(Nerd) Firefox, IE, Opera, and... Google Chrome?

[SirFozzie]

Well now, this is going to be interesting.

Google's entering the Browser Wars tomorrow, when they allow folks to download the beta version of their new browser, called Google Chrome.

Going to be interesting, they've added a new JavaScript engine, and added code so that a site that would crash a browser will now only close the tab that you were in. Very streamlined apparently. Also will be fully up to date with Google's Anti-Phishing database for safe browsing.

Looks like it's completely open-source (if true, wonder how soon the new features will be added into IE and Firefox 3)

Official Google Blog: A fresh take on the browser (http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/fresh-take-on-browser.html)

[Groundhog]

Interesting. I think Firefox pretty much gives me everything I want, but I'll give Chrome (dumb name IMO, but hey, wtf is a Firefox) a shot.

[Big Fo]

Hopefully it inspires more browser elitism.

[Maple Leafs]

BUT IS THERE AN AD BLOCKER???

[MJ4H]

More browser competition is a good thing. There is always something about a browser that pisses me off. Maybe this one will cure all of my problems!

Currently, firefox doesn't close cleanly for me about half the time or better. I close it and then later when I try to restart it, it says it is still running and can't start because of it and I have to open up Process Explorer to kill it before I can start it again. I was about ready to move back to Opera again, but I might hold off and try this one tomorrow.

[sachmo71]

wtf is a Firefox

The most kickass Russian plane ever created!

http://oculusdesign.com/firefox/images/firefox-illustration.jpg

[Cringer]

Netscape Navigator all the way, best ad-blocker on the market.

[DanGarion]

Interesting. I think Firefox pretty much gives me everything I want, but I'll give Chrome (dumb name IMO, but hey, wtf is a Firefox) a shot.

Dude haven't you ever seen the movie!?!?!?


<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/S0e4hw_VbXA&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/S0e4hw_VbXA&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

[SackAttack]

BUT IS THERE AN AD BLOCKER???

Maybe if it ain't Google AdWords, it won't display?

[ISiddiqui]

Just read the "comic" and it sounds amazingly interesting. I'm convinced now that every browser should be multi-process (I didn't know what that even meant before) and the tab-focus of the browser is also pretty interesting.

[Groundhog]

Just read the "comic" and it sounds amazingly interesting. I'm convinced now that every browser should be multi-process (I didn't know what that even meant before) and the tab-focus of the browser is also pretty interesting.

Yeah, I didn't expect to learn so much from a comic. Very interesting, and very smart way to do it.

[DaddyTorgo]

looks like at some point there will be plugin-capability (though how much of that will be able to be ported from existing firefox extensions IDK), so that's a plus

[Izulde]

Yeah, I didn't expect to learn so much from a comic. Very interesting, and very smart way to do it.

They stole it from the Japanese manga concept. :D

[sterlingice]

I'm curious how well their Javascript virtual machine works. Sun's Java VM works pretty well but is by no means perfect and Microsoft's is awful. That said, JS is a lot less robust and much simpler of a language so this should be a lot easier.

SI

[Maple Leafs]

Anyone finding this yet?

The download link just redirects me to the google homepage.

[Fidatelo]

So where is this thing? It's tuesday and I can't find a link to download it from anywhere.

[Fidatelo]

God damned GMT... so that's... ummm... noon eastern?

[gstelmack]

Wonder how many years it will take to get out of "beta" state. G-Mail is still technically beta, isn't it?

[Alan T]

Wonder how many years it will take to get out of "beta" state. G-Mail is still technically beta, isn't it?


Yeah, at the top it still says it is Beta

[Maple Leafs]

I read somewhere its out at 1800 GMT.
What time is that in english?

[MikeVic]

Google Mean Time?

[Cringer]

Reading through that cartoon as me interested now. I will give it a try. My hope is that it works with some of the work related sites I have to go to, which Firefox does not work on. Probably won't work on this either at first, but maybe down the line.

[PackerFanatic]

Reading through that cartoon as me interested now. I will give it a try. My hope is that it works with some of the work related sites I have to go to, which Firefox does not work on. Probably won't work on this either at first, but maybe down the line.

+1

[Drake]

Am I the only one getting a Jack Chick religious tract vibe off the Google cartoon (both in animation style and propaganda value)?

Chick Publications (http://www.chick.com/default.asp)

[BrianD]

Google Chrome - Download a new browser (www.google.com/chrome)

Available now.

[Maple Leafs]

First impression: damn this thing is fast. Is it sneaking into other browser's cache files or is it really loading pages this quickly?

