The browser wars aren't about good technology. They're about the public's fascination with a David and Goliath story.
Users can identify with that type of story.
Let's start with the back and forward buttons on either browser. The other day I came across the installer disks for Photoshop 2.0. It was on three floppy disks. Viewing a little text and a few graphics, and letting a Java applet run is not some gargantuan programming task. It should all be possible in 500K of well-written code, tops.