Gartner pitches browser coexistence

The Mozilla Foundation's Firefox browser got off to an incredible start sinceits release in early November 2004, but growth is driven by factors that are not inherently sustainable, according to Gartner. According to a report (reg. required) published today, the analyst firm advises companies to consider ways to manage browser coexistence because that is the most likely long-term outcome:

Browser wars will heat up to the extent that Microsoft permits this to happen, intentionally or unintentionally. Microsoft is the major force that determines the outcome, despite other vendors' agendas for the near term. If it does not respond, then a critical threshold eventually will be breached in market share. Concerns about security currently favor Mozilla Foundation's Firefox, but the market tide can shift if security breaches result from increased usage of Firefox.

Microsoft must deliver an improved version ofits browserin Longhorn if it is to "determine the outcome" of the browser war.