Sign up for a new account or log in here:
Home › News › Weekend Open Forum
Weekend Open Forum: Your browser of choice
Without looking at any stats, I'm confident to say web browsers are in the top three most used applications by PC users. In fact, the relevance of the web browser is soon to surpass its original intent with Google developing an operating system revolving around Chrome. But without delving too deep into what the future may hold, today the browser is where many of us spend a majority of our time, be it for production, consumption or recreational purposes.
We've come a long way since the early days of Firefox, which reopened the door for the browser's evolution. Today the picture is more complete than ever, with five major browsers competing for our attention. There are the usual suspects: IE, Firefox, Opera, Safari and Chrome, as well as a handful of alternatives worth trying.
With that level of competition, you can expect development to continue accelerating. A rampant new version of Chrome is released every few weeks, and Mozilla is planning something similar, but for now we have a new major revision of Firefox in beta. Opera has remained small on the desktop, but has made impressive strides in the mobile market and on embedded devices, while Apple has turned itself into a leader by driving WebKit and bringing it to the iPhone. IE still holds the largest market share and Microsoft is working hard on Internet Explorer 9, but this may be their last opportunity to redeem themselves with early adopters, having the last two builds widely regarded as laggards.
Without further ado, we want to hear about your preferred browser or combination of browsers.
Discuss and vote in our poll.
User Comments: 77
Got something to say? Post a comment-
Opera is, by far, my favorite web browser, although those others browser around are also very impressive. I think Opera has been used in desktops mainly by die-hard fans, but Opera hasn't got the recognition it deserves, given the amazing and very innovative software it offers and the very few people using it. I think Opera hasn't been widely adopted because some web sites are not "compatible" with it, but after years using (and relying on) Opera I have discovered that the problem is that those web sites donīt let Opera play the game (maybe non fair play web design, who knows...).
On the other hand, I think IE users use it just because it works and comes with windows, Firefox users used it to get Microsoft irritated and now they depend on plug-ins, Chrome users use it to get Firefox users and Microsoft irritated and because it is light, and Safari users use it because... well, maybe they don't even know why, maybe it looks beautiful.
But whatever browser we use or any reason we had to start loving any of them, it is interesting to see how they have created what media calls "browser war", with many people defending really hard each piece of software.
Finally I want to say that if you have never used opera, just try it.
-----
My web browser podium is :
5. Safari
4. IE
3. Firefox
2. Chrome
1. Opera
-----
-
Lmaoo Opera? Please.
Firefox is the way to go. Second browser Chrome...
-
Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome FTW!
-
Yad said:
Firefox all the way
-
Arris said:
Opera, love my mouse gestures
-
Chrome 100%
Still Time to change
-
spikester48661 said:
firefox 3.8 and IE 8 on the main PC. and firefox 4 on my # 2 PC
-
#1 Mozilla Firefox
#2 Safari
#3 Internet Explorer
#4 Opera
#5 Chrome
-
It is pretty depressing to see that I'm probably the only one dabbling around with x64 incarnations of two major browsers .....
, but then again I don't really care about flash and stuff, that is why I use that flash disabling addon for FF anyway. -
Nothing else works for you, when once you get used to the style of Chrome
-
Chrome and Opera no need for anything else
-
Firefox 4 Beta 1 followed by Opera 10.6.
-
I use Firefox and IE just for a few pages, example, my homebanking page doesn't work properly on firefox and my university's self-management page won't work either.
Everything else: Firefox.
-
I use Chrome for the bookmark syncing, simplicity, and speed. I use Firefox when I need various add-ons, and IE only when I'm on MSFT's sites.
-
Firefox always :-)
-
Firefox is def my #1 browser with Seamonkey @ #2
-
Been a long time Opera user (since v4), and whilst I dabbled with Firefox I can no longer recommend me the v3 branch due to it being bloated and insecure. I can only hope that version 4 brings back some of the sparkle.
Opera is the only browser that allows me to integrate my desktop with my mobile and/or a laptop with Opera Sync something important to me when I'm on the move. Opera is also a researchers friend being able to translate, search and even look up in a dictionary with a right click. Voice was useful but broken in v10.
Then you have mouse gestures, something that speeds up my browsing enormously and also bookmark short cut commands (such as ts for Techspot or the built in one /. for Slashdot). Tab management is still years ahead of the competition as well.
Out of all the browsers Opera is the most feature rich and widespread, and it does this in a pretty lean package. Is it perfect? No, but then there is no perfect browser but for speed and customisation then Opera is hard to beat.
-
Firefox Forever!!! The mind just doesn't settle on any other browser!!!! Mozilla Rocks !!!!!!!
-
EPIC BROWSER.
-
PCrossFire said:
EPIC BROWSER.
-
PCrossFire, what exactly are you trying to accomplish by posting and then quoting yourself?
I didn't care what your browser was before, and I care less now.
-
My browser of choice is Firefox which I use about 99% of the time. I do have IE, Chrome and Opera on my laptop but use them very little.
-
Of course Chrome!
-
Opera...It just works. There are some bugs but speed dial and multiple session saves keeps me coming back.
Use Chrome for compatibility issues with Opera on some sites and the sheer speed of it.
Explorer for Windows updates :P.
Firefox not used. It's nice but too tweakable for me. I get in and cannot stop until it's so secure that most sites I visit require me to allow the access manually and that's now ideal for my surfing. I know it's good but its like tweaking windows...blah blah blah.
Sooo Opera.
-
@Guest # 75
So in a nutshell you are saying people who 'tweak' their bodies to have lots of tattoos aren't able to anything 'productive' at all?
Most Popular
| Trending | Featured |
-
Microsoft backtracks: Drops daily check-ins, used games restrictions on Xbox One
-
Noise cancellation technique harnesses magnets to silence CPU fans [video]
-
Cookie-blocking browser plugin Ghostery feeds data to the ad industry
-
China reclaims world's fastest supercomputer title
-
Games get traded in because they are too short, Avalanche boss says
Subscribe to TechSpot
Get free exclusive content, learn about new features and breaking tech news.