But there is an imposture to that open condition in form of the latest variations of the two propriety-owned 'web browsers' from Net$cape and Micro$oft which discriminate against any other HTML-browsers, especially against text-mode such, and against general WWW access indeed. These two, and most 'aggressively' the one from Micro$oft (they even find "aggressive" a 'positively' loaded word; we do not) are inducing to use all sorts of gimmickry layout elements which, however, have rather negative effects:
(1) Bloating document volume, thus increasing communication fees for transfers. (Not to speak of the program code bloat to run these beasts...) Compared to a soberly marked-up HTML text, those 'documents' easily get up to between five and ten times the length; this is without counting the enormous additional load by (mostly all superfluous, pseudo-) 'graphics'.
Both aspects taken together, use of a pure text browser may diminuish
costs (tel-comm plus ISP-connection fees) to between one tenth and one
hundredth(!) of running expenses with a 'latest brand' browser.
But there is more.
(2) At present, according to branch estimates (mid-'97), only - and less than - four per cent of existing computers installed can use or run the software of that latest generation M$/N$ browsers; certainly this number will increase with new installations and software upgrades of fairly recent hardware still capable of being upgraded with ridicoulous amounts of memory and gigabytes of storage... It leaves out, in any case, an *enormous* park of older installations still fully functional(*), except for this only and restricted task to run the latest N$/M$ browser versions.(**)
(3) Physical telecomm infrastructure, even that of electricity, and socio-economic conditions of access to that, *AND* to internet access points, are *enormously* uneven retributed between Northern high-tech, high-income centres and the rest of the world. The resources wasting nature of the 'latest generation' hardware-plus-software makes it simply inapt for general use elsewhere than under rich-&-wasteful conditions.
These two components render the present market push, and technical enthousiasm for the 'latest brand' browsers, in effect as what may be called TECHNO-RACISM: structurally built-in discrimination, imposed with all sorts of 'good reasons' about hi-tech and perceived "modernism". (And it's the very nature of ideology that those falling for it are not aware of it.)
And there's still more discrimination, and outright such:
(4) Number of the 'newest generation' layout elements of 'graphical' web
browsers are a real nuisance for blind and visually impaired net
participants who depend on a text mode screen display. Both Speech and
Braille output are heavily disturbed by all that pseudo-'graphics'
nonsense.
Though the blind are not alone to be discriminated. The overdependence
on pointer devices (mice mostly) - where you have to position the
pointer ofter highly precisely to get some effect - severely hamper use
of an enormous number of motorical disabled people who otherwise would
be well able to use the keypoard.
Latest M$-'products' even squarely discriminate against the blind, in suppressing for instance text tags with editing HTML pages - which makes them strictly useless for anyone *not* using the M$-browser.(***)
It's very much a matter of sensitivity of www page operators to not
follow and not to allow for this bad trend.
BTW, you would be astonished to know how many blind, and how many text
browser users are on the Web - and it's only too logical, as the purely
tactile contact with the written wor(l)d allows the opening of a real
new dimension.
And, another BTW - just for the arrogancy of techno-racists -, these are
top-of the range machines, as real-time Braille and speech output demand
the utmost of speed and machine efficiency.
So these are four good reasons to go back to the roots, and to advance
towards real intelligence and efficiency in software design as well
as in web use: have a look at the
link page for sheer
DOS text browsers
and Internet utilities ... and there's even a
new, top-notch DOS system to get FREE for individual use which makes your
computer free, and you to run free, of any M$ licences !
Heimo Claasen / Brussels Oct'97
(*) Based on sales estimates, about 400 to 500 million PCs of the
'pre-Pentium' generations. Discount half of them as broken down or
simply scrapped; those still used are in either less rich realms of
the rich, northern centres, or in the South. This estimate of one
half is not realistic but safe, as the very first generations of the
pre-'XT'-generation sold at tenth, then hundreds of thousands per year,
and not yet at two-digit millions.
(**) Just to remind: the energy necessary to produce a new computer
corresponds to the energy consumption of having an existing machine run
for more than two years, 24 hours a day. And unlike other technological
developments ('modern' cars *do* use less material and energy to
produce, and less resources PER UNIT to use), the use of computerS-
together with necessary infrastructure - has shown to increase resources
consumption, both absolutely AND per unit.
(***) Only through a virtually HIDDEN switch in M$-FrontPage one can
re-activate text tag insertion: but who knows about it ? There's
even no mention in the manual.
Back to the REVOBILD start
page
REVOBILD --
--------------------
REMs:
But this is another, and rather long story, -hc
or to the link page for
DOS internet tools.