It's up to your Web browser to make using the Internet easy and enjoyable -- it's arguably the most important piece of software you use.
As the Internet becomes more integral to daily life, the browser you use is of great importance to software companies too. That's why every major browser developer is working on new versions of their product.
Fortunately, they've all released early versions of their work -- that's betas to you -- for us to poke around and play with, so we can suggest fixes and improvements that could be made before the final version is released to the general public.
The four browsers in question are Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8, Mozilla's open-source Firefox 3, Opera 9.5 -- all in beta -- and the just-released Apple Safari 3.1 for Windows. All are free downloads and all try to offer something better than the competition.
With this furious battle for worldwide adoption, we've decided to put the most recent browser releases head-to-head to see which is looking to be the best, and why.
We're not benchmarking and we're not reviewing; we're simply using each browser as the average user would, to determine which we think is the coolest, which works best so far and which we expect to be the strongest offering to the general consumer.
So without further introduction, let the browser war begin. We'll start with Microsoft...
Like this article? Click below to send it to your mobile for free!
Penguin30
30/03/2008 08:49 PM
IE is still the best dont care what you say
Report offensive content
firefox is better
31/03/2008 07:09 PM
This article is very true 99% of people who have tried firefox and ie say that firefox is better
Report offensive content
presario
01/05/2008 03:59 AM
I have tried Netscape, IE, Firefox and Safari, and I rate them as follows, Netscape 8.1 Because it is built on firefox code, but you can display pages as though you were in internet explorer, or firefox without restarting. Firefox Because of its stability and code, the browser is inpenetrable Safari because there are features in safari that i have yet to find in other browsers IE because even though this browser is fairly good, it is not because of its code. IE has the most leaks out of all the browsers, and till IE 7 came along, you were better off with Netscape 4.0 litterally.
Report offensive content
Opera Wiki
05/05/2008 07:08 AM
i go for Opera, its all in the package. no need to install addon made by who :) and FF always has core problems, too many crash, memory eatting too much... speed hack needed, addon to do the job right... another words it doesnt come standard!
Report offensive content
Fox
17/05/2008 09:23 PM
Opera 9.5 finally has the large improvement of focusing on the tab to the right when you close one rather than the last viewed. They didn't include the ability to focus on the one to the left, though. And if you want to move to a new version, it doesn't even try to take settings from your last install. The article specifically said memory magagement in FF3 was much improved. Either some of you guys are talking about the current release versions or didn't read the article.
Report offensive content
Fox
17/05/2008 10:25 PM
Nevermind, Opera does import settings.
Report offensive content
Patrick
17/06/2008 09:20 AM
I have always hated IE, so that is the lowest for me. Above that I like safari. Then I like opera and Firefox about the same. I use firefox, because, 1 it is open source, and 2, It comes preinstalled with ubuntu. Yes, I am a linux fan
Report offensive content
remy215
05/07/2008 08:02 PM
opera 9.5 rocks
Report offensive content
anonomous
07/07/2008 09:18 AM
i have IE 7 and i think it is great... i dont think that i will be changing to any of the other becuase IE is works for me...
Report offensive content
viper
08/07/2008 03:10 PM
"IE is still the best"? Have you ever used any other browser? It's both ugly, and full of problems
Report offensive content
get2oops
29/08/2008 02:44 AM
Guys/Girls..Firefox is strict browser .whatever tags of styling ie.in css and in javascript also are fix & they r following that..so they follow standard convension which good..IE is papulu browser watever present it accept..even px is not present,tag is outside style it take into considersation which is not good..caz its take more afford with time..now they realse IE8 which is strict support like firefox but they still work on it..so firefox is baap of IE8.
Report offensive content
nk100680
01/09/2008 09:05 PM
IE is good for Corporate but MS has concentrated on other area's than browsing for sometime. I expect IE 8 to do better but I think FireFox is that far in front when it comes to add-ons (FoxMarks, Foxy Tunes etc etc) and performance over the others that it only going to grow. P.S - HATE with a passion that Safari gets installed when you install iTunes even if you uncheck the ****!
Report offensive content
JF
02/09/2008 03:11 PM
Opera 9.5 is great! I have tried FF3 IE7 and Safari, and I could say Opera is quite superior as far as footprint on my system and performance. It is alos very Sleek!
Report offensive content
kiwiweb
03/09/2008 11:13 AM
Am I the only one, another ****** browser to support and design/develop for. It is hard enough now with IE, FF, opera and Safari differences than now chrome. My head hurts!!!!!!!!
Report offensive content
apollo martinez
06/09/2008 08:22 PM
opera 9.5 fastest ever experience than ie, ff, etc.
Report offensive content
Prove me wrong
08/09/2008 08:14 AM
They forgot to mention Opera comes with a built in torrent downloader. I think it's the only one.
Report offensive content
melbournedude22
24/09/2008 06:36 PM
Opera 9.52 the best as it is the fastest and secure then all the others. Safari can be a little fast but it is more vunerable to spyware and viruses.
Report offensive content
kumo
01/10/2008 09:36 AM
I was a firefox user for 2 years now untill it crushes lately for unknown reasons after an update. so I installed Opera to test it, and you know what! Opera is the best..it's faster, and all the addons I used to install in firefox come beautifully integrated with opera.. the fun part is it has plenty of widgets.
Report offensive content
RadianChalant
18/10/2008 02:16 PM
Opera 9.52 is very fast. Opera can not be used on certain banking and other sites requiring Mozilla or Internet Explorer engines / emulations. Mozilla Firefox 3.0 is a memory hog. Mozilla is a large program that slows down your computer. The World Browser 2.0 is a large program that uses a great deal of memory. The World Browser is highly controllable by the user. Google Chrome is just too simple. I prefer the speed of Opera and the controllability of The World Browser.
Report offensive content