[DaddyTorgo]

ML - if you read the comic they talk a little about how they improve speed

[DaddyTorgo]

crucially - i presume it has a way of importing FF bookmarks?

any sign of plugin interoperability, or plugin interoperability to come?

[Fidatelo]

crucially - i presume it has a way of importing FF bookmarks?

any sign of plugin interoperability, or plugin interoperability to come?

Yes, it imported all of my FF stuff on install.

It is fast. Very fast.

[PackerFanatic]

Can't complain so far. Looks clean.

[KWhit]

Seems okay so far. I like the integrated search, but it's uh... Returning some bookmarks that I wish it wouldn't as I type. I hope I can hide some of those....

[DaddyTorgo]

yay! well if it'll play nice and import my FF stuff then I'll definately give it a look-see later.

[Alan T]

Two must haves for me on any browser in this day and time:

1) Some type of no-script functionality that does not require a PhD to use.
2) Some form of ad-blocking.

Does this have either or both of these? Just wondering if it is worth downloading to give it a try or not.

[Toddzilla]

Dude haven't you ever seen the movie!?!?!?fighter pilot Clint Eastwood FTW~!

[Fidatelo]

Seems okay so far. I like the integrated search, but it's uh... Returning some bookmarks that I wish it wouldn't as I type. I hope I can hide some of those....

There is a privacy mode where you can open a tab that will not remember any cookies or history once you close it. So you could use that for your, umm, secret stuff. Not sure how you can hide bookmarks though.

[BrianD]

I'm curious how long it will take the AdBlock people to have a Chrome plug-in. I'm guessing it will be pretty quick. This will be a good test for how good the plug-in hooks are.

[DaddyTorgo]

good call AlanT...good call!

if it doesn't now presumably it will soon i hope?

[DaddyTorgo]

woot woot...porn bookmarks!

does that mean it's going to have dailyniner on my "top viewed webpages" lil homepage thing? cuz that would just be...embarassing.

[Barkeep49]

So this post comes via Chrome. So far, I can't imagine this surpassing Firefox for me. For instance the graphics on the board are broken, there is quote, but multiquote isn't displaying correctly.

[DaddyTorgo]

bahhh --- booo...multiquote is the coolest!!!

ah well - give it some time - after all it's still in beta

[Barkeep49]

First impression: damn this thing is fast. Is it sneaking into other browser's cache files or is it really loading pages this quickly?
I didn't find it notably quick (though I'm on a quick connection). I'm wondering if it has google web accelerator built-in, which would make sense.

[BrianD]

bahhh --- booo...multiquote is the coolest!!!

ah well - give it some time - after all it's still in beta

I didn't find it notably quick (though I'm on a quick connection). I'm wondering if it has google web accelerator built-in, which would make sense.

Multiquote seemed to work ok here...

[DanGarion]

Already found a bug. It doesn't use the proxy settings correctly. I can bypass my works firewall in IE with the settings but it doesn't work in Chrome.

Honestly they need to use their own settings and not rely on the built in Windows ones.

[Cringer]

So far I am enjoying this. Very clean, simple look. I notice it being faster in some areas, especially here on FOFC when you 'hover' the mouse over threads and the like.

[Barkeep49]

Ok my first impression was wrong. It is ridiculously fast. I'm less enamored of the pop-up blocker which opened in the lower right hand corner for me and which I found much more intrusive than IE or FF.

[BrianD]

I do like that tabs can be re-ordered just by dragging them around. Pulling them out of and back into the main browser window is also nice.

[Cringer]

Main complaint, so far. I don't like that you have to have the whole bookmark toolbar there just so you can have access to the bookmarks folder. Not a huge deal because I still have the same site viewing area as on FF now, but I was enjoying the extra real estate. The bookmarks folder should be right next to the icons above on the address bar.

[DanGarion]

Multiquote seemed to work ok here...

FYI, multiquote isn't really well supported in the skins that FOFC uses anyway. The graphics appear to be an afterthought most the time, so I don't know if that's really Googles fault if they are messed up...

[PackerFanatic]

I agree with the bookmarks, although with no toolbar or title bar up top, and no status bar on the bottom, keeping the bookmark toolbar open doesn't bother me much.

[Cringer]

Just had my first crash. The whole browser, not just a tab which is one of the features I liked reading about. Not sure why it crashed. The good thing is it asked to restart, I said yes, and it was back up and I was typing this within seconds. That was pretty fast even though the crash sucked.

[PackerFanatic]

Just had my first crash. The whole browser, not just a tab which is one of the features I liked reading about. Not sure why it crashed. The good thing is it asked to restart, I said yes, and it was back up and I was typing this within seconds. That was pretty fast even though the crash sucked.


