Pages Tagged “Web Browser”
Reviews
- Arc (Web Browser, discontinued) ★★★⯪☆ An interesting experiment in finding different ways to use the web, on the idea that people don’t want to use it more, they want to use the web less to accomplish what they want.
- Arc Search (discontinued) ★★★★☆ Surprisingly, I like the mobile Arc browser better than its desktop counterpart. Simplified UI, stays mostly out of your way, and it’s satisfying to fling tabs offscreen to close them. Still leery of the AI summarizer, though.
- Brave (Web Browser) ★★☆☆☆ A privacy-focused browser, but for every cool privacy feature there’s something else that makes me want to firewall the application away from my system.
- Chromium (Web Browser) ★★★⯪☆ The basis for most web browsers these days, driven mainly by building Google Chrome. Less tracking and branding, but stable updates are only available on Linux.
- Dia (Browser) ★★☆☆☆ An AI chatbot masquerading as a web browser, or the other way around. You can use it without the AI features, but that just leaves you with a stripped-down Chromium skin.
- Dillo (Web Browser) ★★★★☆ Ultra-minimalist and super-fast browser for web documents (not applications). You won’t be logging into Gmail with it, but it’ll load a Wikipedia article incredibly fast.
- DuckDuckGo ★★★★☆ A private-ish search engine that’s also serving less slop than Google. Disposable email aliases are convenient. The browser extension and standalone browser block known trackers, and the Android app can block trackers in other apps too.
- Ecosia (Search) ★★★☆☆ Non-profit search provider that uses renewable energy and partners with environmental organizations. AKA “the search engine that plants trees.”
- Falkon (Web Browser) ★★★★☆ A surprisingly capable Chromium browser for KDE and other Linux desktops that runs well even on low-end hardware and virtual machines.
- Firefox ★★★★☆ I still have a soft spot for Firefox. At times it’s been the best web browser on Windows and Linux. It’s still good, has a solid extension ecosystem, and serves as an important bulwark against one company dominating browser tech.
- GNOME Web (aka Epiphany) ★★★⯪☆ A rare WebKit browser for Linux. Handles the basics, but it’s specifically designed for GNOME, and it’s limited in what it can do around websites. Well-suited for PWAs, though!
- GNU IceCat ★★★☆☆ Firefox minus all branding and connections to Mozilla services, plus add-ons to block non-FSF-approved JavaScript.
- Google Chrome ★★★☆☆ There was a time when Chrome was the fastest web browser available. It isn’t anymore, and over the last few years it’s felt less like a user agent and more like a Google agent.
- iCab ★★★⯪☆ This macOS-only WebKit browser is just OK, but with so many other browsers trying to grab your attention and data, sometimes ‘just OK’ is what you want.
- IronFox ★★★★☆ A privacy-hardened Firefox variation for Android, comparable to LibreWolf on desktops. Removes Mozilla tracking and services like Pocket. Locks down features that can leak data, but those changes can break some sites.
- Ladybird and the Controversy over Inclusivity What people were upset about, why it blew up, and why some people are still leery of the project to this day.
- LibreWolf ★★★★☆ Customized Firefox, with an eye toward security and privacy. Follows the stable release channel. Works well most of the time, but privacy features can break some sites.
- Microsoft Edge ★★☆☆☆ Once you turn off all the Microsoft specials, it feels usable again – but then, it’s just another Chromium skin.
- NetSurf ★★★☆☆ Lightweight browser for RISC-OS and Linux/Unix (and a few smaller OSes). Slightly more capable than Dillo, if not quite as small or fast.
- Opera (Web Browser) ★★★☆☆ Opera used to be one of my favorite browsers back in the day, but its current incarnation just doesn’t appeal to me. I much prefer Vivaldi, which is a spiritual successor to the original.
- Orion Browser ★★★★★ A Mac-native WebKit browser from Kagi that’s more advanced than Safari, slightly cleaner than Arc or Zen, and can run Chromium/Firefox extensions. I may be sticking with this as my main web browser on macOS.
- Regarding Mozilla and Brave On Brendan Eich’s brief promotion to CEO at Mozilla, the fallout for Mozilla and the creation of Brave.
- Safari (Web Browser) ★★★★☆ Dependable web browser built into macOS. Not much in the way of bells and whistles, but it does offer the usual bookmarks, autofill, reading mode, private windows, etc. And it’ll install PWAs on a desktop.
