox, that leaves me with...


d) Firefox is cooler
Indubitably. No arguments there. Heck, its practically a religion - though that comes with its own baggage. And there is a wonderful and valid romanticism to its story.

But we’re AOL - the moment we touch it, its not really that cool, is it? We have to compete on features and the product itself.

Now, Firefox DOES has some very nice features, both novel (new) and those appropriated from competitors/predecessors (enhancements), much like any good product.

And perusing the FEATURED feature list from their homepage:
- A Better Web Experience
- Faster Browsing
- Automatic Updates
- Tabbed Browsing
- Improved Pop-up Blocking
- Integrated Search
- Stronger Security
- Clear Private Data
- Live Bookmarks
- etc.

Additionally, the Mozilla Foundation has done a fantastic job with the developer community and extensions, generally, and I hope that we have the scale to entice developers at that level.

But that aside... Hmm... that list could be the marketing pitch for pretty much every browser EXCEPT Internet Explorer...

Oh wait, never mind. [IE 7 link]

It'd be nice if there were even more relevant features you could provide, if you had a nice browser whose destiny and experience you controlled - value you could deliver to you customers, and recirculation you could generate within your network of services...

Oh wait, never mind. [AOL Explorer 1.5 beta link]

OK, I'm being a little facile - but whatever you think of our desire to do our own browser, and whatever you may think of its feature set, that has little bearing on our choice of underlying browsing technology.

Yes, Firefox has some really good product features. I think we've done OK in that regard, too.


So... Punchline:
What I'm getting to is this: when I measure on any axis that I think really matters to end users (other than the "chase the buzz" one... :P), choice of browsing engine is not nearly as important (as always, IMHO) as the features and benefits the product itself delivers - as opposed to the display technology.

[It DOES however, matter to developers - though one could argue a one browser world would be nice for developers; perhaps its just a debate of WHICH browser it should be? :P]

Firefox's browser engine, though more robust, is also still young. As it stabilizes (development-wise) and matures a bit (on top of XULRunner for example) we'll be watching. And if, over time, the fundamentals of browsing ENGINES changes meaningfully, then perhaps we'll revisit and revise our choice here. Fortunately, our platform work makes even an engine switch (relatively) straightforward - AOL Explorer really is a browser "skin" more than a "browser" in the usual sense...

For now, though, compatibility (and alignment with the OS) trumps the other percieved benefits. And that really is a big deal.

Compatibility is pretty much the biggest reason I (personally) kept giving up on Opera, back in the day - not enough sites worked. Firefox has done a better job at both evangelism and balancing the tradeoffs, and more and more, with Safari on the Mac and Firefox everywhere else ... well, we'll see. I wish them well.

Microsoft has made a (pretty good) business and priority of delivering robust APIs and services - and betting against them on technology infrastructure just doesn't seem to have a compelling business case behind it - for the company, or (more importantly) for our users (for example, its nice that they don't have to "import" favorites - their favorites are just their favorites). And whatever the reason, Microsoft is really working hard to make IE 7 a lot better for web developers.

[ALTHOUGH, there is a bit of karma that those of you who both hate Microsoft (and maybe AOL) but love Firefox (I know: what an ODD overlap!) will find appropriate. It's currently at play in our relationship with them with regards to the development of IE 7 features -I'll share that in a future post, at some point, as I've rambled on waaaay too long already.]

All that said (and all snarkiness aside), I should reiterate that I really do believe that Firefox is a fine product that fully deserves the accolades it has received. It is genuinely good for the industry and end users alike to have it continue to have it do well in the marketplace.

I just don't think its browsing engine makes sense for AOL Explorer.