I liked reading about that too, especially since FF crashed twice while reading that comic this morning.

[PackerFanatic]

Cringer: did you have only one tab open, per chance? I imagine not, but just a question.

[Cringer]

I had 4 or 5 tabs open. I would be surprised if it was website related though. I think I had just finished messing around with my bookmarks and when it started back up all my changes were gone and I had to redo it. Still, I can't say for sure it was because of that either as it seemed to come out of nowhere.

[Cringer]

Downloads is interesting. I just tested it out and was a touch unhappy to see a downloads bar pop up at the bottom of the window. After the small download finished I closed it then thought, "how the heck do I get to that download now?" Went to the control/tools icon and saw Downloads and clicked it. It popped open a new tab with a history of downloads in it (one at this point), and a search bar at top to search downloads. I like that last little part....

[atatange1]

One thing I have noticed is I cant use my middle mouse wheel to scroll up, I can use it to scroll down but not up. Same when I click down on it (and you get the arrows) I can't up with it.

[Fidatelo]

My mouse works fine in all directions and with all buttons.

[SirFozzie]

Works for me, atatange... weird.

But yeah, even though I downloaded and set it up, it won't see much use until noscript/adblock work with Chrome

[BrianD]

Works for me, atatange... weird.

But yeah, even though I downloaded and set it up, it won't see much use until noscript/adblock work with Chrome

I have often found noscript to be more trouble that it is worth, but adblock is essential. I didn't even realize that some of the sites I regularly visit even had ads until I tested them with Chrome.

[Fidatelo]

I'm finding that when I use the little link that takes me to the first new post, it actually is sending me lower, so that i have to scroll up to see that post.

[BrianD]

I'm finding that when I use the little link that takes me to the first new post, it actually is sending me lower, so that i have to scroll up to see that post.

I've always had spotty results with that function in Firefox. I don't know how it decides what the last viewed post was, but it is often wrong.

[DaddyTorgo]

noscript is teh hotness

[BrianD]

noscript is teh hotness

What do you see as the major benefit? After putting in a whitelist exception for about 90% of the sites I visit, I decided not to bother. And that doesn't even count the countless forms I've filled out before finding out that noscript was going to eat the form submission and make me do it all over again.

[Cringer]

Sadly it doesn't work with one of my work related websites, one of the main ones lately. Looks the same as it does in FF. Looks like IE stays in use for that.....

[Alan T]

What do you see as the major benefit? After putting in a whitelist exception for about 90% of the sites I visit, I decided not to bother. And that doesn't even count the countless forms I've filled out before finding out that noscript was going to eat the form submission and make me do it all over again.


The main reason noscript is a must have for me and my systems at home is I have very little control over the sites that my wife visits and with more and more of them taking advantage of flash exploits, real player exploits, etc. to load spyware, trojans, etc on your system without any warning or prompting (through the use of iframes, etc) noscript kills the majority of those.

Obviously I try to keep the systems patched as best as possible, but noscript takes away the extra chance that some exploit or issue might be found. I haven't found any sites that noscript does not work with yet, if I hit a site with scripting, I can enable it if I deem it is safe fairly easily (with just a right click basically)...

It is the universal balance between security and usability. As I am in networking security for a living, I probably err more on the side of security than other normal users might. I just like to play it safe these days

[Matthean]

So far the speed increase is nice, but Bloglines took some time to load. I can see where it's going to be resource heavy for some stuff, but like they said, it will work out in the end. It took me a second before I realized what was so different about what I was looking at. Screen space. Lots and lots of screen space.

[Schmidty]

I LOVE FIREFOX. IT IS THE GREATEST BROWSER EVER. THERE. I SAID IT. I HAVE USED IT FOR 2 MONTHS AND WILL NEVER GO BACK. I LOVE SHIT LIKE STUMBLE UPON, AND....WELLL TONS OF OTHER COOL-ASS ADDONS.

THERE DANGARION. YOU WON.

[DanGarion]

I LOVE FIREFOX. IT IS THE GREATEST BROWSER EVER. THERE. I SAID IT. I HAVE USED IT FOR 2 MONTHS AND WILL NEVER GO BACK. I LOVE SHIT LIKE STUMBLE UPON, AND....WELLL TONS OF OTHER COOL-ASS ADDONS.

THERE DANGARION. YOU WON.

