Cogito Ergo Sum

My blog post regarding browsers about a year back. Great to see Chrome doing well.

War of the browsers

Every soul hooked onto the internet could have quite a few questions lurking in their mind regarding their browser. Is the one that they use the most productive around or is the new kid on the block really worth an install in the ever increasing Program Files folder (Yes, we are limiting ourselves to Windows for now).

These are the questions that we are trying to figure out in this post. Let’s take a look at the various contenders.

Internet Explorer 8: Microsoft still has the largest piece of the browser pie yet. But it has been losing ground for quite a long time ever since alternative browsers like Firefox have emerged. IE 8 should be changing the equation now in favor of Microsoft though. The company does seem to have learnt a lot from previous versions of the browser. But is it the best yet. I would beg to differ. Issues like non adherence to established standards and being the primary target of every other malware out there does seem to be plaguing IE forever. Nevertheless, IE gains in its acceptance among major web players. That tiny line of "Works best with IE" at the end of every page is not going to change anytime soon.

Mozilla Firefox 3.5: The first major browser which could proclaim millions of downloads in a single day started out as a fast rendering powerhouse and has ever since turned into a piece of bloatware more so because of the addons and extensions that Firefox is renowned for. Even with all the addons turned off, having the browser open with a few tabs could eat away the available memory and the swap file. Few addons like NoScript and ABP are the major reasons why people still prefer Firefox over others. If you think that Firefox is secure than IE, all I can say is think again. Every month, there are minor updates done to the browser to fix a gamut of security issues. It should also be noted that not much has changed drastically since version 2.0 other than fixing security holes and a few unnoticed features. Firefox is no longer the much touted alternative browser.

Opera 10: This darkhorse has been looming large since time immemorial and the tag of being the browser used by majority of techies and hackers has never helped in catapulting it to the big league. Not surprising at all since not everyone who uses a browser happens to be a techie or a hacker. People who do use it love it for its rendering speed, less footprint on the hard disk after install and of course the memory usage. But for some reason inexplicable by the author, Opera has often been given a Tier II response and the makers have never seemed to gain the charm of more popular but less performing browsers. It is a wait and watch on this one.

Google Chrome 3.0: Chrome 0.x and 1.0 started out as what looked like another Google prank (a.k.a Gmail). In my opinion, it has all the makings of becoming the next big browser out there. What Gmail was to web based mail services is very well what Chrome could turn out to be for the browsers. The current version 3.0 is an exponential change from its previous version which by the way could have been rubbished as just another competitor. One could get the best of all features available in the browsers featured in this round up at a smaller install footprint. The Achilles heel here is going to be the availability of killer addons and plugins like NoScript, platform compatibility notwithstanding. The current version just works fine though.

Safari For Windows: Why would Apple ever want to come out with a browser for Windows. Maybe to please the Apple fanboys who are stuck with Windows PCs for ever. Maybe to woe people using BootCamp and still not miss the Safari For Mac experience. Whatever may be the reason, the Windows version of the browser just does not make an impression. Apple might need to realize that what works for the Mac does not necessarily be successful on the Windows platform as well. I can’t help but bring ITunes in the picture. People who would have used both ITunes and Safari on the Mac would never fall short of getting frustrated at their Windows counterparts. Apple is better off in its own Mac world. Windows is a different planet altogether.

There are several other browsers not covered here because I feel they are not targeted for the entire audience. Flock, for example, is targeted for people using social networking sites and in my opinion is always going to be a secondary browser.

So, do we have an answer for "Which is the best browser for Windows?”. Yes and no. All I can say is one size does not fit all. Having said so, I would still put my money on subsequent versions of Google Chrome and am myself sticking to Chrome 3.0 at the time of this writing.

Arena

(known to self and others)

calm, intelligent, knowledgeable, trustworthy

Blind Spot

(known only to others)

able, accepting, adaptable, bold, brave, caring, cheerful, clever, complex, confident, dependable, dignified, energetic, extroverted, friendly, giving, happy, helpful, idealistic, independent, ingenious, introverted, kind, logical, loving, mature, nervous, observant, organised, patient, proud, quiet, reflective, relaxed, responsive, self-assertive, self-conscious, sensible, sentimental, shy, silly, spontaneous, wise

Façade

(known only to self)

witty

Unknown

(known to nobody)

modest, powerful, religious, searching, sympathetic, tense, warm

All Percentages

able (12%) accepting (3%) adaptable (3%) bold (12%) brave (3%) calm (18%) caring (9%) cheerful (18%) clever (31%) complex (6%) confident (21%) dependable (3%) dignified (6%) energetic (15%) extroverted (3%) friendly (37%) giving (9%) happy (9%) helpful (15%) idealistic (9%) independent (12%) ingenious (15%) intelligent (37%) introverted (3%) kind (6%) knowledgeable (21%) logical (21%) loving (9%) mature (18%) modest (0%) nervous (3%) observant (12%) organised (9%) patient (6%) powerful (0%) proud (9%) quiet (3%) reflective (3%) relaxed (6%) religious (0%) responsive (6%) searching (0%) self-assertive (15%) self-conscious (9%) sensible (6%) sentimental (6%) shy (15%) silly (6%) spontaneous (9%) sympathetic (0%) tense (0%) trustworthy (15%) warm (0%) wise (9%) witty (0%)

Created by the Interactive Johari Window on 17.8.2009, using data from 32 respondents.
You can make your own Johari Window, or view PraveenBabu's full data.