Browser Wars Heat Up... See Videos, Link & Poll

[archer6]

The purpose of this poll is to ask you which browsers you use.

What do you like about them, and what do you dislike?

The Web Browser Wars are heating up again, as Google hits back with Television advertising this weekend.

http://blogs.computerworld.com/google_h ... r_campaign



Cheers...

[killer]

Having used IE, Opera, and Firefox the best for me is IE. The other two seem to jam up the screen with tool bars to such an extent that accessing my Internet Banking requires more effort than with IE. Sorry to be a wimp, but until someone makes something with more benefits and fewer drawbacks then I am happy with IE.

[archer6]

Having used IE, Opera, and Firefox the best for me is IE.

I have this love/hate relationship with Microsoft, and will admit that there are times when I too use IE over the others. What I prefer most about Firefox is that I also use Linux over 50% of the time and having Firefox on both XP and Ubuntu is very handy. I especially like being able to sync my bookmarks between them with just one click of the mouse.

My question for you is, what version of IE are you running and how did you choose that version?

I've tried 7 but did not like it, so I stick to good old 6. Yet I'm eager to hear some feedback on IE8.

Cheers...

[yak]

For me it's almost exclusively Firefox, since it came out actually. I got used to its features, the couple of extensions I use and I feel comfortable knowing that any security holes will be fixed quickly.

I don't understand how Firefox jams up the screen with toolbars, as killer said. By default, you get the menu bar, the standard browser toolbar and the bookmarks bar. The last one goes away with 2 clicks. Using the great "Personal Menu" extension, one can get rid of the menu bar. What stays is definitely less cluttered than IE. It's just slick.

It's been a long time since I last needed IE to view some page because it didn't work in Firefox. But it's there, sitting on the hard drive, waiting for such case.

There's one thing I like about the Chrome, it's speed and responsiveness. I like its internal design, the fact that it uses separate processes for each tab. I was very happy to hear that they started working on a similar thing in Firefox.

If this works out, I won't be moving away from Firefox. However, if the feature set of Chrome comes closer to Firefox, I might rethink that.

[jdhurst]

I use Internet Explorer exclusively. All of the "problems" people describe with IE are non-issues with me. Further, I find that time after time, some client will say "I am not able to "x" that I am supposed to be able to do" and we find that using a non-IE browser is the issue. I miss nothing and gain lots by staying with IE. ... JDH

[rkawakami]

Selected Firefox, IE6 and IE7, although my day-to-day go-to browser is FF. I only install/use IE if the site requires it (e.g., Netflix; but I'm using IE Tab inside FF). I automatically reject any and all browser toolbar addons (hear that, Sun, Yahoo! and Google??) simply because I don't want to debug yet another level of software if something goes amiss and for the wasted screen real estate that results when adding something that is supposed to make my surfing easier. Tried Chrome for a couple of days but lost interest in it. My last use of Opera was back in the days of Mosaic and Netscape Navigator and I don't have any Macs at home anymore so Safari is off my radar.

[jdhurst]

<snip> I automatically reject any and all browser toolbar addons (hear that, Sun, Yahoo! and Google??) simply because I don't want to debug yet another level of software if something goes amiss and for the wasted screen real estate that results when adding something that is supposed to make my surfing easier. <snip>

How true! So do it. ... JDH

[yak]

I use Internet Explorer exclusively. All of the "problems" people describe with IE are non-issues with me. Further, I find that time after time, some client will say "I am not able to "x" that I am supposed to be able to do" and we find that using a non-IE browser is the issue. I miss nothing and gain lots by staying with IE. ... JDH

What about security? Just remember that because you don't see anything popping up doesn't mean you're not part of a botnet

[archer6]

I use Internet Explorer exclusively. All of the "problems" people describe with IE are non-issues with me. Further, I find that time after time, some client will say "I am not able to "x" that I am supposed to be able to do" and we find that using a non-IE browser is the issue. I miss nothing and gain lots by staying with IE. ... JDH

I agree with you regarding IE "problems", as I've never had any. I have nothing against IE really.

What caused me to migrate to Firefox early on, were tabs.

Also I like to eliminate as many toolbars as possible and run a browser really lean. Open it up for maximum viewing space. Both IE and Firefox do this well. Frankly I cannot remember what I didn't like about IE 7, but it was enough for me to scrap it and load a copy of IE6 that I keep in my software achieves. I've been thinking about trying 8 but understand I may need a few updates to XP before it will run. That_ is my reason for hesitating as I've worked very diligently to truly maximize my XP image and it's stellar, really fast, stable and I just don't want to spoil it.

Thoughts?
Comments?
Are you using IE8?
Feedback...please

Cheers...

[dr_st]

On personal computers:

Firefox (preferred)
IE 7.0 (for sites that don't quite work right with Firefox)

On corporate laptop:

IE 6.0 (old slow and crappy, I tried upgrading to IE7 at some point but started having problems with some webpages, so went back. Maybe it's time to try again.)

[archer6]

What about security? Just remember that because you don't see anything popping up doesn't mean you're not part of a botnet

I'm not the least bit worried about security. I take great measures to secure my ThinkPad, therefore while it's not impossible, I find it highly unlikely that I would be a "victim". It's a risk I'm willing to take.

Worst case scenario is I get hit with something and have some work to do. Heck that's no different than being a computer enthusiast in the first place. I'm always investing time in it.

Cheers...

[killer]

I have this love/hate relationship with Microsoft, and will admit that there are times when I too use IE over the others. What I prefer most about Firefox is that I also use Linux over 50% of the time and having Firefox on both XP and Ubuntu is very handy. I especially like being able to sync my bookmarks between them with just one click of the mouse.

My question for you is, what version of IE are you running and how did you choose that version?

I've tried 7 but did not like it, so I stick to good old 6. Yet I'm eager to hear some feedback on IE8.

Cheers...

IE8. I had IE6, then IE7, then Opera, then Firfox, the IE7 again, then IE8. IE8 seems to work well. Maybe it is just another MS compromise but it has caused no problems so far.

[jdhurst]

<snip> What about security? Just remember that because you don't see anything popping up doesn't mean you're not part of a botnet

Not likely.

Desktop up and online on broadband 24 x 7 x 365 since 1999 --- JDH: 1, Hackers: 0, Viruses: 0, Malware: 0

Windows XP BSOD's since 1/1/2003 on five IBM computers = Zero; RootKit Revealer = Zero
OS's since 1981: All DOS 1.0 & up, Win 3.1, Win 95, Win NT4, Win2000, WinXP Pro; Vista Business 64; RedHat 6, 7, 7.3, 8, 9; SuSE 9; Ubuntu 5 & 6; Win98 VM

I am also pretty much invisible to the internet. ... JDH

[mattbiernat]

hmmm i tried chrome, could never get used to it. i tried Opera but i had compatibility issues using it at school. i had troubles with IE7 on xp but IE8 works very well for me, however FF offers more addons and a spell checker.

[ajkula66]

I use Firefox for the most part, but will go for IE6 if a site requires Internet Explorer...

Yes, I've tried both IE7 and IE8 and was less than impressed. YMMV.

Could never get Opera to work the way I wanted it to. Life is too short, so I just gave up on it...

Chrome, Zinc, and Sulfur belong to the chemistry classes and not on the web...

[rkawakami]

What I prefer most about Firefox is that I also use Linux over 50% of the time and having Firefox on both XP and Ubuntu is very handy. I especially like being able to sync my bookmarks between them with just one click of the mouse.

You know, up until now I've always handled the backup of my bookmarks manually. Going back to the days of Netscape, I would export the bookmarks every so often or copy the bookmarks.html file in case anything went wrong. Bringing a new system online, I would grab the most recent copy off the current system I was using and either email it to myself or put it on a flash drive (sneakernet).

I just downloaded and installed Xmarks (née, Foxmarks) and it was simple enough to configure it to use my own FTP server. I wasn't too comfortable with the idea of storing my bookmark file on a server that was "out of my control" since I annotate some of the bookmark properties with login or account information. Uploaded the Firefox bookmarks from my usual T23 and downloaded them to a newly-borrowed system as a test and everything went fine.

[ZaZ]

I use Firefox for the most part, but will go for IE6 if a site requires Internet Explorer...

I'd have to agree. I like the customization on FF and some of the add-ons which aren't available in IE.

[archer6]

You know, up until now I've always handled the backup of my bookmarks manually. Going back to the days of Netscape, I would export the bookmarks every so often or copy the bookmarks.html file in case anything went wrong. Bringing a new system online, I would grab the most recent copy off the current system I was using and either email it to myself or put it on a flash drive (sneakernet)<snip>

Precisely!

I used to do the same exact thing. As a rule, I generally will not put anything "up in the cloud".

However this is the one exception, as Foxmarks / now Xmarks is truly reliable, and so very convenient. Especially when setting up a new computer, as all one must do is install Firefox, then Xmarks, then one click and all of your bookmarks are neatly installed into FF on your new computer. Furthermore, using multiple ThinkPads as I do on a regular basis there is nothing better. Then on that rare occasion when I don't have my ThinkPad with me, I simply log onto my Xmarks page and I have immediate access to my Bookmarks. I've used this system for well over a year and find it ideal for my needs.

Cheers...

Wait!.....did I say when I don't have a ThinkPad with me?
I can't remember the last time I failed to at least take an X model before walking out the door.
ha...ha...ha... how sick am I...

[TTY]

i'm using Opera, because among the production version browsers that i've tested, it achieves the best score with the Web Standards Project's Acid3 test, which has been designed to expose flaws in the implementation of mature web standards in web browsers. The maximum score in that test is 100. The scores for a few browsers are:
IE7: 12
IE8: 20
Firefox (ver. 3.0.10): 69
Safari: don't remember, but it was somewhere between Firefox and Opera, possibly 75.
Opera (ver. 9.64): 85

For those sites, which Opera won't render, i use Firefox or, on rare occasions IE8.
Direct link to run the Acid3 test here.

[jdhurst]

A test that would rate IE 1/5 as good as the competition looks highly suspect to me. ... JDH

[basketb]

Could the admins analyze the logs of this forum and report back on the percentage of the individual browsers that access this site? I'd be interested in that statistic.

Also, why does the poll distinguish between three different versions of IE but not for the other browsers?

[TTY]

I just ran the acid3 test on Firefox 3.5. The score is 93/100. Best result i've ever seen on a production grade browser.

[SaberX]

for me on the T43P i have Win7rc and it comes with IE8.It does everything i need a browser needs to do so i never realy thought about getting another one.
But the other day i did download Safari for vista(on Win 7RC).Just to try it out.

[DeAnna]

I'd give up the internet before I went without my Firefox with NoScript and other extensions.

I keep IE 6 on my old laptop just to test & make sure my sites render properly in it. It's a pain in the neck I wish would die already, from that perspective.

I have IE 8 on this new T400, and while I still use Firefox, some of the new options I see in IE8 are pretty cool. I love the built-in developer tools... and the ability to change a site's CSS so easily is going to be very handy. It's also quite pretty.

But the security holes take too long to patch, menus aren't intuitive (even something as important and common as bookmarking a site was weird), and security zones are a headache...

FWIW, rkawakami, Firefox handles all of Netflix fine for me...?

[jdhurst]

I'd give up the internet before I went without my Firefox with NoScript and other extensions.
<snip>

To each his/her own. I would give up computing altogether if I had to use Firefox. ... JDH

[goofyGAguy]

I would give up computing altogether if I had to use Firefox. ... JDH

+1

Opera roolz!

[t140568]

I use FireFox the bulk of the time. The only time I don't is when using Netflix for streaming video. It just doesn't like anything but IE and Safari.
I keep the address bar/search, the bookmark toolbar, and "Download Statusbar" which is absent unless downloading something.
Opera, I've never liked. I've even tried versions for a few mobile phones.. same deal.

[pkiff]

Part of my day job includes web development work, and so I have about a dozen different browsers (or versions of them) installled at any time. And I use a Mac primarily at the office and a Thinkpad most of the time at home, so I also switch back and forth between Mac and Windows versions regularly.

