5.10.2004

the blogger wars

when i was chatting with andre a few minutes ago, he mentioned that everything going on in the blogosphere is sort of echoing the browser wars. eventually, we started pairing up the browsers of the mid-90's with their contemporary blogging tools. the list below is a result of that rather goofy aim session.
  • blogger = internet explorer
  • movable type/typepad = mozilla/netscape
  • radio = opera
  • textpattern = omniweb
  • blosxom = amaya
  • livejournal = webtv aol browser
  • pitas = mosaic [via]
got another one to add? think we're way off? add a comment below and i'll revise the list as the public sees fit.

5 comments:

Andre said...

Let's hope not. Actually, IE is somewhat apt because Google acquired Blogger like Microsoft acquired Spyglass. Boy this is fun and I have a lot of time on my hands, yes.

Jason Cosper said...

yeah, i'm getting a lot of argument with the livejournal/webtv analogy - a lot of which is coming from my friends who use livejournal.

shall we say livejournal is like the built-in aol browser then?

leonard said...

What's interesting is that in many ways LJ remains heads and shoulders superior in (conceptual) functionality (publication control/veiling [also, see Joyce's paper last year on Semi-Permeable Blogging). In other ways it's sort of braindead, so maybe the AOL comparison isn't that far off. Certainly in the past the walled garden analogy may have been valid, but really, w/ TypeKey and Blogger-login based systems, well...

// These are definitely interesting foreshadowings of the type of digital identity/relationship management/personal content distribution convergence we'll bee seeing in the next couple of years.

// Err, anyway, I don't know if the browser war really maps at all except that these are proxy battles for larger 'conflicts'. Also, Microsoft has yet to step in the ring for real here.

// (urgh, still no line breaks? also, interesting that Blogger doesn't let you aggregate your own comments even though you have to go through their central ID system already.)

Jason Cosper said...

leonard: despite the fact that i sort of mocked livejournal by comparing it to the aol browser i do keep one. i do agree that in many ways it's a cut above a lot of the other blogging systems as far as ease of use goes. the journals that are kept there tend to be more personal, but i think that has to do with the built in comment system and privacy features. still, it tends to attract the more juvenile crowd - which is why i think it catches the heat it does.

Brad Rokosz said...

i'd like to add one: WordPress = Safari.