Battle of the Browsers

Microsoft's ubiquitous Web browser, Internet Explorer, has scored some headlines this week, though not necessarily positive. Only a week after Nextgov editor Allan Holmes posted a blog about State Department employees demanding Firefox, a popular IE alternative, Federal News Radio's Jason Miller reports about complaints from federal grant applicants frustrated by the Grants.gov portal, which doesn't support Firefox or Google's new browser, Chrome.

This is not an issue only in government. I find myself having to switch from Firefox to IE frequently, whether to upload pictures to KodakGallery, an online digital photo service, or even to access most of our company intranet services. And when taking advantage of the webinar option for listening to hearings on the Hill, IE is the only browser that loads the streaming video.

Are the other options inferior, technically speaking? Not at all - some might say the opposite, in fact. Instead, government and industry alike just need to catch up, and realize that lack of alternatives -- whether the result of one company squashing or buying out the competition or agencies and corporations simply denying access -- is, by definition, a monopoly.