Browser Wars Flare Again, This time on Little Screens~~By CLAIRE CAIN MILLER

Browser Wars Flare Again, This time on Little Screens

By CLAIRE CAIN MILLER

　　SAN FRANCISCO ─ Web browsers have become a crucial business for tech companies like Google and Microsoft. That is because they are now the entry point not just to the Web but to everything stored online, like Web apps and photos.
　　And as the cloud grows more integral, both for businesses and people, the browser companies are engaged in a new battle to win our allegiance that will affect how we use the Internet.
　　It's an echo of the so-called browser wars of the 1990s, when Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator fought for dominance hon the personal computer. This time, though, the struggle is shaping up to be over which company will control the mobile world ─ with browsers on smartphones  and tablets. Entrenched businesses are at stake. Google's browserbased business apps, for instance, threaten Microsoft's desktop software, and mobile Web apps threaten Apple's App Store.
　　“Twenty years ago, we didn't know how the Internet was going to get used by people, and we for sure didn't know about mobile or tablets,” said Marc Andreessen, a founder of the first major browser, Netscape Navigator. “Mobile is a whole new level of reinvention, so it feels like we're in the most fertile time of invention since the early'90s.”
　　Browser give Web companies more control over how people use their products, and data about how people use the Web. Fasterbrowsing leads to more Web activity, which leads to more revenue for Web companies.
　　Google's Chrome browser, for example, makes Google searches faster and simpler because people can enter search queries directly into the address bar. And its apps ─ like Gmail, Drive for file storage and Docs for word processing ─ are all accessible through any browser.
　　In the biggest disruption to the market in 15 years, Chrome last spring toppled Internet Explorer as the most popular browser in the world. It now has 36 percent of the golbal market, while Internet Explorer's share has dived to 31 percent.
　　“Suddenly now, the browser has become the interface for the cloud more broadly, not just for traditional Web sites,” said David B. Yoffie, a professor at Harvard Business School.
　　In their search for dollars, browser companies are redesigning their products to follow consumers to mobile devices, social networks and cloud-based apps.
　　For exampls, new mobile browsers let people swipe through tabs with their fingers, automatically resize or zoom in on Web pages so they fit a phone's screen and load pages faster than older mobile browsers. Some also sync with other devices, so things like most-visited Web sites, passwords and credit card numbers are available everywhere.
　　Technologists say that mobile browsers will improve when HTML5, the new set of tools for designing Web sites that has been in development for years, becomes pervasive. That is because its technologies enable Web sites to be as functional and visually rich as apps are today, with features like advanced video or the ability to read a Web site offline.
　　Browser companies say their goal is to do their job well enough that people forget about the browser. “People don't care that much about browsers,” said Ryan Gavin, general manager for Internet Explorer. “They only care about what's on the Web.”

中譯：
「小螢幕上陣  瀏覽器開火」

　　對谷歌和微軟這些高科技公司而言，網頁瀏覽器已成為一項至關重要的業務。這是因為現在瀏覽器不僅是網路的入口點，更是儲存在線上的一切東西的入口點，如網路應用程式與照片。
　　無論對企業或個人而言，雲端技術都日益整合，瀏覽器公司也隨之展開了一場爭取用戶忠誠度的戰爭，從而影響用戶的網路使用。
　　這是繼1990年代爆發所謂瀏覽器大戰之後的戰爭再臨，當時「網路探索者」與「網景領航員」為搶奪個人電腦市場而展開一場爭霸戰。而這次戰爭則是為奪取行動世界的控制權，勝者將在智慧手機與平板電腦使用的瀏覽器上稱王。例如，以谷歌瀏覽器為基礎的商業應用程式與微軟的桌上型電腦軟體勢不兩立，而行動網路應用程式也令蘋果的應用程式商店飽受威脅。
　　成功開發第一個重大瀏覽器「網景領航員」的網景公司創辦人安德森說：「20年前，我們不了解人們會如何使用網路，當時我們對行動通訊(手機)或平板電腦自然也一無所知。手機是個全新的再發明，因此感覺上，我們正處於90年代初期以來最豐碩的發明時期。」
　　瀏覽器讓網路公司更能控制人們如何使用他們的產品，並取得更多關於人們如何使用網路的數據資料。瀏覽速度變快可使網路活動增多，為網路公司帶來更多收入。谷歌的Chrome瀏覽器即為一例。它讓谷歌的搜尋更快、更簡便，因為使用者可將搜索查詢直接輸入網址列。它的一些應用程式，如Gmail信箱、儲存文件的Drive、負責文字處理的Docs，都可經由任何瀏覽器取得。
　　去年春天Chrome將網路探索者從寶座上踹下，成為全球最受歡迎的瀏覽器，演出15年來最大一次市場篡位。目前Chrome全球市占率達36%，網路探索者的市占率則跌至31%。
　　哈佛商學院教授約費說：「突然間，瀏覽器變成是更廣大的雲端的介面，不再僅是傳統網路的介面。」
　　為追求獲利，瀏覽器公司正重新設計產品，以追隨消費者進入行動裝置、社交網絡、以雲端為基礎的應用程式中。
　　例如，新的行動瀏覽器可讓使用者以手指進行水平移位，自動放大縮小或拉近推遠網頁以符合手機螢幕尺寸，以及下載網頁速度較舊式行動瀏覽器為快。有些瀏覽器還可與其他裝置同步，以便隨時隨地取得自己最常進入的網站、密碼、信用卡號碼。
　　技術專家指出，當HTML5變得十分普及時，行動瀏覽器將獲得進一步改善。HTML5已開發多年，是用來設計網站的一套新工具。因為HTML5的技術可讓網站變得和現今的應用程式一樣，不僅功能強大而且視感豐富，具備先進的視頻或是離線瀏覽某一網站的功能。
　　瀏覽器公司說，他們的目標是把他們的工作做到盡善盡美，讓使用者忘了瀏覽器的存在。網路探索者總經理賈文說：「人們並不怎麼關心瀏覽器，只在乎網路上有些什麼。」