undefined | Better HN

0 pointsblackrock5y ago0 comments

This really adds nothing to the conversation. Nor does it provide any further insight into my pondering of what if.

0 comments

5 comments · 1 top-level

BrendanEich5y ago· 4 in thread

I think it's a good point because Scheme was not standardized in practice or widely taught in 1995. So whatever happened, it's likely MS would have prevailed with VBScript, which was a real threat and did ship in IE3-4 (I forget when they dropped it).

skissane5y ago

It would be an interesting parallel universe to visit, where the Web runs on VBScript instead of JS. Would we have had node.vb?

VBScript, the syntax is aesthetically less pleasing, but there is no reason why it couldn't do anything that JavaScript can do, if more verbosely. (Of course, the semantics are inferior as well, but if VBScript had taken off, its semantics would likely have been improved at some point.)

AzzieElbab5y ago

I count myself lucky because I don’t really know vbscript. Does legacy vb have a notion of first order functions and async?

1 more reply

cccc4alll5y ago

My guess is MS had plans for web dominance. Use Windows to push IE and VBScript and become gatekeeper to the web. Tightly couple Windows and web and have Windows become the web platform.

Until, US anti-trust investigation and law suit against MS. Which hampered MS enough to open the web business to smaller competitors, like Google, Apple, etc.

The fact that Apple now completely owns iOS and is gatekeeper to mobile app store is ironic. And, Google owns online ad services and is gatekeeper to online ad space is also ironic.

BrendanEich5y ago

No need to guess, from

https://thisdayintechhistory.com/05/26/bill-gates-internet-t...

to all the material discovered during US v. Microsoft, we know MS's plan was exactly what you said, after killing Netscape to avoid it becoming the new cross-OS runtime for apps.

Good point about MS leaving the Web fallow, which missed big opportunities Google and Apple (iPhone original app model was Web-only; native came almost a year later for games and for want of WebAssembly :-/).

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse