Posted 10/02/09 at 09:26:43 PM by Paul Lilly

Out with the old and in with the new appears to be the theme for September. It doesn't even matter that Windows 7 hasn't been officially released yet, the Release Candidate has been solid enough for Vista users to leave their old OS behind and rock out with Microsoft's newest darling, according to market share data by web metrics firm Net Applications.

Vista's market share dipped by 0.18 percent in September, which isn't earth shattering, but it is the first time the OS has back tracked since January 2008. Windows 7, on the other hand, climbed 0.34 percent and now claims 1.52 percent of the market. Not bad for a pre-release OS.

On the browser front, Internet Explorer fared a little worse, losing 1.26 percent of its market share. The continued backwards slide has to be troubling for Microsoft, especially considering IE's market share set a new low of 65.7 percent. That's good news for Firefox and Chrome, whose market share jumped by 0.77 percent and 0.33 percent, respectively.

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Posted 09/30/09 at 11:00:28 AM by Paul Lilly

Turns out Microsoft isn't the only one concerned about Google's Chrome Frame, an extension which embeds Google's Chrome browser in Internet Explorer. Emerging as an unlikely supporter in Microsoft's corner, Mike Shaver, VP of Engineering for Mozilla, added his thoughts in a blog post.

"Running Chrome Frame within IE makes many of the browser application's features non-functional, or less effective," Shaver wrote. ""These include private browsing mode or their other security controls, features like accelerators or add-ons that operate on the content area, or even accessibility support."

Shaver when on to say that the users would be "seriously hindered" in understanding the web's security model and how their browser operates. A better solution, says Shaver, is if Frame-friendly sites explained to users that their site worked better in Chrome.

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Posted 09/02/09 at 03:35:48 PM by Paul Lilly

Firefox continues to chip away at Internet Explorer's market share, with Microsoft's browser posting its largest loss last month since November 2008.

Of course, we're still talking about small numbers overall. IE fell 1.1 percentage points to 66.6 percent in August, so it's in no immediate danger of yielding to Firefox, the main beneficiary who gained 0.8 percentage points to 23.3 percent. But the downward trend has to be cause for concern for Microsoft. In the past 12 months, IE has unwillingly given up 8.6 points of browser share.

On a positive note (for Microsoft), IE8 gained 2.7 percentage points in August, more than making up for IE6's 2.4 percentage loss, which is the biggest drop since December 2007. IE7 also took a step backwards, however, to the tune of 1.9 points.

While Firefox and IE duke it out for the top spot, Chrome is on pace to replace Safari as the No. 3 browser in 11 months. And if Google's aggressive campaign to promote Chrome pays off, we could be looking at a 3-way slug fest for the most used browser on the planet.

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Posted 08/12/09 at 05:48:31 PM by Andy Salisbury

For some time now there has been plenty of talk about killing off IE6. Digg has prevented users on IE6 from certain activities, Facebook has been hinting at its users to upgrade since February 2009 and YouTube is supposedly going to cut off support altogether. But, according to a recent post on the IEBlog, Microsoft is committed to keeping support – at least for the lifespan of XP.

“The engineering point of view on IE6 starts as an operating systems supplier. Dropping support for IE6 is not an option because we committed to supporting the IE included with Windows for the lifespan of the product. We keep our commitments,” said the post. “Many people expect what they originally got with their operating system to keep working whatever release cadence particular subsystems have. As engineers, we want people to upgrade to the latest version. We make it as easy as possible for them to upgrade. Ultimately, the choice to upgrade belongs to the person responsible for the PC.”

Microsoft has stated that they plan on keeping Extended Support for XP until April 8, 2014 – so if you’re an IE6 user, you’ve got roughly four more years to enjoy your ancient web browser.

But, if you are interested in making today the day you upgrade, be sure to check out these great alternatives!

Firefox 3.5
Google Chrome
Internet Explorer 8

Do it for the children.

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Posted 07/06/09 at 08:44:52 AM by Paul Lilly

How's this for irony - Internet Explorer 8 is Microsoft's best browser to date and, save for IE7, might be the company's most ambitious update to the IE series yet, but for the first time in over a decade, IE's market share appears to be in trouble.

According to StatCounter, a free online stats tool, Internet Explorer has coughed up 11.4 percent of the browser market share since March. This despite IE8 continuing to show strong growth, though much of that growth is coming at the expense of IE7, as Microsoft has been aggressively pushing its latest browser version.

Mozilla's Firefox, Apple's Safari, and Google's Chrome browsers are the ones responsible for 'stealing' away IE users in the past three months, with Firefox claiming at least half of the IE defectors.

What browser are you using? Hit the jump and sound off.

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Posted 03/19/09 at 10:05:46 AM by Paul Lilly

It was a year ago that security researcher Charlie Miller walked away with $10,000 for hacking into a MacBook Air with Safari in just two minutes during the annual Pwn2Own competition, and earlier this month Miller predicted Safari would be the first to fall at this year's event. Miller made good on that promise this week by using a prepared exploit to gain full control of the device in about 10 seconds.

"It's not easy, but this worked with one click [from the Safari browser]", Miller said.

Miller had discovered the exploit last year, which allows a remote attacker to take over a machine if a user clicks on a malicious URL. Details of the exploit, which Miller isn't allowed to divulge, will be shared with Apple from contest sponsor TippingPoint so that Apple can develop a patch.

On the same day, a 25-year-old computer science student at the University of Oldenburg in Germany demonstrated exploits in IE8, Safari, and Firefox, earning him a cool $15,000 ($5,000 per exploit), along with getting to keep the Sony Vaio P series notebook he used (Miller pocketed $5,000 and a MacBook Air).

While three major browsers succumbed to hacking attempts on day one, no mobile exploits have yet been successful. Mobile exploits carry the biggest reward for contest participants, with TippingPoint offering $10,000 for each successful exploit in the major smartphones.

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Posted 03/05/09 at 11:30:00 AM by Paul Lilly

Anyone who may have thought the death of Netscape would signal the end of the browser wars, boy were they mistaken. In fact, it could be argued that it was at that point it all began. It didn't take long for Mozilla's Firefox to emerge from Netscape Navigator's ashes, and over time, Firefox would win over enthusiasts with a potent combination of speed, security, and an unprecedented level of customization.

But what started as a two-man battle is quickly growing into all-out warfare. Prepare to be overwhelmed by an onslaught of new browser releases in the coming months as Microsoft, Mozilla, Apple, Opera Software, and Google all vie to provide your vehicle for navigating the web. Each one brings something new to the table, whether it be blazing fast performance or a unique feature-set. Don't worry if you haven't been paying attention - we jump in the trenches with whole lot of them and get to know each one on a personal basis.

Hit the jump to find out everything there is to know about the browsers of today and tomorrow!

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Posted 02/09/09 at 06:45:56 PM by Pulkit Chandna

Although Microsoft is concerned about the likelihood of EU requiring it to bundle other browsers with Windows, Firefox architect Mike Connor isn’t exulting. He, personally, despises the idea of other browsers, including Mozilla Firefox, being packaged with Windows. Connor told PC Pro in an interview,” The choice [when installing Windows] would be weird. There's no good UI [user interface] for that.” Connor’s views on this particular issue are his alone and should not be construed as Mozilla’s official line.

He then proceeded to take Opera to task for having complained to the EU about Microsoft’s bundling of IE with Windows. Connor thinks that the quality of the product is paramount and bundling doesn’t necessarily lead to market share. He labeled Opera – based on other people’s feedback – a “geeky browser” that is difficult to use.

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