No, not developmentally-arrested Internet Explorer. But whatever Google decides.
Google is touted as developing a computing platform that ignores the operating system -- completing the work that Netscape began. Netscape is said to have failed, because they didn't accomplish their mission; but their idea of OS-independence lives on.
(The idea is to eliminate Microsoft from the equation by nullifying one of its primary advantges, Windows APIs. Microsoft's other advantage is its exclusive-install agreements with PC vendors, but that is being nullified as the world moves beyond PCs and onto cell phones, media players, digital cameras, and other non-PC devices. You can google for stuff on a PalmOS browser, a Mac browser, a Linux browser, and so on.)
There is no such thing as freedom. Become free of one, you become beholden to another; even anarchists are chained to their philosophy. So too with the promise of the browser freeing us from OS-dependency: we now become dependent on the browser. For proof, take an older Web browser to maps.google.com and you are reprimanded:
Your browser is not officially supported by Google Maps. We currently support the following browsers:
IE 5.5+ (Windows)
Firefox 0.8+ (Windows, Mac, Linux)
Safari 1.2.4+ (Mac)
Netscape 7.1+ (Windows, Mac, Linux)
Mozilla 1.4+ (Windows, Mac, Linux)
Opera 7.5+ (Windows, Mac, Linux)
Eventually, Google will find it inefficient to support six browsers and will "enhance the browsing experience" by supporting just one browser -- just like the many software vendors who dropped support for non-Windows operating systems over the last decade. At some point in the future, the rallying cry will become, "Free us from the browser monopoly!"
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