You must be being sarcastic. I don't not believe you! :devil:

[MJ4H]

Tried if for about 10 minutes and closed it out of frustration:

1. Has it's own skin that ignores my blackbox skins. No. Don't do that.

2. Failed miserably at importing my bookmarks properly (no folders), mixed bookmarks from different browsers.

3. No easy access to bookmarks without a complete waste of space toolbar.

4. No option to kill unwanted elements (adblocking).


It's too bad because the browser is nice and fast.

[Young Drachma]

I like that it's fast and I like the screen space. My bookmarks imported with no problem, though I have too many FF plugins that I'm too fond of, to really use this full time.

[ISiddiqui]

Been using it a bit and it seems really fast. Also pretty slick interface, I love the kind of drop down that comes up when you hit "Ctrl-F". And drag-able text bars in forums for more typing space. That is pretty nice.

A few more plugins would be nice, but it is working pretty well.

[BrianD]

Everyone should expect plenty of disappointments until the extension programmers get up to speed. Bare Chrome compares well to bare Firefox, but it doesn't compare at all to extension-filled Firefox. Keep this in mind when evaluating.

[Schmidty]

I guess that after being a life-long IE user, I don't expect much.

My only complaint - Drop down menus like at mlive.com don't work. That's it though.

[cthomer5000]

Love the look and "feel" but lack of google bookmarks support (seriously..wtf?) is a non-starter for the time being.

[MizzouRah]

Life long IE user as well and I'm really liking Google Chrome thus far.

[Drake]

An interesting perspective on the EULA arriving with Chrome:

TapTheHive - This Post Not Made In Chrome; Google's EULA Sucks (http://tapthehive.com/discuss/This_Post_Not_Made_In_Chrome_Google_s_EULA_Sucks)

[Barkeep49]

I think that qualifies as evil.

[sterlingice]

Yeah, this is starting to sound a lot less like Google and a lot more like Microsoft.

SI

[KWhit]

Interesting.

That doesn't sound like GOOG at all.

[PackerFanatic]

That really is interesting...

[Drake]

Yahoo used to have the same sort of language in their Yahoo Groups stuff. My understanding was that they took it out after enough user complaints (though I'll admit that I never checked...I just stopped using Yahoo Groups).

Perhaps Google will do the same thing. Generally, this isn't a concern for me because I figure the university I work for and Google can fight it out over any IP I produce on the job, and anything I produce off the job gets released under a Creative Commons license anyway.

[gstelmack]

What, a company that makes its money on search and selling data mining to advertisers writes a browser and everyone is surprised that they want the rights to any data you produce with it? I'm shocked, shocked I tell you.

[Drake]

You're right, of course, Greg.

The fact is that while the language in the EULA is troubling, if Chrome even gets 5% of the browser market, the volume of content being produced will be such that it makes endangering your control over your IP (whatever the hell that means) practically moot. It assumes, first of all, that you're producing such stunningly brilliant content that Google would want to use it.

Folks who produce content for a living should have enough of a following that anything Google took from them would have to be properly attributed (at least) to avoid a firestorm. Anyone not making cash off their content isn't likely to complain one way or the other (attributed or not) because of the whuffie value of having Google use their stuff in the first place. It isn't, after all, like Google is claiming to own your copyright.

A more interesting avenue for me, though, is wondering about code (which is probably on your mind too, Greg). If you write a piece of brilliant code and post a link to it via Chrome, does Google assume the rights to that code? Of course, if you're plaintexting or linking to code, chances are you're giving it away anyway, so does Google's use of it really matter?

So I guess this is where I'm at: the language in the EULA is troubling as an artifact in and of itself (i.e., troubling for its claims). But is it necessarily troublesome in any sort of practical way? Or is my thinking-box just too small because I Creative Commons everything?

[Cringer]

Google is free to use my FOFC postings in any way they choose.

[Bonegavel]

so far so good. Passes the acid2 test.

[DanGarion]

Google does not want rights to things you do using Chrome (http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/google-chrome-license-agreement/)

FYI Google does not want rights to your content!

I knew that Google didn’t want to assert rights on what people did using Google Chrome, so I asked the Chrome team and Google lawyers for their reaction or to clarify (probably several other people pinged them too). Here’s what I heard back from Rebecca Ward, the Senior Product Counsel for Google Chrome:

“In order to keep things simple for our users, we try to use the same set of legal terms (our Universal Terms of Service) for many of our products. Sometimes, as in the case of Google Chrome, this means that the legal terms for a specific product may include terms that don’t apply well to the use of that product. We are working quickly to remove language from Section 11 of the current Google Chrome terms of service. This change will apply retroactively to all users who have downloaded Google Chrome.”