- SeaMonkey (Internet Suite) ★★★☆☆ The old Mozilla Suite lives on! Featuring web, email, news, an HTML editor, IRC client and more. Recent work has mostly been to keep it working and backport security fixes, so web app compatibility lags way behind even the ESR Firefox.
- Tor Browser ★★★★☆ When you really want (or need) to stay private while using the web, Tor is the way to go. Just keep the drawbacks in mind when you do.
- Ungoogled Chromium ★★★⯪☆ This takes Chromium and removes everything that connects to Google services…including things like safe browsing and the extension store.
- Vivaldi (Web Browser) ★★★★★ Spiritual successor to the original Opera browser, this ultra-customizable web browser can open into a full suite for email, calendar, feeds and more – but only if you want it to.
- Waterfox ★★★★☆ A Firefox fork aimed at improved performance and privacy, without sacrificing usability. Also available on Android.
- Web Browser Recommendations Vivaldi, Orion, Waterfox and Zen are my current favorites. I want to like Firefox, but I’m not so sure about Mozilla these days. Safari’s OK. LibreWolf and IronFox are good for everyday privacy, Tor for advanced scenarios. Falkon and Dillo are good for slow hardware.
- Zen Browser ★★★★☆ Similar to Arc, Zen has a non-cluttered design that stays out of your way. Unlike Arc, it’s built on Firefox, runs on more platforms, and doesn’t require you to log in just to use it!
Blog Posts
- Dillo Resurrected
The super-minimalist web browser Dillo has released a new version for the first time in almost a decade! (Now there’s a blast from the past!)
- Internet Explorer Goes Chromium
Microsoft has confirmed: They’re building future versions of Edge on top of Chromium, bringing the web another step closer to monoculture.
- Split Opera, Hold the Viking Helmets
The reporting is a bit confusing, but it looks like the Opera web browser has been sold to a Chinese consortium. The group wanted to buy the Norwegian company outright, but the bid failed, and they fell back to an alternate deal. According to NewsWeb: The following business units of Opera will be included in […]
- Losing Opera to WebKit
Why I’m disappointed in Opera’s switch to WebKit, even though I’m a fan of open-source and Free-with-a-capital-F software.
- End of Opera Unite & Opera Widgets
Over the years, Opera has introduced many features that became standard across web browsers, but some just haven’t caught on. Opera Unite and widgets are being removed.
- Even Microsoft Hates IE6
Microsoft has jumped on the ditch-IE6 bandwagon with IE6Countdown.com. Of course, they’re taking a slightly different approach than the other campaigns.
- Don’t Block Internet Explorer
At least one website is silently redirecting IE users to the Alternative Browser Alliance. Here’s why that’s not a good idea.
- Browse-o-Smart
After a week of playing with Chrome as my main browser, I’m back to Firefox. Chrome’s fast, but often won’t let me do really simple things I actually need.
- What’s Cool in Opera 10
Opera 10 adds speed, webfonts, improved email, better compatibility, better spell-check, and did I mention speed?
- Browser Sniffing Strikes Again!
Opera 10 will pretend to be Opera 9.80 in order to work around websites that only see the first digit of the version number.
- 15 years of the Opera Web Browser
Looking back on 15 years of the Opera web browser, and the 10 years that I’ve used it.
- The web is still round
- Alternative Browser Alliance Update
Just a quick note: I finally got around to updating the Alternative Browser Alliance website. Not the full rewrite that I was planning to do two months ago, but at least it’s now current on things like Google Chrome, Firebug, Dragonfly, etc. I’ve also released that site under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 license, […]
- Opera Mini on Android
Now there’s timing: Just two days after I bought a G1, Opera has released a beta of Opera Mini for the Android platform. You can find it in the Communications section of the Android Marketplace. Amazingly enough, on its first day out, it’s already #2 by popularity. For the most part I’m happy with the […]
- The New Browser Switch Campaigns
Rather than looking at campaigns for specific browsers, I’m looking at a class of campaigns that are either promoting a group of browsers, or advocating against the current dominant player: Internet Explorer. Browse Happy — the classic. Goal: Move users away from Internet Explorer. Target Audience: IE users. Promotes: Firefox. Also Safari, Opera, and… um… […]
- Dillo Web Browser Updated at Last: 2.0 Release
After several years of inactivity and a quiet relaunch earlier this year, the Dillo web browser has finally released Dillo 2.0. The open-source project started in 1999 with the goal of creating a small, fast, highly efficient graphical web browser that could run well even on low-end hardware and software. It’s a UNIX application, and […]
- Suggestions Wanted: Alternative Browser Alliance Relaunch
You may have seen my website, the Alternative Browser Alliance. I put it together in 2005, when flame wars between Opera users and Firefox users were at their height, to show that we shared a common goal: opening the web. The most popular page on the site is a list of web browsers, which is […]
- First Impressions of Google Chrome
Now that it’s live, I’ve downloaded the Google Chrome beta on my Windows box at work. Thoughts so far: Good: Site compatibility seems to be fine so far, with a couple of minor issues (see the “Bad” section). Mostly I’ve tested it with a couple of forum sites, LiveJournal, Slashdot, and WordPress. I like the […]
- Do No Evil?
