As founder and CEO of Stilesoft, Stiles has marketed the NetCaptor software as an IE browser for power users. NetCaptor, which uses Microsoft's IE rendering engine to provide browser tabs and other comparatively advanced features, has capitalised on the fact that IE hasn't gotten an all-around feature upgrade in more than three years.
"Historically, the slow pace of IE development has always been our greatest opportunity," said Stiles. "The reason I wrote NetCaptor in the first place was that I was frustrated with IE."
But now Stiles and other vendors of third-party browser applications that piggyback on the Microsoft browser are concerned that IE's widely noted stagnation may be proving as much a liability as an opportunity. The reason: Frustration with IE may be driving potential users to alternative browsers, especially the Mozilla Foundation's open source browser, Firefox.
That apparent trend has software developers including portal giant Yahoo and search king Google shifting away from an IE-only universe to a multibrowser strategy. Such plans may signal a turning point in the browser wars, indicating that the open-source development movement is succeeding in its efforts to thwart Microsoft's turning the Web into a one-browser shop.
"Yahoo is always evaluating new product platforms as users demand them," said a Yahoo spokesperson. "Yahoo Toolbar is available for Internet Explorer, and we're working with third-party open-source developers such as Mozilla to enable users of browsers such as Firefox to use our products."
Google representatives declined to be interviewed for this story. But the company's Web site acknowledges the demand for a non-IE toolbar and pledges to consider providing one.
"We decided to first release the Google Toolbar in Microsoft Internet Explorer," reads the site's frequently asked questions page. "We are examining the feasibility of offering a toolbar that is compatible with other browsers such as Netscape and Mozilla; however, this version is currently unavailable. We apologise for this inconvenience and will keep this suggestion in mind for future versions of the Toolbar."
While Stiles says NetCaptor downloads are still growing, and on any given day about 100,000 people use the application, the application's rate of growth has slowed noticeably.
"Firefox definitely has hurt," said Stiles. "We're definitely seeing people move in that direction. It's mostly anecdotal, when people write to me and say, 'I'm leaving, I'm going to Firefox.'"
The security factor
The reason most commonly cited in those defections, according to Stiles, is the factor that appears to be driving much of Firefox's momentum overall: security.
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