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Desktops
IE vs. the world: six Web browsers compared
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Thinking of ditching IE for something else? We take a look at your alternatives.
By Robert Vamosi (May 19, 2005) |
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Microsoft's tight grip on the Internet browser market is rapidly slipping. According to WebSideStory, an independent Internet traffic site, as of April 2005, Internet Explorer use has fallen below 90 percent of the market in the United States and as low as 69 percent in Germany. What's making people leave IE are the numerous security concerns and the simple fact that functionality (tabbed browsing and a built-in Really Simple Syndication [RSS] feed reader) promised in version 7 of Internet Explorer, expected to be in beta late this summer, is already available in other browsers. Add to that Microsoft's controversial decision to offer the next version of Internet Explorer only to people running Windows XP SP2, and you see why those running older versions of Windows are starting to look elsewhere.
Rapidly forcing IE from desktop dominance is Mozilla Firefox. This open-source browser receives our highest rating, in part because it includes tabbed browsing and RSS feeds, is very easy to use, and is well supported with a variety of third-party plug-ins. Firefox's popularity has recently helped unearth a few vulnerabilities, but we've been impressed with the speed and forthrightness with which Mozilla has patched its browser. In short, we just don't feel as vulnerable surfing the Web with Firefox. Netscape 8 takes the best of both worlds. It runs both IE and Mozilla's engines, should sites you want to visit render properly only with IE. Netscape 8 also includes tabbed browsing, and it's easy to use. Another browser actually built upon the Microsoft IE engine is Deepnet Explorer. Think of Deepnet Explorer as Internet Explorer the way you'd like it to be--today. Two unique browsers are also available. One is Apple Safari RSS, designed to run on the Mac OS X operating system. Bundled with Mac Tiger OS (and available for download for previous Mac OS X users), Safari offers tabbed browsing, an RSS reader, and increased speed for Mac users fed up with IE for Mac. Finally, there's Opera, which uses neither the IE nor the Mozilla engine. We like many of the cool new features introduced in Opera 8, such as its ability to stretch and resize Web pages to fit your desktop needs without sacrificing content. Unfortunately, Opera comes with a catch: in order to get all of the advanced features, you'll need to pay $40 or put up with an endless stream of banner advertising on the free version. This makes the value proposition for Opera 8 questionable at best.
Read the ZDNet editor's take
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7.0 out of 10
8.0 out of 10
