Remember the web browser wars? In the mid-1990s Microsoft and Netscape raced to add features to their respective browsers. Their rivalry and the race to attract "user eyeballs" led to rapid-fire advances in both Microsoft Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator.
Microsoft triumphed by bundling Internet Explorer with the Windows operating system but prompted the US government's landmark antitrust suit against the software giant.
A decade later an ageing Internet Explorer 6 still dominates but has seen its market share slip by about 10 points in the face of new competition from Mozilla's Firefox, an "open source" browser, and an updated version of Opera, another free rival browser.
Firefox in particular has won plaudits for its innovative approach to browsing, including a new "tabbed page" interface and built-in features such as search window, pop-up blockers and improved security.
These features helped Firefox capture about 9 per cent of the browser market - quite an achievement when nearly every personal computer sold comes with Internet Explorer installed along with Windows and users must download and install Firefox. The current version of Firefox - version 1.5.0.1 - is solid, fast and reliable. My favourite so far, it comes in versions that run on Windows-based PCs, Apple Macs and Linux machines.
However, the latest version of Opera's browser (Opera 9) comes with several advanced features only available in Firefox as add-ons and missing from the current version of Internet Explorer.
Now, almost five years after Internet Explorer 6 became available, Microsoft is readying its successor - the third beta (test) version of Internet Explorer (IE 7) was released last week and is available for download.
In fact, all the leading browsers - including Firefox - are due for facelifts over the next few months. These are designed to make them more flexible, secure and better able to handle the expanding range of business transactions and software applications over the internet. So I decided to take a closer look at the latest batch of browsers and how they compare.
Microsoft's update is the most eagerly awaited (www.microsoft.com). While its new browser has already been criticised by some who characterise it as a "catch-up exercise", it still represents a significant and worthwhile upgrade that will be built into Microsoft's next generation Vista operating system, due for launch later this year.
Among the new features, IE 7 includes tabbed browsing (address-book style tabs to help switch between web pages) for the first time, support for RSS (really simple syndication) technology, which delivers news feeds directly to the user's desktop, and a built-in search box on a much more attractive and streamlined toolbar. Perhaps most important, IE 7 boasts improved security including new anti-phishing technology that visually alerts users when they visit dubious "spoofed" websites.
I found the beta software easy to download and install. It imports settings, including favourites, automatically from previous versions of Internet Explorer. I would not recommend installing beta software on any mission-critical PC, but I encountered no problems with this latest "feature complete" trial version on my IBM ThinkPad portable. Note, however, that the PC must be running a valid version of Windows XP with SP2 (Service Pack 2) installed (downloads are also available for the 64-bit versions of Windows and versions of Windows Server 2003). IE 7 allows users to change the order of open page tabs just by dragging and dropping and to view thumbnail previews of open tabbed web pages. RSS feeds can now be updated all in one go.
Overall, IE 7 does a good job of catching up with its rivals and, while it lacks truly innovative features, it meets the requirements of the evolving dynamic and transaction-intensive web.
The new Opera 9 browser (www.opera.com) goes a step further by integrating Apple Mac and Yahoo-style "widgets" - small web-based applications that run within the browser but appear detached as standalone tools. Aside from standard features such as built-in search box and tabbed pages, the new browser also supports a file-sharing download technology called BitTorrent and lets users customise a wide range of personal preferences.
BitTorrent support enables savvy P2P (peer-to-peer) users who do not want to launch a separate external application to search for files on the BitTorrent network through integrated search functionality, and then use Opera's built-in transfer manager software to handle the download.
My favourite new features include the ability to delete individual cookies - bits of code that identify users when they revisit websites - and a single click option called "delete private data" that makes it easier to protect your identity while surfing the web.
Other features include integrated e-mail technology that lets users quickly send and receive e-mail without leaving the browser, and built-in support for RSS and Atom 1.0 (a newer protocol similar to RSS) newsfeeds. Another plus: Opera 9 supports 25 languages and runs on a wide range of Windows, Linux and Mac OS X-based machines where it poses a challenge to Apple's beautifully crafted Safari browser. Overall, Opera 9 is impressive and a worthy challenger for both Internet Explorer and the current version of Firefox. A beta version of Firefox 2 is due soon with a full version expected later this year.
Among its new features will be anti-phishing technology and tools that will automatically restore web pages should the browser crash or require a restart. Other features are expected to include a more advanced search box that will suggest queries as users type.
Mozilla's open source developers are already working on Firefox 3, which is due to launch next year and will enable users to run online applications without a live internet connection.
Such developments could enable Firefox to remain one step ahead of the rivals and continue to eat into Internet Explorer's dominant market position.
For most users the new IE 7 will meet most of their requirements. If not, both Firefox and Opera 9 are worth a look.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2006
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