Catching up on Slashdot this morning, I found the article on Google Chrome. Check out the number of comments:
- New Browser: Google Chrome
Google Chrome seems to be a multi-threaded open-source browser based on WebKit (with some code from Firefox as well), focusing on making a browser that will work well with web applications. It’s got built-in support for the Gears API (not surprising). And, like Firefox 3, IE8, and Opera 9.5, it’ll do full-history search & auto-suggest […]
- Improving Browser Reliability
The IEBlog recently posted about their efforts to improve reliability in Internet Explorer 8, particularly the idea of “loosely-coupled IE” (or LCIE). The short explanation is that each tab runs in its own process, so if a web page causes the browser to crash, only that tab crashes — not the whole thing. (It is […]
- PayPal Asks: What Makes a Safe Browser?
Last month, eWeek reported that PayPal intends to block unsafe browsersfrom accessing their site. They’ve focused on phishing detection and support for Extended Validation SSL Certificates. So what are these features, and why does PayPal think they’re critical? And just which browsers are they likely to block? Phishing protection has an obvious appeal for a […]
- Flash Sighting? Opera: The Fastest Browser Alive!
Opera Software has just released a new beta version of the desktop web browser, Opera 9.50 beta 2. The splash page makes me think of something a bit different, though: Opera 9.5 beta Speed, security, and performance matter. Now, we’ve made the fastest browser in the world even faster. Opera’s new beta is quicker to […]
- Blocking IE6: You, Me and…PayPal?
On Thursday I stumbled across a campaign to Trash All IE Hacks. The idea is that people only stay on the ancient, buggy, feature-lacking, PITA web browser, Internet Explorer 6, because we web developers coddle them. We make the extra effort to work around those bugs, so they can actually use the sites without upgrading. Well, […]
- Flocking from Netscape
When AOL first announced they were discontinuing Netscape, they recommended Firefox (a logical choice for many reasons). Since then, they’ve also started heavily promoting Flock—to the point of offering seamless upgrades from NS8 to Flock. (In theory, anyway; I fired up the copy I had for testing and couldn’t get it to do anything but […]
- Techno-weird Links
CNET UK presents The 30 dumbest videogame titles ever, including “Spanky’s Quest,” “Ninjabread Man,” “How to Be a Complete Bastard,” “Touch Dic” and “Attack of the Mutant Camels.” (via Slashdot). Cowboy Bebop at His Computer — examples of media articles (especially about pop culture) in which the reporters (and editors) clearly didn’t do their research. […]
- Safari 3.1 – Quick Thoughts
Grabbed the new Safari 3.1 this morning, both at work (WinXP) and on the laptop at home (Leopard). Noticed that the website no longer says “Beta” for the Windows version. Oddly enough, there doesn’t seem to be much chatter from the browser community about it, at least not on sites I follow from work. There […]
- Cleaning up Firefox’s Memory Usage
One of the biggest complaints about Firefox since 1.5 was released has been its high memory usage. Go to a forum anywhere and you’ll get people griping about “have they fixed the leak yet?” It is, of course, much more complicated than that. There are caches, fragmentation, places where memory is used inefficiently, bunches of […]
- First thoughts on IE8 Beta 1
Installed the first Internet Explorer 8 beta. Some thoughts: I’m impressed that it can import settings from Firefox & Safari. It detected Firefox extensions and even offered to look up similar add-ons. Unfortunately it was a big long search string with all the titles, and therefore a useless list of results for things like cameras […]
- Behind the Times
While wandering the aisles at Micro Center, I stumbled on ancient versions of Netscape and Opera for sale…even though newer versions had been free for years!
- Farewell, Netscape!
