Browser Compatibility

Firefox – Windows, Mac & Linux
www.getfirefox.com
popular new (first full version was released in November 2004) Mozilla open source browser with good w3c compatibility and a great logo.

Firefox's market share has now (March 2006) exceeded 10% of all users. Some technical websites report that a majority of their admittedly somewhat geeky but switched-on visitors use the Firefox browser.

There are rumours that search engine Google is poised to produce its own-brand browser based on Firefox. Certainly Firefox has integrated many Google features including easy installation of the Google Toolbar for Macs and Windows.

USA Today ran this security warning on 8th Sep 2004:
"Beware of spyware. If you can, use the Mozilla Firefox browser.

If you must use Internet Explorer (IE), set the security settings to high; this will disable multimedia features of many Web sites, but also will block a main path intruders use to plant Web contagions. Tip: To set IE security to high, navigate to Tools, Internet options, Security settings."

Internet Explorer – Windows, Mac (no longer being updated on Mac)
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/default.mspx
huge installed base but almost all of the possible vulnerabilities and no favicons on Mac version (Mac support discontinued completely from 2006) and poor .png transparency support on Windows version (Firefox logo should not have a square background...). poor w3c compatibility - MicroSoft trying to get the world to become MicroSoft compatible instead.

BBC News carried this info on 16th Feb 2005:
"The decision to make Internet Explorer 7 is widely seen as a U-turn because, before now, Microsoft said it had no need to update the browser... A new version of IE was widely expected to debut with the next version of Windows, codenamed Longhorn, which is due to appear in 2006." In March 2006 the release of Vista (previously Longhorn) is stated to be Nov 06 for the business versions and early 07 for the consumer variants.

Internet Explorer 6 is five years old, and is widely seen as falling behind rivals such as Firefox and Opera.

Internet Explorer still dominates with a share of a little under 85% but this is down from a peak of almost 96% in mid-2004.

Netscape – Windows, Mac
http://channels.netscape.com/ns/browsers/default.jsp
Destroyed by MicroSoft once they had 'discovered' the net, about 5 years late. MicroSoft simply gave their browser away, undercutting Netscape's core business.

Version 7 was built on top of open source code from Mozilla, and was said to be powering the AOL browser.

Camino – Mac
www.mozilla.org/projects/camino/

A fast Mac-only browser in development by open source Mozilla organisation.