Your thoughts on the browser wars

I wanna know what you guys think about the current browser wars. Obviously most people have found Internet Explorer to be a crap browser and have switched to something else, but what?

Personally I use Chrome right now but I might be switching from Windows 7 to OS X or even back to Ubuntu 9.04 so chrome will be out of the question. I've customized Firefox to be like chrome in most ways and I like it enough.

I'm concerned with Google's data mining using my very own web browser but with Chrome being the only Webkit browser that isn't crap it's this or Firefox. I think if Google's data mining was harmless and if Chrome got a good extension API then I would switch from Firefox.
Your thoughts?

 

Just whom are you referring to with the term "most people"?

 

Mostly anyone who's voted in this poll. IE is a crap browser, and people need to realize that. Along with Windows being a crap OS. =P

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=313086

 

IE8 really is not as bad as you make it sound.

I primarily use Opera, since it offers the most useful features and the fastest experience for the least amount of resources used (Firefox has addons, but that makes its memory leak issues and performance even worse; Chrome has too few features like mouse gestures).

I use IE8 for certain pages that do not display well or are buggy on Opera, since everything is designed with IE in mind as the standard (which is unfortunate, as browsers that actually adhere to web standards like Opera do not display those pages properly), and I use Chrome for Gmail since it loads that so fast.

 

You shouldn't be posting this in the Windows forum.

 

I might use Opera if it was open source and used Webkit and if I could disable some of the features I don't need. I must say, Firefox is a little unresponsive feeling (at least in Windows 7) but Chrome is always snappy and speedy. Kinda makes up for the data mining. >.<

 

Such as? Mouse gestures is disabled by default, until you attempt to use it for the first time. The mail and feeds features are also off by default. The side panel can be removed entirely (as well as all other toolbars except the menu bar).

 

....Well it still doesn't use Webkit!! Not to mention, I hate the Qt interface, why would they make it look so disgustingly smooth? I don't want anything crufty, just simple. Arg, if only Google didn't data mine....

 

And Opera 9 on install takes up less space than any other major browser. It is ~6mb vs ~25mb in FF and ~60mb in Chrome (Developers Updates). Opera 10 beta takes up ~18mb.

 

Ahhh. I didn't think you were using the commonly accepted dictionary definitions for those words. I'll not pick up the petrified, and pointless, argument about what is, and what is not, "crap" in OSes or browsers, other than to point out that, in the immortal words of St. Francis de Sales,

 

As a retired web dev I can't say IE is great without cutting off my tongue afterwards either. Where is the standards compliance? Where is the rendering kit speed? Where is the source?

 

There is a wide gulf between "crap" and "great" - and I don't recall anyone, least of all me, insisting that you apply any sort of adjective to IE, merely that you might want to reconsider the one you were applying.

 

IE 8 scored higher than chrome in the latest "browser war". Go figure. LOL.

Like previous poster said, just who are you referring to "people"? Is it your group of friends or what?

 

It's in IE 8.

IE's rendering may not be the fastest out there, but IE 8 is similar in rendering speed to Firefox for Windows.

Redmond, WA.

 

Is that where it is! I always imagined that it was embedded into the OED using a very sophisticated steganographic algorithm that B. Gates invented during a wild, wild, wild toga party at Harvard.

 

I love IE8!..don't even use Chrome anymore and I loved it. IE8 works for me so i'm sticking to it.

just my .02 cents.

Hope this isn't a bashing thread in disguise.

 

Which browser war...?

Lifehacker just had a speed test of all the major browsers and IE didn't place first in ANY category.

 

Hmmmmmm. I see the IE users have gathered here. I must hide in the minority shadows!! /hides in shadows and loves Chrome and Firefox

 

I meant in NBR.
With my own testing done on my netbook, IE8 is probably the fastest. Opera is about the same as IE8.

Though the differences are small probably due to my fast internet connection.
Google, bing, and majority of websites loads instantly in IE8, Opera and Chrome. FF takes 1 second because the plugins that I used to make it look better slows it down dramatically.

 

Which browser apart from IE8 can use Protected Mode in Vista and Seven? Noooooooooone.
It's fine for non-tech-savvy people, really. Much better than the previous versions.

I use Firefox. I love my add-ons... especially FireGestures.

Chrome doesn't deserve a place in my book - don't really trust Google... especially after the Chrome EULA debacle. And the huge wave of applications they're spitting out.

Opera is bleh, really.

 

IE is not crap, nor is Windows....yawn*

I like IE for just being able to drag and drop stuff along the top bar, and its fast too, opera is only good on win mobile because its rendering is so good.

Mozilla is nice but i just cant seem to get into it at all.

Google chrome didnt shine for me.


I prefer being plain really, ie does the jobs i want it to.

 

I will never subscribe to the idea that some non embedded browser is better than having one as you install right off the cd. Sure I use chrome and opera and others sometime but the majority of the time IE works great for everything I need.

In terms of supporting and helping the basic user IE is a blessing. Don't knock having a browser ready to go after installing Windows. People need a gateway and that is what IE can do for them.

 

I use FF in Linux, but in Windows it's Chrome or IE8 for compatibility sometimes.....I just have to trust that Google is a reputable company?

 

Um The Menu Bar Can Be Removed!!!!

 

Just y the way Calvin, that poll is pre IE8.

I used FF2 then FF3 - IE7 a short time in beteen - but FF was faster.
Then I got my Vaio - used IE7, then FF for several months, the Opera 9.6x - then IE8 came out and I've been using that ever since.

I keep FF3 available - in case I need to look at a page "logged out" - but else IE8 just works better for me.

Also, IE8 works much better than IE7.

Edit:
And Google Chrome...well the Spyware implications unless you spend time switching all sorts of stuff off...
Something called "Iron" was mentioned on this forum though.