Last week I took the plunge and downloaded Internet Explorer 8. I have to admit, it’s a lot better than I expected. I now have three browsers on my PC: Internet Explorer, Firefox and Chrome. Each has its own nice features and flaws. So it was interesting to read what PC World had to say.

“We found that Internet Explorer 8 performed well, and beat out Firefox 3.0.7 in the majority of our time trials.” This quote comes from Browser Showdown: Internet Explorer 8 vs. Firefox, PC World, 5/19/09.

What does Microsoft have to say about this?

They tackle it head-on.

“Lately, there’s been a lot of talk about Internet Explorer’s speed, security, and adaptability. But many of the claims are comparing older versions of Internet Explorer to competitors’ newest releases.”

Here’s how the latest version of Internet Explorer 8 really compares to the current competition.

To counter this, they’ve put together four myth-busters.

Myth #1: Internet Explorer is slower than Firefox and Chrome.

Fact: In tests, Internet Explorer 8 performs as well or better than Firefox and Chrome.

“Browser speed can be measured in a number of ways, but what matters most is how quickly you’re able to get things done while navigating the Web. After all, 80% of online activities are based around navigation.”

Internet Explorer’s Accelerator, Web Slice, Smart Address Bar, and Visual Search features make it faster, safer, and easier to do what you need to do on the Web.

In the white paper, “Improving Consumer Use of the Web, Speed and Ease in the Real World #1, the chapter on Communicating and Multitasking without Disruption raises the following point:

“Multitasking is a very common behavior, where many Web activities are happening at the same time in parallel sessions. A teenager might be researching political events of the 1960s for a school project, and, at the same time, be on Facebook, using Instant Messenger, watching a YouTube video and checking her Web mail.

In the past, if you clicked on a link in an email that led to an unstable Web site, it could crash or stall the entire browser, including other open tabs.

With Internet Explorer 8, if a Web page causes a crash, you might not notice it.

Unlike previous versions of Internet Explorer and other browsers, the disruption caused by an unstable site is minimal and is handled gracefully.

Because the browser’s frame and tabs run as separate, isolated processes, if something causes one tab to crash or stall, only that tab is affected.

Tabs that crash are automatically restored and reloaded—in most cases, without needing to login to a Web site again.

Furthermore, if you are entering information on a Web page (such as filling out a form) when a tab crashes, Internet Explorer 8 will recover it when it reloads the page.

And in the event that the browser crashes unexpectedly, the entire session (including all tabs) is restored. In summary, because of these Internet Explorer 8 advances, the browser itself remains stable and other tabs remain unaffected; thereby, minimizing any disruption.

Microsoft also add that Firefox and Chrome advocates cling to micro-benchmarking page load claims to measure browser speed.

But in most cases, these differences can only be viewed by slow-motion video captures, and they just don’t represent real world examples. If you’re still hung up on millisecond page load times to gauge performance, watch this video for a head-to-head comparison.

Video: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer

Myth #2: Internet Explorer is less secure than Firefox.

Fact: Research proves that Internet Explorer 8 catches almost twice as much malware than the competition. That’s “less secure?”

Internet Explorer was the first browser to integrate features that protect you against phishing and malware, and the first to embed domain highlighting, Cross-Site scripting protection, InPrivate filtering.

It involves a lot of technical jargon, but the point is, Internet Explorer 8 is the only browser to offer this level of security right out of the box.

Since the Beta 2 release last spring, SmartScreen filter has blocked over 8 million malware and phishing scams, and projections show that it’s on target for over 1 million blocks per day.

Research shows that Internet Explorer 8 catches almost twice as much malware as its closest competition.

Microsoft also make the point that “with a Security Response Center and 24/7 phone support, Internet Explorer 8 has the ability to respond faster than any other browser when a new attack is released into the wild. What other browser can say that?”

To see all of the nitty-gritty details, read this security whitepaper or check out this NSS Labs study.

http://download.microsoft.com/download

http://nsslabs.com/anti-malware/browser-security

Myth #3: Firefox is a more adaptable browser than Internet Explorer.

Facts: Internet Explorer 8 offers almost all of the features the most popular add-ons in Firefox have, and you’re able to personalize your browser in a way that saves you time and research.

FWIW: There are more than 1,700 Internet Explorer 8 add-ons available at the Add-ons Gallery, including add-ons, Accelerators, Web slices, and Visual Search plug-ins for your browser, including Facebook, Amazon, and eBay.

Myth #4: Internet Explorer doesn’t support Web standards.

Fact: Internet Explorer 8 passes more of the World Wide Web Consortium’s test cases than any other browser.

In addition to passing more of the official CSS 2.1 test suites than any other browser, Microsoft develops and contributes thousands of new tests for the consortium.

But what does that really mean?

It means that Microsoft put significant effort into make sure sites still work, even if they’re designed for older versions of Internet Explorer, by giving users a Compatibility View button.

I’ve been impressed with IE 8.

What do you think?

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Regards,

Ivan

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