Churchill Club podcast: The state of the browser
The latest installment of the Churchill Club podcast series zeroes in on browsers.
When the browser first came on the scene 17 years ago, it had a straightforward mission: display the content, mostly text, that was springing up on the newborn World Wide Web. Since then, browsers have been transformed into massive programs requiring speed, stability on multiple platforms, security, a great user interface, and the ability to manage an ever-growing array of plug-ins that are often complex programs in their own right. Competition among browsers has waxed and waned, but in 2008 it became red-hot again with the release of Mozilla’s Firefox 3, Apple’s Safari for Windows inclusion in iTunes and QuickTime updates, and, in September, Google’s beta release of Chrome.
A panel of experts ponder the next steps for browsing. The panel, moderated by Steve Wildstrom, Technology & You columnist for BusinessWeek, includes:
- Dean Hachamovitch, General Manager Internet Explorer, Microsoft
- Christen Krogh, Chief Development Officer, Opera
- Sundar Pichai, VP Product Management, Google
- Mike Shaver, VP Engineering, Mozilla