Browsers want to be more like mobile apps [...] market leader Microsoft and its Internet Explorer browser were under assault from Mozilla's Firefox and Google's Chrome. The momentum began to shift, and Microsoft let Internet Explorer founder. Apps in spotlight "It's been a very app-centered conversation for the past three years," said Ryan Gavin, senior director of Internet Explorer at Microsoft. Browser makers are pinning their hopes on HTML5, a programming language that preserves the ubiquity of the Web while making sites work more like apps. Mozilla has added features to its browser such as its Social API, which lets users monitor activity on their social networks in a sidebar while browsing other sites. Browser makers such as Google, Mozilla and Microsoft are also playing a longer game - one with more significant ramifications than any single new feature. Microsoft's tying the browser even closer to its operating system (which is sort of funny, given that was the crux of the huge antitrust case the Department of Justice brought against the company in the late 1990s).