The RISC OS Browser Issue

6th April 2005

This document is in response to a variety of discussions and perennial questions on RISC OS related forums.

We want a new web browser. It must get me into as many sites as Internet Explorer, yet not be Internet Explorer as Microsoft is bad and wrong. It must stick to the absolute letter of the W3 standards, even when they are wrong or not implemented on any other browser, and the browser must work with those sites that ignore the W3 standards too (like about 80% of the web). It must contain the most up to date Flash, Java and Real Audio support, even though these are not even browser related. It must be style guide compliant, even those bits of the interface that aren't mentioned in the style guide. It must run our 7 year old Java plugin, display Sprites, output as Draw and be drag and drop compliant. It needs to be as fast on ARM7500s as those old browsers that did nowhere near the amount of work needed for modern web standards. It needs to cost nothing or as close to nothing as is possible. It must somehow provide a way for RISC OS to regain a footing in the lost Education market. It must occur, else our platform will never be taken seriously. We want it here and we want it now.

Q: Why can't we have it?
A: Because there are four of you