Firefox, Microsoft, and Opera have all come out with new browser versions in the past few months. Which upgrade is the most significant? And which browser has the features, usability, security, and performance you're looking for?
For a long time, there was nothing to talk about in web browsers. You used Internet Explorer, and that was it. Oh, to be sure, some Mozilla/Netscape holdouts clung to their ways, as did a smattering of users of Opera, Konqueror, and other obscurities. Internet Explorer itself hasn't had a major version change since the release of 6.0 in 2001, so there wasn't much to talk about there, either for five long years.
That's all changed, thanks to that phoenixlike incarnation of Netscape technology, Firefox. In one year, the open-source darling Firefox has pulled within a dead heat of browser the browser popularity crown, at least on the ExtremeTech site, where each browser claims just over 43 percent of our viewers. This spurred Microsoft to leave off its complacency, and serious development of the formerly dominant browser restarted in earnest.
Right at this moment, big changes have or are about to occur in three well-known browsers: Internet Explorer is finally being updated, with version 7 in its third beta and almost ready to roll out the door; Firefox is also ripening an upgrade beta for its Version 2.0?it's in beta 1; and finally Opera, which has a devoted but smaller following, has recently come out with Version 9.0.
So, three new browsers in the same year, after no action for a half decade. How do they stack up? We do a comparison of features, usability, memory, and disk usage to help you decide which you should spend your hard earned?oh wait a minute, they're all free, so you can pick the one you want without worrying about out of pocket. Keep in mind: We're just looking at what's there right now, and not considering what the browser developers may have planned for later additions. Also, these are such feature-rich apps that it would be impossible to compare every little detail?which has support for Atom feeds or importing OPML, and advanced Java settings, for example?we'll stick to the stuff that's most apparent to regular users. Let's take the browsers out for a spin, then, shall we?
ExtremeTech
For a long time, there was nothing to talk about in web browsers. You used Internet Explorer, and that was it. Oh, to be sure, some Mozilla/Netscape holdouts clung to their ways, as did a smattering of users of Opera, Konqueror, and other obscurities. Internet Explorer itself hasn't had a major version change since the release of 6.0 in 2001, so there wasn't much to talk about there, either for five long years.
That's all changed, thanks to that phoenixlike incarnation of Netscape technology, Firefox. In one year, the open-source darling Firefox has pulled within a dead heat of browser the browser popularity crown, at least on the ExtremeTech site, where each browser claims just over 43 percent of our viewers. This spurred Microsoft to leave off its complacency, and serious development of the formerly dominant browser restarted in earnest.
Right at this moment, big changes have or are about to occur in three well-known browsers: Internet Explorer is finally being updated, with version 7 in its third beta and almost ready to roll out the door; Firefox is also ripening an upgrade beta for its Version 2.0?it's in beta 1; and finally Opera, which has a devoted but smaller following, has recently come out with Version 9.0.
So, three new browsers in the same year, after no action for a half decade. How do they stack up? We do a comparison of features, usability, memory, and disk usage to help you decide which you should spend your hard earned?oh wait a minute, they're all free, so you can pick the one you want without worrying about out of pocket. Keep in mind: We're just looking at what's there right now, and not considering what the browser developers may have planned for later additions. Also, these are such feature-rich apps that it would be impossible to compare every little detail?which has support for Atom feeds or importing OPML, and advanced Java settings, for example?we'll stick to the stuff that's most apparent to regular users. Let's take the browsers out for a spin, then, shall we?
ExtremeTech
