Different Types of Browsers

(The fight for Internet Supremacy between: Firefox, Internet Explorer and Opera!)

Many people love using Firefox for 3 main reasons: its download speed, a superior user interface and its pop-up blocker is one of the best out there. It also offers tabbed browsing, which means that users can jump back and forth between different sites with only one window open, and live bookmarks, which show users the most recent headlines on their favorite sites and lets them go directly to those articles. Faster browsing is another good benefit for Firefox users because people can enjoy quick page loading as you navigate back and forward in a browsing session. Improvements to the engine that powers Firefox deliver more accurate display of complex Web sites, support for new Web standards, and better overall performance. The software update feature makes it easy to get the latest security and feature updates to Firefox because it automatically downloads these small updates in the background and prompts you when they are ready to be installed. Firefox keeps you more secure when you’re browsing the Web, closing the door on spyware, worms, and viruses. Web-surfers have adopted Firefox rapidly, despite the dominance of Internet Explorer in the browser market. Internet Explorer has seen a steady decline of its usage share since Firefox's release. According to several sources by July 2006, Firefox had around 12% of global usage share. Cumulative downloads have increased in a near-linear fashion since the time Firefox 1.0 was released in November 2004 until July 2006. In other words, the download rate has remained fairly stable. None of the Mozilla Foundation's previous product releases experienced that kind of growth. The biggest challenge who wants to take on Internet Explorer is that most Web sites are built to work best with Microsoft's Internet Explorer because it's what sits on most PCs. That means some sites may not look quite right or may not be accessible at all via a browser other than Internet Explorer.

Some negative comments about Firefox is that it takes longer to launch than other browsers such as Internet Explorer or Opera on windows. Other Gecko-based browsers such as K-Meleon, which use platform-native user interface implementations, generally run faster than Firefox. Internet Explorer also launches slightly faster than Firefox on Microsoft Windows since many of its components are built into Windows and are loaded at startup. Some consumers also complain that Firefox uses more memory than other browsers which may slow down your computer. This has been reported as memory leaks.Mozilla developers claim it is sometimes at least partially an effect of the fast backwards and forwards feature. Other known causes of memory problems are misbehaving extensions, such as Google Toolbar and Adblock. Users switching from Internet Explorer sometimes find that certain websites do not render as expected in Firefox. This, however, is rarely a Firefox-specific problem and is usually caused by the respective websites using code that does not adhere to W3C standards — such as code specific to Internet Explorer, utilizing ActiveX controls or VBScript scripts, which are both proprietary Microsoft technologies and are not W3C standards. There is a Firefox extension called "IE Tab" that allows the Internet Explorer rendering engine to be embedded into Firefox on the Windows platform. This aims to solve rendering issues for those pages that use Microsoft specific technologies, but it puts the user at risk from vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer.Mozilla Firefox does not provide an MSI package, although some third parties have created one. Administrators who want to deploy Firefox on many Microsoft Windows computers at once would need an MSI installer to do it centrally, without having to manually install it on each computer. The absence of this feature makes it difficult to rapidly distribute the browser on large networks as in a corporate setting, and is cited frequently as an obstacle to the wide adoption of the browser in professional workgroups.

Opera is a brand new internet browser that can be used in desktop top computer, mobile cell phones and other devices such as video game consoles. It is an Internet suite which handles common internet-related tasks, including visiting web sites, sending and receiving e-mail messages, managing contacts, and online chat. Opera is developed by Opera Software, based in Oslo, Norway. It runs on a variety of operating systems, including Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Solaris, FreeBSD and Linux systems. It is also used in mobile phones, smartphones, Personal Digital Assistants, game consoles and interactive televisions. Technology from Opera is also licensed by other companies for use in such products as Adobe Creative Suite. Desktop and Mobile Mini versions of Opera are available free of charge.

Opera Mini- is a fast and easy alternative to Opera's mobile browser, allowing users to access the Web on mobile phones that would normally be incapable of running a Web browser. This includes the vast majority of today's WAP-enabled phones.

Small-Screen Rendering - Shipped on millions of devices from the major mobile phone manufacturers and operators worldwide, the award-winning Opera Mobile™ browser lets you surf the full Web on your mobile phone. And when we say "the full Web," we really mean the *full* Web. Equipped with Opera's technology, the Opera Mobile™ browser lets you access any site on the Internet, just like you do on your computer.

Opera Platform- Using state-of-the-art Web technologies, Opera Platform is a powerful and flexible application framework for mobile phones. With Opera Platform™ you can quickly and affordably create advanced mobile Web applications that give users instant access to online resources such as news headlines, weather forecasts, e-mails, or bus schedules.

Opera Powered Handheld Products- Opera enables the full Internet from the Nintendo DS. Nintendo DS revolutionizes the way games are played. With dual screens and touch-screen technology, wireless communication and built-in PictoChat software you have the power to draw, write and send messages wirelessly. With impressive 3D rendered graphics, Nintendo DS delivers cutting-edge portable games for fans of any genre. Plus, users can play all their favorite Game Boy Advance games in a single-player mode. Opera delivers its full Web browser to Nintendo's new game console, Wii(TM). Users of the Wii console will browse the Internet using their consoles. Navigating via the revolutionary new Wii Remote controller, users can visit Web sites in between gaming sessions. Nintendo Wii promises to deliver an entirely new gaming experience to the market in late 2006.