Printable View
I had a little debate today... I seemed to be the only one saying the internet would still be here even if Mcft did not require pcs to ship with IE. My debators argued that the Internet would not be the same, and only "geeks" could access it. One even suggested we would still be using BBSes.
What do you think?
The Internet would still be here yes but like it was in 1996! I don't know if you remember this or not but the INTERNET sucked ass in 1996! Dial up access ONLY, BBS Boards/systems, the sucky ass email clients, (pine, elm, mail, etc...) not to mention the generic ass looking web sites from back then. Also, not as many users would be online; only people who would be online back in 1996 would be geeks, college students, universities, military personal etc...Quote:
I had a little debate today... I seemed to be the only one saying the internet would still be here even if Mcft did not require pcs to ship with IE.
Of course it would not be the same. However, I do have to disagree with only "geeks" could access it. Who ever suggested we would still be using BBS if it wasnt for "Microsoft" needs to be shot in the face.Quote:
My debators argued that the Internet would not be the same, and only "geeks" could access it. One even suggested we would still be using BBSes.
What do you think?
Sure, Mircosoft plays its role in the whole computer world but lets be honest A great deal of support for the Internet community has come from the U.S. Federal Government, since the Internet was originally part of a federally-funded research program to begin with. As far as Microsoft goes phuck Microsoft.
Actually I remember instances where M$ did things that would hurt the development of the internet.
They didn't like the W3 standards and tried to change those, they didn't like Java and dragged their heels on that, they tried to kill the other browsers....
OK This is my personal view, and is based on my experiences only...........
Back then (1996) I used a 28.8 dial-up................ we were paying "per minute" for access time, so you were limited more by your ISP and Telco terms, than by your OS or browser.
Over here, we still have "newsgroups" which are the follow on from Bulletin Boards............. great places to trade copyright materials......... and the RIAA haven't worked it out yet?
Like I go to a friend's and we watch AC/DC "Stiff Upper Lip Live"............. he didn't buy it :rolleyes:
If M$ hadn't made their move, Apple would be the norm, and PC's would be for weirdos and geeks? :D
Hell! I was using Netscape back then?
And don't forget Acorn and the RISC OS...............
M$ didn't create the internet as we know it, or even contribute..............they just cornered the OS market, which is why they fall for any anti-trust legislation going :cool:
My take on it all is that it would be the same internet, only the names of the billionaire exploiters would change;)
well, one thought that occured to me was "if windows didn't come with IE how would I download firefox?"
answer - it would just be on all the software shelves. Either a freebie like those wonderful AOL disks or perhaps even something you have to pay extra for like office.
The big hassle here is getting connected not choosing the browser. Hell, most people aren't aware there is a choice. So maybe, not shipping with IE would give a more even market distribution to the browsers at one time. But MS seem to be going for an "out of the box" solution, which my laziness admires.
Lets face it, rebuilding a PC is already a long process - windows disk, driver disks, service pack, software....
if I have to make it windows disk, driver disk, service pack, browser, calculator, doodling program, firewall, telnet client....all from seperate disks from seperate providers its a lot more hassle. Don't get me wrong, I haven't looked back since I installed firefox but it is nice to just put the one disk in and have most of what I need too. Even more so for your average user. They don't really care about the difference between firefox and ie.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ngboot
I'm with you on this one. The www was invented by a brit named Tim Berners-Lee, not Microsoft.
MS might've helped to make desktop OS's accessible and user-friendly, but the internet is such a powerful tool that it would be flourishing with or without them.
Actually, you would have likely used an FTP client, a gopher client or a WAIS client. The Internet is not WWW. That's one part of it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Aardpsymon
I actually liked some parts of how things were in 1996 (or rather when I first got online to it in 1994). I liked that there were different applications for each protocol rather than the bloatware of today. I liked that the chatrooms were actually interesting. I read through most newsgroups and found tonnes of information. But I think the thing I love most: NO ADVERTISING!
I swear, the two worst things that came out of the push to make the Internet a general access network was advertising (and thus, in turn, spam, phishing, spyware, etc.) and HTML email (my biggest pet peeve -- USELESS). The reality is that because there was a push to make it more "user friendly" meant that there were more people who wanted to do something, who learned that something needed to be done and figured out what needed to be done.
I know this isn't going to be a popular view, but IE was a ground-breaking program at that time. The 1st (and still the only) browser integrated with the OS, which could function as an FTP program, a browser, and morph seamlessly into windows explorer for local file surfing, and back. Unfortunately that very integration is what helped make it such a security risk, but greater possibility always invites greater risk.
So yes, I do think IE did aid in the overall growth of the web.
If IE wasn't built into the OS, then every ISP would have a browser on there set-up disk. So if you wanted to get internet access you wouldn't need a browser until you had an account with an ISP who would provide you with the necessary software.
But then we'd all be stuck in the same hell as AOL users, and juno users, etc. Forced to use whatever software the ISP shoves at ya.
I'm not sure that if I had been FORCED to use a browser like netscape navigator early on, that I would've developed the same interest I have now.