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“I’d rather be hated for who I am than loved for who
I’m not” Kurt Cobain
“Geek Speek”
More On Browsers
(From Stuff.co.nz)
Most computers come with a default browser. On a
PC running Windows, this is usually Internet Explorer.
There’s no version of Explorer for other platforms.
There was a Mac OSX version but it hasn’t been updated
in several years. Mac users get Safari as their
supplied browser. But Apple released a Windows version
last year, probably as a way to show off its software
to potential switchers without making them commit
to a new computer and a big-bang transition. Firefox
is an exceptionally popular browser and usually the
default on computers running the Linux operating system.
Although it’s ranked behind leader Explorer in
terms of user numbers, it’s one of the most downloaded
applications on the internet. There are versions for
Windows, OSX and Linux. All look the same, other
than differences that are forced by the different operating
systems, and share the same features. A fourth
browser is Opera. At version 9.5, Opera works on just
about every computer you can imagine. And there’s a
mobile version for smartphones and PDAs and even
the Nintendo Wii. Opera has had a long standing reputation
as being the most standards-compliant browser.
In other words, it follows the display rules closely. Finally,
there’s the most recent entrant to the browser
wars - Chrome. Developed by Google, there’s a test
Windows version with the promise of OSX and Linux
compatibility soon. As a pre-release version it’s still a
work in progress so not every feature works perfectly.
But it shows plenty of promise.
Choosing a browser is a reasonably important computing
decision as switching, while possible, is not
easy. For example. there’s no simple way to keep bookmarks
synchronised between different browsers.
Also, it’s very important to keep your browser current
with security patches and to keep your computer’s
anti-virus software up to date. Your browser isn’t just
a window looking out to the internet, it is a doorway
for unscrupulous people to gain access to your data
by creating dodgy web pages to capture your personal
information. Finally, if you’re thinking of trying
a different browser, make sure you give it a run with
some of your most important websites. For example,
make sure that your internet banking works correctly,
as some banks only support a few browsers. You
may find that having more than one browser on your
system is handy because you may prefer to use one
browser most of the time and, for sites that are little
more fussy, you can use another.
The Offerings
Google Chrome Beta 1
Free (download size: approx 0.5MB)
www.google.com/chrome
Chrome’s the newest kid on the browser block.
Although it lacks support for some web standards
(some screens on Facebook simply didn’t work), it’s
very fast. Being a Beta (test version) it would be
unwise to recommend it but as it improves with new
releases we’d be looking at it because it shows
promise.
Safari 3
Free (download size: approx 16MB)
www.apple.com/safari
Apple’s Safari hasn’t made a splash in the Windows
world and has only a 3 percent market share. But it’s
the most popular browser for Mac OSX users. It
seems to run much faster on a Mac than a PC at
loading the same pages.
Firefox 3
Free (download size: approx 8MB)
http://www.firefox.com/
Firefox is Microsoft’s biggest rival in the browser
war. With a market share of more than 25
percent and growing, it’s the browser most likely to
knock IE off its perch. Performance is snappy and
pages render perfectly. In fact, it’s hard to find a
downside. Even switching from other browsers is
easy as it’s able to import settings.
Opera 9.5
Free (download size: approx 8MB)
http://www.opera.com/
Coast Along With Brent on Sunday.
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