The coming browser wars and why they will be interesting

I have been reading about how IE7 will be more secure than previous versions. My thoughts: too little too late.

Bruce Schneier has a nice wrap up of the new security features in IE7. They are all good, unfortunately (for Microsoft) they require Vista and essentially remove the ties between IE and Windows, once again leveling the playing field for other browsers.

In the meantime, Opera and Firefox have added significant functionality, in particular, widgets and extensions. There are a number of Firefox extensions focused on increasing security. Opera has had the fewest security related bugs of any browser. Opera is adding Widgets to 9.0 and has plug-in capabilities.

The ability to add functionality via widgets and extensions will allow Opera and Firefox to rapidly add functionality, sometimes targeting the masses, sometimes smaller markets that will add up to larger markets (the so-called "longtail"). If this added functionality can be done without a corresponding loss in relative security, then IE will see a drastic drop in market share.

There is also the possiblity of the market splintering. Already there are speciality browsers apprearing based on the Firefox architecture. Ubrowser and Songbird are two that came to my attention just this week.