Three different browser over three weeks ... the winner is ...

exoteric said:

I pretty much agree with you. As for Opera, I'm actually very impressed with it and am a bit surprised that the company hasn't been bought by another major company like Google, Yahoo, Apple or even Microsoft, heh.

I think Opera do quite nicely from their licensing deals on Opera-Mini, with companies such as Nokia.

elmer said:

exoteric said:

*snip*

I think Opera do quite nicely from their licensing deals on Opera-Mini, with companies such as Nokia.

Uh with OEMs who ship WinMo. Microsoft might actually make a decent mobile web browser, so Opera might have some problems with their primary revenue source.

I keep all the alternatives installed and updated on my dev PC, so I can check my sites work with them all, but I use IE8 as my standard browser, because I'm really not interested in features other than the address-bar, don't much care about rendering speed of the sites I visit, and can't be bothered trying to learn another program.

However, that doesn't mean I think IE8 is a good browser, it's just not bad enough to make me want to switch.

Somewhere during the IE8 beta, I did a similar thing. IE8 at the time was horrible: slow, buggy, crashed a lot, and I figured that if things didn't improve before the final release I needed a different browser. So I evaluated different browsers at the time. This means that the below applies to whatever version of those browsers was available in early 2009, not the current version.

I don't particularly like Firefox's UI, and its update process is (or was at the time) poorly suited to standard user accounts. Chrome's UI, while sleek, didn't fit my workflow at all. I use my favourites a lot, and Chrome's UI just isn't designed with that in mind. I also didn't like the background updater process constantly running, and the lack of an RSS reader. Opera I liked most, but it didn't render Channel 9 correctly (same issue that Herbie described) which wasn't acceptable for me.

Fortunately, IE8 cleaned up its act before final release so I stuck with that. It's also the only browser (as far as I'm aware) where I can subscribe to an RSS feed and have it automatically show up in Outlook, which I rather like.

 I use Chrome because it's the fastest. Searching from the same bar used for websites is very convenient. It has a very slick, doesn't get in your way, GUI. 

Dan said:

Dr Herbie said:

*snip*

I've wanted to do that for a while actually, do a techy makeover - Tech Eye for the Regular Guy, pimp out someone with new hardware (Xbox, Home Server, Home Automation, CAT 6) & software (touch PCs, multi-monitors, configure streaming, new apps,wifi, etc

In that case I volunteer to be the first subject.  Come over to Shropshire whenever you're ready

Herbie

algorith said:

 I use Chrome because it's the fastest. Searching from the same bar used for websites is very convenient. It has a very slick, doesn't get in your way, GUI. 

Except that it does get in my way. Putting tabs across the tops makes it so that I can't use Aero Snap. I like being able to blindly grab a window and whip it onto another monitor. I spent a weekend helping somebody transfer files, email and whatnot onto a new laptop. Somebody had told them to use Chrome. It was so hard, I almost had to scream.

As an addendum:  yesterday a co-worker pointed me to Chrome Plus, which is an extended version of Chrome with mouse gestures and an 'IE Tab' feature amongst other enhancements, so I'm now using that as my default.

Herbie

Dan said:

Dr Herbie said:

*snip*

I've wanted to do that for a while actually, do a techy makeover - Tech Eye for the Regular Guy, pimp out someone with new hardware (Xbox, Home Server, Home Automation, CAT 6) & software (touch PCs, multi-monitors, configure streaming, new apps,wifi, etc

Pick me Oprah!

I want a makeover!

I am so unhappy with my current shoes. I just know that more stuff will make my life complete!

Yes,.... I am that shallow!

Dan said:

Dr Herbie said:

*snip*

I've wanted to do that for a while actually, do a techy makeover - Tech Eye for the Regular Guy, pimp out someone with new hardware (Xbox, Home Server, Home Automation, CAT 6) & software (touch PCs, multi-monitors, configure streaming, new apps,wifi, etc

I'm not so selfish that I would ask for such a thing for myself. However, I would love to see you do that for my twin brother who lives with me. He's in desperate need of some new tech.