Head in the Clouds

In a recent post Dave Winer posits that browsers are feature complete. The reason, he suggests, that people don’t update is because there just isn’t anything interesting left to add. In one sense he is right. The browser that’s had the most traction recently is Chrome which made a point of taking things away rather than adding them. However, Winer’s piece reads more as a justification for automated updates than a true closing of the book on browser development.

Here’s the problem: The web is far from feature complete (and may never be).

HTML5 is being used today but many of it’s parts aren’t implemented yet. CSS3 is a mish-mash of vendor specific tags and syntax yet to be standardized. WebGL is still very much a pipe dream. New kinds of experiences can be delivered through the “lens” of the browser when these technologies are available. This is where browser development must focus it’s energy, not on chintzy UI features, social integration, and bookmark syncing.

New standard support will not prompt an upgrade, but what does? Users are lazy and updates often require downloads, several dialog boxes (plug-in update and etc.), password clearance, and a browser restart (only slightly better than an OS restart). Chrome has made the process nearly seamless. Close your browser and the next time you start it you have the next version. They don’t have to market Chrome 13 and hence don’t have to have flashy features. Instead they can simply support more of the technology that makes the web an awesome platform to build on.