An interesting “war of words” has developed between Microsoft’s Chris Wilson, Internet Explorer (IE) platform architect, and Brendan Eich, creator of JavaScript, now chief technology officer at the Mozilla, according to a blog post by WhatPC?’s Tim Anderson. This sparring may illuminate Microsoft’s next tactic to try and control (or eliminate) browser-based applications that threaten its increasingly vulnerable stranglehold on the desktop. It also illustrates how easily Web developers might sidestep Microsoft’s tactics. Anyone in the IT industry over the last decade has seen Javascript grow into a powerful scripting language for the Web, and a fundamental driver behind apps like Google Docs. The Javascript way – client-side scripting – has been quietly evolving, with updated languages like Jscript and EcmaScript. The next major evolution of scripting is on the way in the form of EcmaScript 4, which was developed by a cross-industry consortium, including representatives from Microsoft. EcmaScript 4 offers enterprise class features, such as broader support for object oriented programming (adding classes and interfaces similar to the methods used by Java) and an improved type system. But client-side scripting is only as good as the applications that execute it, notes Anderson:
…who will implement EcmaScript 4? Adobe is keen, but mainly in the context of its proprietary Flash runtime, where it is called ActionScript. Mozilla is keen, and has plans to evolve browser applications to run at the speed of native code, through a just-in-time compiler shared with Adobe, and to blur the boundaries between browser and desktop by enabling web applications that run from desktop shortcuts and without typical browser furniture.
But in true we’d-rather-be-a-barrier-than-a-leader fashion, Microsoft has indicated that it would rather not support EcmaScript 4 in Internet Explorer, implementing instead a few minor tweaks it calls EcmaScript 3.1. Wilson justifies this move by claiming that Microsoft is concerned over backward compatibility and claims that the world really needs a brand new scripting language. Anderson doesn’t buy that argument:
… never mind that a new browser language is the last thing web developers want, and that EcmaScript 4 has good backward compatibility with earlier versions. If Microsoft presses ahead with some intermediate JavaScript variant, it will only serve to increase compatibility problems.
Eich counters that Microsoft is doing nothing but creating fear-uncertainty-doubt. The criticisms Microsoft is leveling at the today’s scripting languages are, he reportedly says, the company’s own implementation bugs left unfixed for years. Anderson points out that Mozilla is ready for Microsoft’s foot dragging. ScreamingMonkey is the code name for a plan that lets EcmaScript4 run in IE through ActiveX. This is interesting move, but may not be enough. While Firefox is making inroads into IE’s market share, Firefox still only lands at 14.62% of share versus IE’s 78.63%, as of October, 2007, according to NetApplications.com.