I hope that addresses the concerns that I’ve seen on a few places around the web. I appreciate that people pored through the Chrome license to find anything that looked unclear and then raised concerns so that Google could respond.

[Drake]

That's pretty much what I expected. Maybe I'm a mindless consumer drone, but for some odd reason, I trust Google to the extent that when they've done something stupid and someone points it out to them, I figure they'll de-stupid it.

I'm not really sure what they've ever done to earn such currency with me, but they have it.

[Northwood_DK]

No big surprise.

Google backtracks on Chrome license terms (http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10031703-56.html)

[DanGarion]

No big surprise.

Google backtracks on Chrome license terms (http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10031703-56.html)
Welcome to the party, I already posted about that... :)

[KWhit]

That's pretty much what I expected. Maybe I'm a mindless consumer drone, but for some odd reason, I trust Google to the extent that when they've done something stupid and someone points it out to them, I figure they'll de-stupid it.

I'm not really sure what they've ever done to earn such currency with me, but they have it.

Agreed on all counts.

[fantom1979]

Just started using Chrome a couple of days ago. Very quick. Pretty impressed so far. Some sites (including this one) seem to have some lag when clicking on topics. Not sure why.

[Logan]

So my work computer is still stuck with IE 6. There's a growing number of websites I visit where there's a banner going across the top saying that they are phasing out support of my browser, and I should upgrade to IE 8, Firefox, Chrome, etc. I can't upgrade the browser on my own, and it frustrates the hell out of me.

Any tips for buttering up a government IT department?

[ISiddiqui]

Same here... and I don't think the government is going to budge on this because you have said so ;).

[SirFozzie]

So my work computer is still stuck with IE 6. There's a growing number of websites I visit where there's a banner going across the top saying that they are phasing out support of my browser, and I should upgrade to IE 8, Firefox, Chrome, etc. I can't upgrade the browser on my own, and it frustrates the hell out of me.

Any tips for buttering up a government IT department?

it's Clinton you need to worry about, not your IT.

US State Department employees ask Hillary clinton for Firefox - Video (http://www.downloadsquad.com/2009/07/14/us-state-department-employees-ask-hillary-clinton-for-firefox/)

t a recent town hall meeting with staff, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton received a question from one government employee who wanted to know if they could "please" use Firefox instead of Internet Explorer.

You can see the Q&A by skipping to the 26:32 point in the video above.

The request was met with a round of applause from the audience. But Clinton didn't have a ready answer, so she called another official who explained that while Firefox was available for free, it would cost money for the IT staff to begin supporting it. And while the state department is seeking additional funds for IT, it's not a done deal.

[Logan]

I knew my hatred of her was warranted.

[ISiddiqui]

I don't work for State, and I'm not getting IE 6 either.

It's a security thing, not a political thing (government IT is used to IE 6 and its security).

[Schmidty]

Well, I'm finally sick of how slow Firefox is for me. IE isn't happening, so I'm trying out Chrome. So far, I really like it. It's much faster and....lighter for a better word. I've added a few extensions and am satisfied, except for one thing - the bookmark toolbar. With FF I had an addon that simply had a website's icon without the words, so I could have a crapload of stuff on there. I've searched for over an hour and I can't find anything like that for Chrome. Does anyone know of such a thing?

[Passacaglia]

Can't you just delete the name from the bookmark in the toolbar?

[Schmidty]

Can't you just delete the name from the bookmark in the toolbar?

Ahhhhh, ok. I guess sometimes the simplest thing is the best answer. Thanks. :)

[Passacaglia]

Ahhhhh, ok. I guess sometimes the simplest thing is the best answer. Thanks. :)

No problem -- I actually never thought to take out the names, so doing that will save me some space!

[Schmidty]

No problem -- I actually never thought to take out the names, so doing that will save me some space!

Yeah, I was dying with only being able to have like 7 or 8 websites visible on the bar.

[Scoobz0202]

I've been using Chrome for about a year now. I still have Firefox on this system and I recently opened her up to see what it was all about. I was amazed at how slow Firefox feels compared to Chrome. I used to swear by Firefox.

[MJ4H]

I do the same thing (delete the text for the bookmarks). It's a decent stop-gap, but they are still much more widely spaced than smart bookmarks in FF and I can only fit about half the icons on my bar. Frustrating that they still don't have anything for this. Plus it sucks having to delete the text.

[sovereignstar v2]

I'm also a Firefox to Chrome convertee.

[MizzouRah]

I love Chrome as well.

[bbgunn]

I would love Chrome if it worked on my Vista.

[sterlingice]

Has Chrome ever implemented individual cookie handling?

