I wonder when someone will come along and do a "Japanese car industry" on the browser industry, and for that matter, most of the software industry. Of course, you've all heard the joke that starts of with "If your car was made by Microsoft...", but think about it: Around 1980, European and American cars were crap. It was an adventure to go on a longer trip by car. Unless you were stupid, you'd bring the spare parts which experience had taught you failed frequently. Plus a box of tools, some gaffa tape and miscellaneous oils/fluids. Some times, you simply had to abandon the car at the road side.

Then came the Japanese, who built cars that might look boring (even strange), but could be depended on to start every morning and bring you to work and home, even when it was freezing. As a result, the whole industry has changed, and nowadays people expect never to open the bonnet (I forget what it's called in America. The bonnet? The hood? The engine lid?) of their car themselves.

Today, the issues that have been discussed in this thread have severely tainted the usability of browsers. Users expect their browser to choke after a couple of hours of surfing. Web page programmers swear at the difficulties trying to make their pages appear similar across platforms. The regular breakdowns of applications and OSs makes us shrug and reboot. Of course, it's hardly an adventure, but it calls for a tolerant mindset, and SHOULD NOT be expected from a household user appliance. Which is what especially Mac and Microsoft try to look like.

Just a thought. Nothing really useful.

jul"You know, I reckon one could make money on a bug-free browser"ian