Firefox vs. Internet Explorer
By Craig Lloyd on Jan 26th, 2009 at 8:43PM
When Firefox was first released, many got a hold of it realizing that it offered better security than Internet Explorer and that it featured tabbed browsing, which seemed to become an asset for web surfers. Microsoft then released IE7, which was drastically improved and held many of the same features as Firefox, including tabbed browsing. Loyal Firefox fans didn’t budge.
Firefox 3 is now mainstream and I will admit that it has noticeable flaws, but is considerably faster than previous versions. One of the biggest flaws in Firefox 3 is the handling of memory resources. Luckily, Firefox 3.1 is closely approaching its 3rd beta release (Feb. 2) and should have the memory bug taken care of by the final release. As far as IE8, the first release candidate was released today. Get it HERE.
With both IE8 and Firefox 3.1 in the making, which one will come out on top in the end? What do the betas say about the future of FF vs. IE? Will Firefox fans still be loyal, or will IE8 steal their hearts? I will leave you with these questions, and be prepared for a Firefox 3.1 vs. IE8 showdown! Both contenders plan to launch their final releases later this year.
I think Internet Explorer is dying. I don’t know a lot of people who still use it (except old people). I think the real battle will be between Firefox and Google Chrome. I’d love to see Firefox’s memory issue fixed. It is an incredible resource hog at the worst times.
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Thanks for bringing up Google Chrome. I, as well, think that it has potential to compete and it could very well be a competitor during the Firefox 3.1 vs. IE8 battle. I should check it out ;)
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It’s about to leave beta wait until then.
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It seems it has been out of beta for awhile: http://tinyurl.com/5hrt3u
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Safari FTW
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Wow I didn’t know. Guess it’s time to try it out again.
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I hate to say it, but my guess is that Internet Explorer will remain #1 for quite some time. Firefox’s market share growth has definitely slowed significantly since the release of IE7. While people that originally switched over to Firefox aren’t likely to switch back, there are less and less new users because many of the advantages of Firefox over Explorer were addressed with IE7. For a long time Microsoft didn’t have any really competition, but when Firefox gained popularity they really stepped up their game. Sure, most of what they did just copies off of Firefox, but they have the advantage of having their browser shipped off with every copy of the most widely used operating systems in the world. The only thing really separating Firefox and Explorer now is the wide variety of add-ons available for Firefox, however that is not something that the average user looks for.
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Good points PohTayToez. I think that the great marketing tool that Microsoft has is the only reason why IE is still competing.
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Even ps3 has a web browser that is faster than IE. I’m not going near IE unless I’m forced to.
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