which browser do you use and why

[coochiekuta]

i was reading an article in pc world about the myth that IE is less secure than other browsers.

they showed numbers from 2009 where symantec received reports of 169 for firefox, 94 for safari, 45 for IE and 41 for chrome.

but who cares about symantec. using us-cert aka united states computer emergency readiness team, which is charged with hosting a database of reported computer vulnerabilities. they showed 51 vulnerabilities for safari, 40 for chrome, 20 for firefox and 17 for IE for the pass 3 months.

all-in-all an interesting article. its in the pc world oct 2010. i have met more than a few people who hate IE but i never asked why. as for me, i use IE out of habit mostly. at least on pc. the browser that comes with the device is what im likely to use for that device.

 

[jmann]

I use Chrome. Because it is fast. The end.

 

[TuffLuffJimmy]

I mainly use Opera. I like Opera because of it's easy syncing and Opera Turbo. Syncing works equally well in Firefox too. Opera turbo is nice as I don't always have a fast internet connection and it speeds things up to have the page processed server side.

 

[ucfgrad93]

I mainly use Safari with Firefox as my secondary browser.

 

[Apple OC]

Safari ... comes with the MBP

 

[hakuryuu]

Firefox with Safari as backup. I just like firefox more. Tried Chrome, not a big fan.

 

[Mr. McMac]

I mainly use Chrome because it's the fastest from my experience. I also use Firefox on occasion. I'm not a fan of Safari..

 

[R94N]

I use Safari and Firefox for some sites that don't work with Safari.

 

[0007776]

I mostly use firefox. I don't have much of a reason except that I like it.

 

[roadbloc]

Call me boring, but I just use the OS default. So that's safari on OSX, Internet explorer on my windows box and firefox on my ubuntu server.

I just want to browse the web. I care not for fractional speed differences, plugins and all all that rubbish.

 

[maflynn]

Safari on the Mac and Firefox for windows. I still use IE6 at work for stuff, but then that's because I support systems that use IE6

 

[KnightWRX]

Number of vulnerabilities is a very bad metric. You can have 50 different DoS type vulnerabilities that just result in a crash no matter what the attacker tries, and you can have 1 very bad vulnerability that can cause code execution. The fact is Internet Explorer has had a very bad run of code execution vulnerabilities where simply navigating to malicious sites result in installation of malware on your computer.

Also other factors are time between exploit and patches. Microsoft has a very bad sheet here where some vulnerabilities with exploits in the wild have been left unpatched for many months. The release cycles have been long, leaving users open to known attacks.

Then there's the most important factor : Standards compliance. Let's face it, anyone still using Internet Explorer at this point is personally responsible for holding back the web and preventing users of alternative platforms from using it. Microsoft's goal with Internet Explorer until about version 7 was basically to close down the web to their platform and thus cement their monopoly over desktop technologies. Poor respect for standards, a lot of extensions and especially dev tools that promoted the use of these non-standard extensions.

The web was designed as a platform agnostic medium. Everyone should participate in making sure that no corporations gains controls over displaying web content, be it Adobe through the use of proprietary plugins or Microsoft through the use of non-standard technologies for formatting. Some might argue that this just isn't important, but with the growing number of devices that don't have access to Trident (Internet Explorer's rendering engine) and the proliferation of mobile web devices, this is becoming even more important. Microsoft needs to learn to play ball or go home, not the opposite.

Oh and I guess performance too, if that matters to you. Internet Explorer gets dominated here. Internet Explorer 9 you say ? Let's look at that when it actually ships vs all other things in development...

I use Chrome these days, a return to my KHTML roots (yes kids, I used WebKit before it was the cool thing, back when it wasn't even a glimmer in Apple's eye).

 

[OllyW]

Safari on the Mac and Firefox for windows.

Same here.

Safari feels just right on OS X but wrong on Windows. The opposite for Firefox.

I stopped using IE back when Firefox was called Phoenix (later Firebird).

 

[Stella]

Safari on OSX, Firefox secondary. Firefox on windows.

On cell phone, Opera.

I would use Opera desktop but I can't get over its GUI, its crap. Opera has been quite innovative, much of which can now be found in other browsers, i.e., tabbed browsing, Speed Dial, aka "Top Sites" in Safari.

Safari on windows - agree with OllyW. Safari just doesn't feel right on windows for some reason.

 

[S.B.G]

Safari on OS/X always; Firefox only if there is some weird reason to.

Firefox on Windows always; IE only when the site requires it.

Also use the NoScript plugin for Firefox on both platforms. I wish there was NoScript for Safari too.

 

[KnightWRX]

Safari just doesn't feel right on windows for some reason.

No Apple software feels right on Windows, it has to do with Apple's obstinacy to not use the native controls and just try to reproduce OS X's UI on Windows. For a company that cares about UI consistency and user experience, they sure have a strange way of showing it on their Windows offerings.

 

[S.B.G]

No Apple software feels right on Windows,

I second that motion. I really hate iTunes on Windows, but love it on OS/X.

 

[Heilage]

I used to use Firefox on all platform, but I have now switched to Chrome. I find it much better, even with the lack of flash- and adblock.

 

[KnightWRX]

I used to use Firefox on all platform, but I have now switched to Chrome. I find it much better, even with the lack of flash- and adblock.

Chrome has both Flash and adblock extensions available. I wouldn't use it if it didn't.

 

[XnavxeMiyyep]

I switched back to Firefox this summer after using Opera for a couple years. I like Opera's keyboard shortcuts better, but Firefox has a plug-in called /Find Bar/ that allows me to search pages with Regular Expressions, which is really handy.

Also, it seems that the newer Opera is trying to imitate Google Chrome, which makes me sad.

 

[Heilage]

Chrome has both Flash and adblock extensions available. I wouldn't use it if it didn't.

I found some, but they all seemed to be for some other beta version.

(Or is this yet another case of eternal Google Beta?)

 

[wirelessmacuser]

Because I work in a multi-platform environment where time is of the essence, speed & uniformity are must haves. I was centered on Firefox for a long time. Then with the intro of Chrome I kept testing it periodically. Once build 7.xxx was released it was ready to be my Firefox replacement. I now use Chrome on all platforms & find it very fast, stable & reliable.

 

[skunk]

Safari, because I can't be arsed to change, and it seems to do the job.

 

[KnightWRX]

I found some, but they all seemed to be for some other beta version.

(Or is this yet another case of eternal Google Beta?)

Did you search Google's official repository ?

https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/gighmmpiobklfepjocnamgkkbiglidom

https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/gofhjkjmkpinhpoiabjplobcaignabnl

I can't even use Chrome here (stuck on Firefox) and I found them in like 2 seconds...

 

[wirelessmacuser]

No Apple software feels right on Windows, it has to do with Apple's obstinacy to not use the native controls and just try to reproduce OS X's UI on Windows. For a company that cares about UI consistency and user experience, they sure have a strange way of showing it on their Windows offerings.

So true. My only _major_ gripe with Apple is their increasingly arrogant / elitist stance. If they would back off, relax, and be more accommodating the potential is staggering. Oh sure, they are doing quite well now, but a change of attitude would unlock the flood gates to world class success unlike ever seen before. There are many influential people in the tech sector who share my experience & viewpoint. If Apple were to join the mainstream at the top, the world would be their oyster. Currently they continue to grow larger & stronger, but in scary menacing behind the scenes ways so heavily concealed, not many notice. If one pays very close attention to the business news, it's there you just have to watch very closely.