SI

[M GO BLUE!!!]

I just made the switch to Chrome. Tried Firefox 4 beta & compared it ti Chrome. Firefox 4 seems like a half-assed mix between Firefox & Chrome. Loving the speed of Chrome, but there are some little annoyances like on here where some of the option tabs just show the little picture missing icon instead of the usual tab.

[MizzouRah]

Loving IE 9...

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/internet-explorer/products/ie/home (http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/internet-explorer/products/ie/home)

[jeff061]

IE9 is Microsoft's first good browser in ever?

Still not switching off Firefox though.

[MizzouRah]

IE9 is Microsoft's first good browser in ever?

Still not switching off Firefox though.

I've been using Chrome for quite some time, IE 9 is faster so for now, it's my browser of choice.

[jeff061]

I'd consider switching to Chrome, I just don't consider it enough of a improvement to give Google even more access to me.

[jeff061]

I've been using Chrome for quite some time, IE 9 is faster so for now, it's my browser of choice.

The anti-IE stigma is just to ingrained in me. Shallow I know, but that's just what it is. Even after using it and really having no complaints, being pleasantly surprised even.

[MizzouRah]

The anti-IE stigma is just to ingrained in me. Shallow I know, but that's just what it is. Even after using it and really having no complaints, being pleasantly surprised even.

To each his/her own.. I don't see the facination with FF either, but I'm in the minority I'm sure.

[sterlingice]

Has Chrome ever fixed the fact that you can't handle individual cookies?

SI

[jeff061]

Well before Chrome it was Firefox or bust. I tried Opera several times over a few years, disliked it quite a bit.

If the current trend continues I may switch, likely to Chrome, but right now I'm content with Firefox and the addons I use.

[cougarfreak]

Firefox is getting slow and buggy for me.

[MizzouRah]

IE 9 is super fast and has all the features that I loved with Chrome.

[CrimsonFox]

IE always seems to have more hackers associated with it tho. More popups more hacking more viruses more leaks more everything.

[jeff061]

IE always seems to have more hackers associated with it tho. More popups more hacking more viruses more leaks more everything.

That's IE6. IE7 and more so 8 mostly fixed that but they were garbage. IE9's not garbage. I just feel all IE-icky using it.

[RainMaker]

IE9 is really nice. You should all give it a try. Feels a lot like Chrome but a little faster and without the privacy issues Google has.

[CrimsonFox]

That's IE6. IE7 and more so 8 mostly fixed that but they were garbage. IE9's not garbage. I just feel all IE-icky using it.

Iecky? :)

[MJ4H]

I'd consider switching to Chrome, I just don't consider it enough of a improvement to give Google even more access to me.

Then use Chromium. Same browser, no connection to Google.

[RainMaker]

It's not necessarily the same browser. Chromium isn't as stable, but still a good option I guess.

You guys should seriously look at IE9. It's really good. Microsoft get unnecessarily shit on by people for things they actually do well. This is one of them. It's the best browser on the market at the moment.

[MizzouRah]

Amen RainMaker, again.. it's super fast and works great.

[sterlingice]

You guys should seriously look at IE9. It's really good. Microsoft get unnecessarily shit on by people for things they actually do well. This is one of them. It's the best browser on the market at the moment.

Uh, not unnecessarily. You have a company that basically stopped any serious development on its browser twice once it crushed the competition so it's a pretty fair criticism. That's the kind of bs business decisions that should lose you some corporate goodwill that you need to win back.

SI

[frnk55]

Thought I'd give Google a try after using FF for years. I gotta say it loads up pages faster. Might stick with it.

[Fidatelo]

I'm pretty fair when it comes to not caring who made what, and certainly no MS basher (I own a WP7)... but Chrome is still preferable to IE9.

Chrome > IE9 > Firefox

[MizzouRah]

IE9 > Chrome > FF

:)

[ISiddiqui]

I think that Chrome, FF4, and IE9 are fairly evenly matched, but I still like the extensions of Firefox. Chrome though is super quick.

[Rizon]

I haven't tried Chrome (Google scares me like a creepy stalker), and I haven't really used IE since right before FF2 came out (been using that since). Whatever recent change FF made, it wiped all my settings and it's been a real bother getting my new settings to stick for some reason. I haven't tried IE9 ... it just feels like going back to a Day Care center that molested you as a child.

[RainMaker]

Uh, not unnecessarily. You have a company that basically stopped any serious development on its browser twice once it crushed the competition so it's a pretty fair criticism. That's the kind of bs business decisions that should lose you some corporate goodwill that you need to win back.