My primary browser at home is Opera, but I use Firefox almost as often, and am probably going to move to making Firefox my primary browser over the next month or two. I still use Opera as my main browser largely out of habit, and because I became accustomed/addicted to the use of mouse gestures [opera.com]. I know you can install plugins/addins for IE and Firefox that provide similar functionality (I've done it and I use them), but on old machines like my trusty 600X, the response to the mouse is too slow compared to Opera. And I've also lingered with Opera because I still use an old bookmark manager called "Powermarks" [kaylon.com], which has been discontinued and is not supported by Firefox 3. But as archer6 pointed out above, Foxmarks/Xmarks [xmarks.com] is really an outstanding bookmark management system: it is a solid replacement for Powermarks, and it is only continuing to get better.

For my web development work (and I would imagine for anyone who is working in web design/development, Firefox's "Firebug" [getfirebug.com] add-in tool has really become a basic necessity and an incredible time saver. Opera has a similar function (built-in) called Dragonfly [opera.com], but it is not nearly as polished, and I cannot see it ever catching up with Firebug. Also, I've started using Zotero [zotero.com], which is a fantastic bibliographic citation manager that is only available for Firefox. There are other add-ins and tools that are available for all three browsers that I use the most frequently (Opera, Firefox, and IE7), but Firebug and Zotero are standout tools that are specific to Firefox and that I expect I will soon be unable to live without.

I notice a couple people in this thread have mentioned that they are still using IE6 instead of IE7 or IE8, and some people suggesting they prefer IE6. I can tell you that from a web development standpoint, the difference between IE6 and IE7/8 is profound. As DeAnna suggests above, IE6 is the bane of web designers everywhere because it follows standards so poorly. IE6 has a certain number of bugs in the way it interprets CSS/HTML code that mean that it is very very difficult in 2009 to create a website that is current and compatible with new browsers and new technologies while still remaining compatible with IE6. In fact, I think it is a minor miracle that IE6 is able to render some web pages at all, let alone come close to rendering them the way their authors intended. Some techie sites and web development sites have already stopped bothering trying to support IE6 for this reason. [Added later: Apparently YouTube and probably other Google properties are getting ready to discontinue support for IE6. [techcrunch.com]] It is only a matter of time before the browsing experience of someone using exclusively IE6 will be so degraded as to make it not possible to comfortably browse the web using that version of IE any longer. The only thing keeping this from happening already is that so many intranets and old, outdated systems still depend on users having IE6. As these are updated, however, the systems staff in these large companies will force their users to update to modern browsers and IE6 will fade permanently, happily into dust.

Phil.

[visionviper]

I'm a big sucker for Chrome. I have used Firefox, Opera and IE 7 and Chrome is by far my favorite.

One of the main complaints I hear about Chrome is that it doesn't support add-ons like Firefox. Well, I never used any so it doesn't bother me one bit.

[NorrisCell]

I checked IE7, FF, and Chrome. IE7 is necessary for certain websites, most notably MS update, and I do surf on it from time to time.

I run Chrome under Linux, and it's an awesome browser, but I cannot use it full time because of its beta status. Certain things don't work on it still, which will be fixed when they release the official version.

FF is my main browser in both XP and Linux, as I find it smoothest running overall. The add-ons are a huge plus too.

I don't run into all the problems with IE that some people report. Like others above, I reject any browser add-ons, as I'm anal about what is running at every moment. I've tried IE8, with moderate results. I didn't see any groundbreaking changes over IE7, plus I had some intermittent connectivity issues i.e. FF and IE7 load a page while IE8 claims it isn't connected to the internet.

Opera is an excellent bowser, but it is too similar to FF for me to keep both on my machine.

Safari for Windows lives up to its claim of speed, but I'm convinced Apple released just to prove it could, as it has almost no support for embedded media of any kind. It's a novelty, rather than a useful program.

Now, on the phone side of the browser business, Opera has that market cornered for cross-platform compatibility. Safari and Chrome mobile work decently on their respective hosts, but Opera can be installed onto almost any phone out there, with almost identical controls. It's a shame so few phones come pre-loaded with