

Google launches WhatBrowser.org, talks web browsers for Mom and Dad - cscotta
http://www.whatbrowser.org/

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billybob
Maybe the best part is the big "you are using (browser) released (month
year)."

Most people have learned that, with computers, generally new is better than
old. Maybe some people will upgrade to a modern browser based solely on
wanting to be "with it." Imagine being told that your computer is running a
browser released in 2001. SO uncool. :)

Whatever works, I say.

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SkyMarshal
IE6 still has roughly a quarter of all browser market share. I'm sure Google
is hoping some of those people will visit their new site, see they're using a
browser released in 2003 or whenever, and decide to upgrade. Google
conveniently provides alternatives to IE 8 just below that. Clever.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_web_browsers>

~~~
FreeRadical
At work I'm forced to use IE6 :(

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lucasoman
I think the most conspicuous spin on the site is repeatedly calling the
browser "the most important piece of software on your computer." Google has
made it very clear that they intend to move computer use off of the desktop
and into the cloud.

Personally, though, I don't see a problem with it. They're right--the world is
moving that direction. They're just smart enough to see it.

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sahaj
_talks Chrome for Mom and Dad_

no they don't! they talk BROWSER for Mom and Dad.

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cscotta
Thanks, Sahaj - just updated the title.

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jlees
I like how it's pretty egalitarian and even (gasp) gives IE as an option.
Clearly they want to move away from it, but it's nice that it's not yet-
another-anti-IE site. Hopefully education like this will help people make more
informed decisions. Certainly going to try it on my granny, who understands
what specific different programs (email, Skype) are but hasn't quite got the
web browser part down yet. Next step: explaining what a web _site_ is...

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catch23
I'm all for IE if they at least push for IE8.

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cgs
Well, if it helps people stop referring to browsers as "the internet," I'm all
for it.

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RyanMcGreal
I predict that this image:

<http://www.whatbrowser.org/img/browser-timeline.png>

linked from the site here:

<http://www.whatbrowser.org/more/>

will not be of much use to people who refer to their browsers as "the
internet".

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natch
The number one concern naive users express to me is that by "switching"
browsers they are giving up their current browser. Because of this concern,
they are not willing to try another browser. They say "things work well enough
now. I don't really have any big complaints. It's fast enough. I don't have a
reason to switch."

Notice that word again, "switch."

This key flaw in the mental model of naive users, the idea that installing a
new browser absolutely requires them to switch, is not addressed in the Google
video.

Of course, yes, switching likely will happen if they ever get past the step of
trying a better browser. But they get hung up on their misconception that
there is no trial period, no opportunity to ease into the new browser.

I wish anyone doing these campaigns, whether Google or Mozilla, would notice
this issue and address it. Instead the campaigns seem to be designed from a
geek's perspective of what we geeks think the problem might be, rather from
the users' perspectives of what the users' perceived problems are.

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pgbovine
by 'switching' and trying Firefox/Chrome/etc., they are giving up the
bookmarks, toolbars, and whatever other customizations they've downloaded and
installed on their browser (presumably IE since that's the default that non-
geeks use on Windows) ... sure, they could export their bookmarks, re-download
toolbars, etc., but that's costly for a non-geek.

~~~
derefr
Everything nowadays imports bookmarks automatically (though it doesn't keep
them synched once it has them.) Also, I don't know anyone that "customizes"
IE—most people just accidentally install a toolbar or two while installing,
for example, the JRE.

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willwagner
Why do you suppose they used cartoonish icons for the browsers like firefox
and opera? Is it just to make it look more friendly to a naive user?

I assume it has nothing to do with any sort of trademark issues but I've
wondered what the limitations are for using those icons on a website (for
instance, a "Best Viewed By These Browsers" box).

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charliepark
I think it's an interesting site, but I'm not totally sure why Google made it.
There are plenty of other "upgrade" sites already out there. Maybe they felt
that none were simple enough? I also wonder about the placement of the "under
the hood" section. If I were them, I'd make that a little more hidden. Seems
like it could intimidate and drive away Mom and Dad.

Out of curiosity, when you click on the "try a new browser" button at the
bottom, do you get Opera, Firefox, and Safari? In the source code, IE and
Chrome are both display:none'd.

I'm using Firefox 3.5, on a Mac.

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froggy
IE6 and IE7 are a major roadblock to Google's vision of the future web, since
next-gen Google applications can't work well in those browsers, ie. Google
Wave and Javascript-rich apps. Ultimately they want to get people away from IE
and into a different browser, preferably Chrome, so they can increase their
web dominance.

~~~
ams6110
I speculated years ago that Microsoft's long-term vision was to eliminate the
browser. I think they wanted a world where people ran fat .NET clients
delivered via one-click deployment.

Interesting to see now that the browser continues to be the application
"container" and javascript the implementation language for applications. And
the alternatives and challenges to IE have continued to grow.

Wonder if Microsoft regrets not maintaining IE for the Mac, and their even
older *nix port.

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NathanKP
From the video: _The most important program on your computer is your browser_

What about text editing, programming IDE's, etc. People just assume that the
web browser is the most important these days.

That said I do approve of Google's movement to make the browser more known. It
makes a lot of sense and I remember when they were first talking about the
fact that most people don't even know what a web browser is. That's sort of
surprising, and I guess they are trying to remedy that.

~~~
pwmanagerdied
I don't think that's really a fair criticism. This isn't aimed a technical
audience, and the vast majority of computer users don't even have a clue what
an IDE is. I'd guess that the majority of time spent on computers today is
spent in web browsers, which would to justify their statement.

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NathanKP
I guess that is true. Most people just use their computers for emailing or web
browsing. Even regular text editing is done less because people don't send as
many physical letters, instead they send emails.

Still it seems a little bit of a stretch to say that the browser is the most
important program on your computer. But that's my opinion obviously.

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felipe
They want to teach people about web browsers, as long as they convert to
Chrome. Note the Analytics UTM params on the Chrome link in the "What Browser"
page.

Yeah, very ".org" and altruistic...

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lucasoman
Um, why wouldn't they want to track traffic to their own website?

I don't think my mom will be looking at the variables in the query string. As
for the actual information on the site, it's very even-handed and doesn't seem
to favor one browser over another. If anything, Firefox--not Chrome--may be
the center of attention more than any other.

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davecap0
the funny thing is that nobody actually cares what a browser is...

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DrJokepu
I suppose the point of this site is to change this mentality. As it is
mentioned in the related Google Blog post, you care about what a car is and
most people spend more time using a browser than in their car, so why not care
about browsers?