It’s been a long time coming, but AOL has officially decided to shut down the Netscape web browser. The final security updates for Netscape 9 will go out in February, and then that’s it. It’s been on life support for a while now, as AOL has tried repeatedly to revive it. After they dismantled the […]
- Legality Links
Organization for Transformative Works – dedicated to protecting the expression of fan fiction, fan art, etc. (via Naomi Novik) Open Standards, One Web, and Opera – Just why are standards important, anyway? (via Opera Watch) Speaking of Opera, their EU antitrust complaint against Microsoft has been making waves. Responses at CSS3.info, Web Standards Project, Slashdot […]
- Safari Blend Coffee
In honor of the release of Safari 3, here’s a little something we found at Trader Joe’s. The mug is from the short-lived Mozilla Coffee. It seemed appropriate. Now if I can just track down some Opera Coffee, or Explorer Coffee…
- Fire-ony
Five years ago, Mozilla was forced to rename the Phoenix web browser because Phoenix Technologies was working on an in-BIOS browser that would let you get on the internet and troubleshoot/download drivers/etc. even if your operating system was trashed. It became Firebird, and then Firefox. The Phoenix product has finally been released. Ironically, it’s evolved […]
- Will Internet Explorer 7 finally put IE6 to rest?
Microsoft’s Internet Explorer Team reports on a new IE installer release. They’ve changed a couple of defaults, updated their tutorials… and dropped the requirement for Windows Genuine Advantage validation: Because Microsoft takes its commitment to help protect the entire Windows ecosystem seriously, we’re updating the IE7 installation experience to make it available as broadly as […]
- Safari on Windows: What effect will it have on Opera?
Following up on my previous post, Apple just dropped a bombshell: the Safari web browser is now available for Windows. I’ve posted some general reactions at K-Squared Ramblings as to how it will benefit web developers and users overall. The most obvious is that Windows-only web designers will no longer have an excuse for not […]
- Safari on Windows
Wow. I have to admit I was not expecting this at all, but Apple has just announced they’re releasing the Safari web browser for Windows. Increased consumer choice, of course, is a good thing. The most immediate benefit, though, is that Windows-based web developers (the majority) who haven’t been willing to buy a Mac to […]
- Spreading to the Converted
The problem with all these Get Firefox! and Get Opera! buttons is that some people already use those browsers, and it’s a waste to advertise to them.
- Opera Really Satisfies
The Opera Web Browser is in the news today. First, they’ve just released version 9.20. In addition to the usual security, stability, and compatibility fixes, they’re promoting a new feature called Speed Dial, to make it easier to reach your most-frequently-visited websites. Meanwhile, a recent survey by NetApplications and Surveyware found that while Firefox is […]
- Firefox too mainstream for Alternative Browser Alliance
I’ve been thinking about this for a while, but it’s time to refocus the Alternative Browser Alliance. Mozilla’s Asa Dotzler has referred to Firefox and Internet Explorer as the “mainstream browsers” for more than a year now, and it looks like that’s become true. The web is no longer an IE monopoly. It’s become an […]
- Opera hits MySpace
Following the trend of musicians setting up shop on MySpace, the social networking site now hosts a profile for the Opera Web browser. (Just kidding about the musicians part.) On a related note, I’ve found that on the rare occasions I’ve looked at MySpace pages, Opera tends to be more responsive than Firefox, which tends […]
- Power of Suggestion
Surfin’ Safari posted an interesting remark that highlights the power of suggestion. There’s a tip floating around to speed up the Safari web browser by changing a hidden setting, “page load delay.” There are testimonials by people who are really impressed with how much faster Safari is after making this change. Only one problem: The […]
- Unlikely Partnership
Here’s a surprise: web standardista extraordinaire Molly Holzschlag is now working with Microsoft to promote web standards within the organization. Improving interoperability, especially at high-profile services like many of Microsoft’s, is critical to the future of the web. I can only hope that the emphasis on standards will feed into the design goals for Internet […]
- Firefox and Opera: Allies?
