The Browser War: Who Will Win?
When you turn on your computer each morning, what’s the first thing you click? The Internet Explorer little blue “e” with a golden ring icon, Firefox’s floating fire… uh, fox… around a globe, or the Google Chrome four-color ball that’s reminiscent of the old SIMON electronic game? What about at work? Does the company you work for share your love for a particular Internet browser or do they force you to work with one you would never use at home? Do you even care what browser you use?
You may have a favorite browser or you may not, but the online community certainly cares to know what you’re using. What’s basically an inconsequential act on your part—a click here and you’re off surfing the web, without giving your browser a second thought—is a competitive do-or-die market for the companies that offer you those free browsers. Internet browsers are, for example, yet another battleground for Microsoft and Google to go at it. So let’s take a look at the two Internet browsers from these companies and what their latest incarnations have to offer.
Internet Explorer 8
Microsoft’s Internet Explorer is a staple on any Windows-run personal computer. (Being a product of the same company that produces Windows no doubt inevitably helps.) It takes a person who really cares about what their browsers have to offer to take the trouble of removing IE from their computer and installing another browser—and for most people, IE works just fine.
The latest offering, Internet Explorer 8, comes after a decade of IE on the Internet. Seven previous versions have given Microsoft plenty of time to work out the kinks, add the features that users want, and take away the features that users could care less about. After this many experimentations, this Frankenstein of an Internet browser should be just about perfect.
Well… I guess not. If the disastrous Windows Vista is any indication, Microsoft can’t hit it out of the ballpark with every product. Analysts love IE8’s beefed up security and extra navigational options, but they are panning the browser’s speed, or lack thereof, I should say. Not that IE8 is a turtle, but there are faster options out there.
Some users also complain of compatibility issues with code and then there’s the fact that viruses, Trojans, and scams target IE because well, if you’re the king of the castle, you’re likely to be the target of most attacks. New features like “anti-clickjacking” that help stop an innocent Internet surfer from clicking on a malicious program disguised as a normal link are great for improved security, but IE8 is still the primary target for all those hackers determined to ruin your day.
Google Chrome
It’s unfair to really compare Google Chrome with IE8 when Chrome just launched last fall and IE has 10 years of experience, but it’s worth taking a look at what Google has to offer us. Chrome already is gaining buzz among analysts and computer enthusiasts, so I thought I’d share a few of those compliments with you.
Chrome has incredibly fast speed on its side, something that IE can just never quite attain. It’s got its own task manager, which computer geeks appreciate, and it lets you move tabs around to separate windows if your browser gets too cluttered.
Google probably bided its time and looked at what works and what doesn’t work in all of its competitors. For example, Opera had the thumbnail bookmark start page idea first and Safari came up with the extra privacy that popping up a window that isn’t archived in the history or bookmark page allows. Chrome is a true Frankenstein and so far it doesn’t appear to be suffering from any major issues. However, there are a few known bugs that need to be worked out, like failing to load apps and videos.
Bottom Line
Google may dominate the search engine corner of the Internet with about 72-74% of the market share (Microsoft, with around 6-9%, is trying to eat a chunk of that with is new search engine, Bing, but we’re not holding our breath quite yet), but it’s not going to even touch Microsoft’s numbers when it comes to Internet browsers—I don’t care what kind of heavy artillery Google Chrome manages to pull out.
Currently Microsoft’s Internet Explorer once has about 65.5% of the browser market share and Google Chrome has… a whopping 1.8%. Yeah, not eighteen percent, one-point-eight percent. Granted, Internet Explorer is not entirely invulnerable. Back at the turn of the millennium, IE dominated the browser market share with about 95% and just six years later, it’s lost almost 30% to its competitors—that’s nothing to sneeze at.
Currently, though, Mozilla’s Firefox (22.51% browser market share) and Apple’s Safari (8.43%) are quite a bit ahead of Google Chrome when it comes to the opponent who might topple IE. But Google’s got some special features—I hope they keep the battle up! When there are more options, consumers win. We’ll just sit back and watch the fireworks, reaping the spoils of the battle.