I understand not trusting them and choosing to use other products. I'm talking about people who will say a product sucks without using it. Like the backlash they got on Vista which wasn't a bad OS at all.

[jeff061]

Vista was a horrible OS at release.

[jeff061]

That's another thread though, I don't see anyone in this thread saying IE9 sucks.

[RainMaker]

Yeah, I was more commenting on the general vibe across the web. People tend to have a distorted view of a product based on loyalty or past experiences. For instance, people treat Firefox like the God of browsers when it's been shit for a few years.

[Ryan S]

Right now I would rate the browsers:

Chrome > IE9 > Firefox 4

I probably use Firefox more than the others thanks to the number of extensions, but I have not been a big fan since FF 3.5

[MJ4H]

Vista was a horrible OS at release.

I never realized how bad Vista was until I installed Windows 7. Holy crap.

[MJ4H]

Right now I would rate the browsers:

Chrome > IE9 > Firefox 4

I probably use Firefox more than the others thanks to the number of extensions, but I have not been a big fan since FF 3.5

Chromium > Firefox > IE9 for me. IE9 still takes forever to startup, hangs all the time loading webpages, and is just generally sluggish. Plus, I don't have any extensions with it.

[Rizon]

I never realized how bad Vista was until I installed Windows 7. Holy crap.

I suffered with Vista's drunk grandfather, WinME, for four years. Dunno why I never bothered to upgrade that OS ... probably spent too much energy bitching about it and didn't have enough left to replace it.

[sterlingice]

Vista was a horrible OS at release.

Yeah, I'm calling shenanigans on trying to sneak by the claim that Vista wasn't that bad. It was awful with no device support and horribly unstable for at least 6 months, if not a year.

It has improved but Windows 7 is much better so it just looks like Windows 7 Beta

SI

[MizzouRah]

OMG Windows ME was the worst of all time.

[sterlingice]

OMG Windows ME was the worst of all time.

I think we can all agree to that :D

SI

[MizzouRah]

I think we can all agree to that :D

SI

True.. if you had Win ME on your pc and wanted me to look at it, I was immediately busy. :D

[jeff061]

In Windows ME's defense I think they decided it needed to exist then released it 2 weeks later :D.

Come to think of it, that's a pretty lousy defense.

[Rizon]

The best was playing games on it ... after a couple of hours you'd get ... NOT ENOUGH MEMORY OMG CRASHING.

Ahhhh, the constant reboots.

[gstelmack]

While we're discussing IE9, it appears to be confusing the board's "View First Unread" feature. I'm still going back to posts from yesterday right before I installed it.

Will try clearing caches, etc if it didn't do that on install.

[RainMaker]

Yeah, I'm calling shenanigans on trying to sneak by the claim that Vista wasn't that bad. It was awful with no device support and horribly unstable for at least 6 months, if not a year.

It has improved but Windows 7 is much better so it just looks like Windows 7 Beta

No device support? It was just primarily on older ones that manufacturers didn't bother with. It was also something that was fixed rather quickly.

It had a bad launch and was released too early. But after SP1, it was much better than XP and the criticisms were unwarranted.

[jeff061]

It's fate was well sealed prior to SP1. Still can't believe you are arguing that. It was a broken mess and did not deserve a second chance.

And no, it wasn't just older manufacturers, it was pretty much all of them. Damn near global video, sound and printers issues all come to mind. A good amount of which were still an issue post SP1.

[gstelmack]

Vista got a bad rap for being the first consumer OS built for multiple processor cores, and ran lousy on single core boxes. It ran fine on multi-core, recent machines. The driver problem rests squarely on the hardware manufacturers who feel we should be grateful they provide any drivers at all for their hardware. The early issues were ironed out quickly.

SP1 was actually the nail in the coffin for one of my systems, since I could not get it to install without corrupting a system file and therefore failing to boot.

That said, Win7 is much better.

[jeff061]

The driver problem rests squarely on the hardware manufacturers who feel we should be grateful they provide any drivers at all for their hardware
Well that's the common argument, but I find it hard not to put the fault on MS when nearly all third parties suffer from the same problem. Bottomline is Vista was trapped in development hell for almost 6 years and because of this they released it before the hardware manufactures could get drivers out the door(and before the OS itself was ready).

MS also caved to Intel pressure and vastly lowered hardware requirements so Intel(I think or may have been Dell/HP) could badge their lower end machines as Vista capable. That's on MS, not Intel.

[MJ4H]

It ran like ass on my multi-core, brand new machine.

