May The Best Browser Win!
The web browser is something we use for several hours in a day, but take for granted. What's a browser? It's a program used to view and interact with web pages. It's not an operating system like Windows or MacOS, or a search engine like Google.
Recently, the 3 major browsers - Internet Explorer, Chrome and Firefox, all introduced their latest versions, and its turning out to be a fierce war. Who wins? You... the user!
The browser story - it's like, the Star Wars!
(courtesy computerhistory.org)
In the late 1990s, Bill Gates at Microsoft realized the importance of the Internet, and used every means necessary to make Microsoft's Internet Explorer the dominant browser (such as making it difficult for Windows users to remove IE). Microsoft's tactics to kill Netscape succeeded, but earned it the nickname "Evil Empire"!
"Open source" Jedis got together to combat Darth Vader, and produced a new weapon - Firefox! "Open source" means that all the software code is free, and created by collaboration between hundreds of programmers. Firefox spread like wildfire, because it was faster, did not crash as much, and had a lot of cool extensions. Firefox even overtook Internet Explorer in Europe.
In the meantime, Macs became cool again (along with iPods and iPhones), and Safari, the default browser on all of Apple's products, is used by a lot of people.
Of course, the empire struck back, and improved Internet Explorer. IE 9, the latest version, is actually quite good. But wait... a shiny kid from a nearby galaxy arrived just two years ago, and surprised everyone.. Google's Chrome browser. Lightning wicked fast, clean and simple in its design, and totally "open source". Yes, Google did it again.
How do the latest versions compare?
Google's Chrome is definitely the fastest browser. It has the best "Javascript engine" that makes page interactions much faster. Chrome's interface is "minimalist" - meaning, there is very little decoration, and most of what you see is the web page. Every tab in Chrome is a separate "computer process", so problems in one page don't cause other tabs to crash.
Firefox's latest version is also quite fast, but still behind Chrome. Firefox's biggest advantage is the amazing number of extensions. Extensions are additions to the browser, that are created by various people around the world. For example, themes allow you to customize your browser; the Toodledo extension maintains to-do lists; the Xmarks extension allows you to share bookmarks across multiple computers, etc.
The latest version of Internet Explorer (IE 9) has caught up with Firefox, both in speed and features. But IE is known to crash a lot, and does not have as many useful extensions. IE is still the browser that's used the most, because it comes with the Windows computer, and most people don't bother to change it.
Safari is cool (as are most of Apple's products), but the speed is not great. On iPads and iPhones, Safari is the only choice.
Here are some special ones..
RockMelt is a special web browser for "social people" - users who use Facebook and Twitter so much, that they want their browser to provide all kinds of bells and whistles to help them be more social!
Kidzui is a browser for younger kids - safe and kid-friendly.
Opera is another fast web browser that integrates other useful features like mail and chat.
Chrome is the best it is so fast
I love chrome. I think it`s the best. It`s way faster than Internet Explorer and a lot better.
OK! now this interests me! I love chrome! im using it right now! its faster, and everbody uses google so just type wat you need in the web browser thing. you can go invisible meaning no history saved or cookies or whatever. i dont like the others? so out of this website who do u think will win?
I use the internet a lot especially for school.
Well I have almost all of them and I think that they all work great.
Firefox is definitely the best. But it can be slow
Firefox is very safe,but it can some times can be slow.
firefox is the best
I will tell you my story of conversion from the evil empire to the open scource jedi:
Originally I was a mindless drone using IE, THEN my bro should me tabs on firefox and PERSONAS WOOHOO then I was sold. But THEN he switched to chrome i saw it and i tried it out, I like it best and i am typing all of this ON CHROME
i like chrome the best
I use Chrome
I prefer Chrome but sometimes it has issues with Flash, so then I use Firefox.
I use Firefox....I think. I really don't know the first thing about computers!
You do. I've seen it on your computer.
i vote for internet explorer
it sucks
chrome rules. I use it
Chrome is the best browser out of all of them, it is so fast!
Safari is very useful as it is used on almost all apple products!
Safari is by-far the best browser among phones.
Opera browser is just useless!
I always use Chrome, because it's fast and intuitive. But I'm writing this comment on Firefox, so three cheers for irony. Chrome has now become my staple browser. Does Chrome have any extensions?
Yes, Chrome has lots of extensions, and is catching up with Firefox.
https://chrome.google.com/extensions/?hl=en
firefox is da bomd, I like it the best
Chrome is: the fastest, the easiest, the handiest, remembers sites, allows Google search quickly and even more! I use it.
I am at the moment youngzining using Google Chrome.
I agree with you. It's the fastest and easiest browser I have ever seen.
I use firefox, but I might think about switching to chrome.
i work on safari and my sister works on chrome.
interesting
there is also a browser called swag bucks. it does not have very good search results but you win points and if you save a long time you can earn good things
I like chrome. There's even one laptop that only uses chrome-- nothing else!! No desk top, too.
i think the fox is the best
me too :)
My favorite Browser is Internet Explorer.
I use Firefox 4.0. It's very fast and also gives almost all the space for the webpage. It also blocks out pop-up ads.
I have a Samsung mobile phone which uses Windows. Whenever I log on to the internet on my phone, it says 'Opera Browser Loading'. But it was mentioned in the article that Windows uses Internet Explorer. So, the same company can use different browsers?
Good qn. You can use any browser that's available for an operating system. Saumsung must've chosen Opera's mobile web browser to be the standard one for their Windows phones.