Explorer or Firefox?

[Silverpsycho]

Originally Posted by Evil Kid Bugs

'puters are like automobiles: the part that causes the most problems is the nut behind the wheel.

Industry brown-nosers like Cenzic don't take into account how flexible Opera is. You can set it up to be loose as a goose, or as tight as a clam. But, regardless of what browser you use, if you don't use your head you're gonna get in trouble. Some people are just too stupid to be allowed to use a 'puter.

IE and Firefox always look to Opera for new features. Firefox will look something like todays Opera in a year or so, IE will take two or three years. Meanwhile Opera will still be far ahead.

-ekb-

Still, where is your research to back up your claims. I'd like reputable resources, not silly rhymes and phrases you make to make yourself look clever.

I have most definitely found a few articles that state what you seem to believe about Opera, but they came from unreliable sources...like personal blogs and came about from not much testing, at least nonprofessional testing.

Windows Vista Magazine states IE 7 to be one of the safest browsers to date. Then Safari follows closely, then Firefox followed by Opera, which managed to take in the most attacks. Also in regards to IE and Firefox using Opera to get better material, what company doesn't do this? In order to put together a better product, you must know your competition inside and out to cater to the general public and offer better. This stands true to almost everything especially when revolutionizing the computer and its tools.

Like I backed up CaptainZeke before, we are all vulnerable to attacks based upon the sites we visit and what the user does. I think you tried to say the same thing yourself but it came off childish through the rhymes/phrases. I actually think neither one of is is right in this debate since I'm going to assume that you haven't tested all current browsers because I sure know I haven't. Like I said, I'm using Firefox and I've seen in many places that it's considered to be low in ranking or right in the middle, as there is no concrete position.

However good luck to everyone here in staying safe from viruses, hackers and all the problems that come to one's computer. There is no such thing as a perfect browser.

Also EKB, I'm not trying to cause a fight with you because I can totally appreciate your side of the debate, but I want to make sure it's known that it is only a debate. Believe me, you do have me interested in Opera, but I'd like better investigative facts concerning that browser.

[FabTab]

Two words; Internet Explorer.

[Rattlebones]

Opera, per most of the browser comparison standards is the most versatile browser which accomodates the most standards in the market.

IE does not support all the http 1.0 and 1.1 protocols and that's enough to deep six it for me most of the time.

And from all the benchmarks, IE is the bottom of the market.

Whether or not other companies steal from Opera... that's arguable and probably not something which can be proven one way or another.

[Silverpsycho]

Versatile, yes. Safe, no.

This was proven when statistics were shown having multiple sites (above 30) open on each browser and IE came out most victorious in terms of safety. I am only talking about IE 7...I can't speak for the Beta 8 version or lower.

[Evil Kid Bugs]

If someone is going to go on every stinky site there is, no browser is gonna be safe. Anyone who actually goes online the way these testers do is a nut, and they'll get messed up no matter what.

That's why the best "test" is actually using the browsers yourself. Each of the Big Four browsers get used here at the Estate of Evil, the only major browser that is not allowed on the premises is Safari, which only lasted about 4 hours before getting ripped outta the registry by it's roots.

If "safety" is a big concern, however, consider this: every browser is a target, and can be hit, but the target that gets shot at the most is IE. IE has the most 'puter people using it, and the average 'puter skills in the IE group is lower than any other group of browser users. The lack of knowledge in the IE group makes them the sort who are most vulnerable to things like phishing schemes. IE is a great, big, soft and fuzzy target.


As for the statistics, I don't trust any on them to do much more than prove whatever the statistician wants to prove.
Look at the marketshare site (look it up), they list the market share of the different browsers as this:

Originally Posted by marketshare

Browser Total Market Share

Microsoft Internet Explorer 69.80%
Firefox 20.66%
Safari 7.18%
Chrome 0.87%
Opera 0.72%
Netscape 0.52%
Mozilla 0.08%
Opera Mini 0.06%
Playstation 0.04%
Blazer 0.02%
Microsoft Pocket Internet Explorer 0.01%
ACCESS NetFront 0.01%
Konqueror 0.01%
ANT Galio 0.00%
WebTV 0.00%

Report generated Monday, January 26, 2009

A big problem with the above data is the method used to collect it. Their main source for the data is the websites that collect (and sell) visitor data, and browsers with 3rd party toolbars installed (i.e. Alexa).

The problem is that they assume that there will be an even distribution of visits to the snoopy sites, and installations of the nosey toolbars, among the different browsers. But, what if the users of a particular browser don't want their usage tracked, and avoid the snoopy sites? What about the browsers that are specifically designed to prevent tracking? Those browsers will show up with an inaccurately low market share.


Finally, if you really, really want the maximum in online safety, the best way is to use a proxy to filter content. Some even convert what is to be displayed into a graphic image before transferring it to your 'puter, making it pretty much incapable of doing harm. Also gives stuff like ActiveX a hard time...

-ekb-

[Silverpsycho]

Nice post EKB.
I appreciate the lengthy response. Maybe IE is such a problem because it's the leading in terms of popularity. Even though it's considered safe and doesn't have many vulnerabilities, I never use Safari because I'm not a fan.

I guess it all truly boils down to a matter of preference but I allow for testers to do the research and provide the outcome to the consumer. That's where I found the studies, as the computers used were strictly for research and the least affected was IE 7 as opposed to the others. I'm not defending IE 7 because I've been using Firefox for the past several years. I'm just trying to figure out which browser is the lesser of the evils in terms of great functionality, top speed and the leader in safe security measures.

[Extras]

Safari ALL the way.

[Aggie]

Internet Explorer is much better in my opinion