[gstelmack]

Well that's the common argument, but I find it hard not to put the fault on MS when nearly all third parties suffer from the same problem. Bottomline is Vista was trapped in development hell for almost 6 years and because of this they released it before the hardware manufactures could get drivers out the door(and before the OS itself was ready).

Umm, many manufacturers had good drivers for their latest stuff, but couldn't be bothered to do it for older ones. My USB HP scanner was a good case in point. Pretty much anything newer than it had Vista drivers, but nope, not mine that was only a couple of years old. That was HP's fault, not Microsoft's.

Some of the video card drivers I'll grant you, Microsoft should have been working harder with nvidia and ATI to make sure they had good drivers day one. Audio drivers aren't even worth mentioning, there is not a single company out there that can write a decent one, and thanks to that we don't get hardware-accelerated audio anymore.

MS also caved to Intel pressure and vastly lowered hardware requirements so Intel(I think or may have been Dell/HP) could badge their lower end machines as Vista capable. That's on MS, not Intel.

Granted, I agree on this one.

[gstelmack]

It ran like ass on my multi-core, brand new machine.

It ran great on my wife's Core 2 Duo Dell (from release until Win7 went on it a few months ago), and sucky on my homebrew P4 3GHz, which went back to XP after the Vista SP1 fiasco.

[Passacaglia]

I haven't tried IE9 ... it just feels like going back to a Day Care center that molested you as a child.

Where's the QOTM button?

[ISiddiqui]

FWIW, I also think Vista was not that bad. I never had any problems with it. The only issue was nVidia took FOREVER getting a driver out for it (when ATI had drivers well before nVidia).

[Matthean]

FF4 is out and I downloaded it. While it took a second to adjust to it I like it so far.

[FrogMan]

FF4 is out and I downloaded it. While it took a second to adjust to it I like it so far.

upgrade my portable FF to 4.0 and so far it's much faster than it previously was. Sadly, it broke my Roboform toolbar :(

FM

[kingfc22]

Just upgraded to FF 4.0 today as well.

Much faster!

[whomario]

is this now fully working/compatible with 64 bit systems ? Have had way more crashed since switching to windows 7 64bit from vista 32 and read that it doesn´t really support 64 bit.
I mean, it´s working but just not as well as i was used to.

How about addons, do those carry over from earlier 3.X versions ?

[JediKooter]

Sorry, but, using any IE version is pretty much like fucking a 45 year old hooker without a condom, after she's already had a 'busy' day.

Firefox is what I use and the only problems I've had, is it crashing from time to time.

[MJ4H]

Tried both IE9 and FF4 recently. Neither anywhere near the performance of Chrome in normal browsing. No dice.

[Matthean]

is this now fully working/compatible with 64 bit systems ? Have had way more crashed since switching to windows 7 64bit from vista 32 and read that it doesn´t really support 64 bit.
I mean, it´s working but just not as well as i was used to.

How about addons, do those carry over from earlier 3.X versions ?

No issues so far on Win7 64 bit.

[RainMaker]

Going to give the new FF a run in a few.

[Matthean]

IE 10 won't run on Vista. :lol: It's probably been since ME where MS distanced itself from an OS they made as fast as they could.

[Matthean]

And FF5 is out.

[fantom1979]

..... and Firefox 6 beta is due to be released in July. They have really jumped up the release schedule.

[jeff061]

Whole thing seems like such a PR move. Big number changes do not necessarily mean a massively sped up release schedule. Just the illusion of progress.

[Fidatelo]

Kind of reminds me of UFC events. I can't wait for Firefox 76 in September 2013.

[FrogMan]

any real big improvements from FF4 to FF5?

Just switched to FF4 and thought it was much faster than FF3.6 I had but I'm wondering if it's really necessary to go to FF5...

FM

[PackerFanatic]

I thought it was insane that as soon as I jumped up to FF4, I was getting notifications about upgrading to FF5.

[MJ4H]

App tabs are new in FF5 and pretty cool.

[jeff061]

App tabs were in 4, they any different in 5? I only don't use them because with my config I get more screen real estate when I don't have tabs open. App tabs are open all the time, so I lose that.

[MJ4H]

Weird, I didn't know they were in 4 and there was a big thing explaining them as a new feature when I upgraded to 5.

[fantom1979]

Never seen the app tabs before (that doesn't mean they weren't there, just didn't notice). Pretty cool feature.

[FrogMan]

yeah, I'm using FF4 and I got app tabs. Found about them when the FF Facebook page asked a question in FB about if anybody was using them...

FM

[Matthean]

I was lazy to see about getting some Kapersky add ons disabled that were making FF run really slow. I upgraded to FF5 and those were disabled. I'm happy once again.