Browser Wars

Google, Microsoft, and Mozilla have all released updated versions of their browers recently. Most likely people that use one will stick with their tried and true browser of choice – even if it is, heaven forbid, IE. CNET’s Seth Rosenblatt recently ran a performance and test case through all three updates: Google Chrome 10, Firefox 4 and Internet Explorer 9. He compared boot time, memory usage, JavaScript and HTML 51 uses within each product.

Boot Speed: measured by clicking in the browser’s icon and timing how long it took to load several predetermined websites. Winner: Firefox (opened in 17.8 seconds) Runner-up: IE9 (21.86 seconds). Last place: Chrome (26.22)

Memory Usage: measured by loading the same six websites (aol.com, cnettv.cnet.com, giantbomb.com, nytimes.com, talkingpointsmemo.com, youtube.com) and tracked to see which used the least amount of memory. Winner: Firefox (148,020 kb) Runner-up: IE9 (205,616 kb) Last place: Chrome: 390,532kb)

Java and HTML5: measured processing of both. Winner: Firefox although all were extremely close according to Rosenblatt.

Internet Explorer is the most popular browser but is also the least safe. Firefox and Chrome are the top picks for safety as both performed remarkably well at this year’s PWN2OWN hacking competition while IE is consistently the most vulnerable.

Take these browser tests in consideration when testing products. Just because Firefox is the best performing most people slum it with IE.

You can read more about the tests at: http://download.cnet.com/8301-2007_4-20047314-12.html