Option 1 - MS IE Only:
The first option is to build their tool on top of Microsoft's Internet Explorer 5.0 technology, using ActiveX and proprietary technology embedded and shipped with it. This option works best when you know who your target audience is and can account for the fact that the majority of your end users are using IE 5.x on Microsoft Windows 98 or 2000. The drawbacks to this are that you are excluding end users using Netscape Navigator, Opera, iCab, or earlier versions of Internet Explorer on all operating systems.
Implementation: The tool is built using the extensibility of Microsoft's Explorer Bar allowing developers to add functionality to the browser that wasn't shipped with the initial browser product. Deployment would require the end user to install the new Toolbar component.
Advantages: Tight integration with the web browser. Fast, stable.
Disadvantages: Excludes a large portion (10-20%) of intended audience, locks you into a proprietary technology (Microsoft).
Recommendation: We recommend that Mouseion not go with an Windows/IE only solution. The reason for this is two-fold. The first reason is you will be eliminating a large portion of your projected audience immediately by alienating those users who wish not to use Windows/IE as their Internet platform. The second reason is you will be locked into a proprietary technology developed, owned, and controlled by Microsoft. Your tool (and its associated services) will be limited by the functionality that Microsoft builds into future versions of IE and the Microsoft Windows operating system.
Future Outlook of the Technology Platform: Building on top of Microsoft technologies may prove to be a difficult path to take, given the uncertainty of the platform in the wake of the DOJ ruling(s). The browser and OS are tightly integrated, giving the developer certain advantages, but if the browser is split away from the OS (by a court order) some of the functionality you are relying upon might suddenly disappear.
