HTML and CSS Reference
In-Depth Information
Monopoly Power
HTML and JavaScript are in a particularly strong position due to their monopoly position in
the web browser, and the fact that web browsers exist for virtually all consumer computing
devices (from phones, to games consoles, to tablets and laptops, to PCs).
Until recently Micorsoft Windows held such a dominant position in operating systems that
it made sense for vendors to produce applications that worked only in Microsoft Windows.
Thanks to the explosion of hand-held devices, and the resurgence of Apple, this is no longer
the case. Many people now use 2 or 3 distinct operating systems on a daily basis:
• A Microsoft Windows PC at work
• An Adnroid mobile phone
• An OSX laptop at home
• An iOS based iPad
Increasingly users expect to use the same applications across all these devices, and for data
to be synchronised between the devices.
Web Applications written for web browsers offer enormous potentials in this area. Using the
languages outlined in this topic it is relatively trivial to write an application that runs on all
these platforms, and performs synchronization to each device via a central server.
Ironically, unless any vendor establishes monopoly power over devices the way Microsoft
did in the period from 1995-2005 it is unlikely that JavaScript and HTML will loose their
monopoly. This is partly because of the strengths of HTML5 and JavaScript, and partly be-
cause it is so difficult for multiple vendors to agree on a new set of technologies to replace
them.