Opera Watch posted an interview with Firefox co-founder Blake Ross yesterday, in which he talks about Firefox, Opera, and the relationship between the two. When asked about the rivalry between fans of the browsers, he says, “I think it’s ridiculous. Millions of people out there rely on us to make the Web better, not have […]
- The Danger of Saving Passwords
ISC is reporting a new type of vulnerability in web browsers that the discoverer has termed as “Reverse Cross-Site Request,” or RCSR. Basically, on a site with user-generated content—like a hosted blog—it’s possible to add a form that looks like the site’s login form. If the victim has an account on the same site, and […]
- Browser Discrimination hits IE7
I just read an interesting post from Microsoft’s Internet Explorer team on The IE7 User-Agent String. This statement in particular illustrates a problem not unfamiliar to Opera users: There are a few remaining sites which fail to recognize IE7 because they are performing exact string matches to look for specific IE version strings. Those checks […]
- Tertiary Slashdotting
Today I noticed a spike in traffic coming from a post on Spread Firefox where I had made a comment. Not a ton of traffic, just ~15 hits from the same page on the same day, but that’s unusual for traffic from SFX posts—especially old ones. I checked to see if it had climbed into […]
- Know Your Enemy (Web Browser Rivalries)
There’s a lot of misinformation out there about various web browsers. Opera can/can’t do this. Firefox can/can’t do that. There’s only so much you can do to promote one product when you only know rumors or outdated facts about another. Opera users: If someone told you that Firefox was better than Opera because it doesn’t […]
- Widget Mania
The Opera web browser has introduced a Dashboard-like Widget feature in Opera 9 Preview 2. I believe this is the first 3+ platform widget framework out there. Dashboard is, of course, Mac OS X only. Yahoo! Widgets (formerly Konfabulator) is Windows XP and Mac OS X only. The KDE Desktop (mostly used on Linux and […]
- IE Weirdness
I had a really strange experience with Internet Explorer earlier this week. I had a reason to check Windows Update (checking for driver updates), but no matter what I did, Microsoft Update opened itself in Firefox! Even if I typed the URL into IE, or chose it from the Tools menu. It became clear that […]
- Delicious Ghosts
I have the Firefox extension for del.icio.us installed on several computers. Today I noticed that the Tag button, when hovered over with the mouse cursor and seen indirectly, looks like a ghost from Pac-Man. Not only that, but it’s dark blue, like a ghost after you’ve eaten a power pellet and can reverse the food […]
- Conditional Opera Banners Using JavaScript
Posting an Opera button on your website or blog is a great way to encourage people to try out the browser — but what if the visitor already uses Opera? It shows solidarity, but what if you could show them something else, something that is new to them? You might want to replace your regular […]
- IE/Mac: The Final Nail
The WaSP is reporting that Microsoft will end support and cease distributing Internet Explorer for the Macintosh at the end of January. It’s been about eight months since the latest version of Mac OS X shipped without IE, and almost three years since Apple launched Safari. While there is an “end of an era” feeling […]
- Acid2 Timeline
April 13, 2005: Acid2 test announced by WaSP. April 27, 2005: Internal builds of Safari pass it. May 22, 2005: Public beta of iCab passes (but no one else notices for a week). June 5, 2005: Development builds of Konqueror pass. October 31, 2005: Safari 2.0.2 becomes the first non-beta web browser to pass the […]
- Voyage of the FyreFawkes
A tale of the Browser Wars on the high seas. Harken, lads, and listen to my tale. It is the tale of the FyreFawkes, a vessel that turned the tide in the never-ending battle for the high seas. In this day, shipping lanes criss-cross the ocean like a Web, and in years past, that web […]
- Happy Birthday Opera
Opera Software celebrates its 10th anniversary today with an online party and free registration codes for a day. I first discovered the Opera web browser in college, probably 1998 or back in 1999. A friend who worked with me at the Artslab showed it to me, and I was impressed by how fast it was […]
- Browser War, OS War
It occurred to me today that if you lay out the three major players in computer operating systems and the three major players in web browsers, the results track remarkably well. Windows and Internet Explorer. The dominant player. Obtained that position by being good enough, cheap enough, and promoted enough to win a protracted two-way […]
- Take Action: Browser Choice for an Open Web
Domination by a single web browser harms the web, whether it’s Internet Explorer or Chrome.
- Why Alternative Browsers?
When Internet Explorer won the first Browser War, the web stagnated. Lack of competition led to a lack of technical innovation, and with 95% of people using the same software (with the same vulnerabilities), the web became a breeding ground for viruses and other malware.
- The Alternative Browser Alliance
I’m launching a new browser switch site, with a bit of a twist. It’s promoting all alternative browsers, kind of like Browse Happy, but a bit more inclusive and aimed at a slightly different audience. The idea is that a diverse browser “market”—one with three or four major browser suppliers all competing with each other—is […]
- Tabs ≠ MDI
The ridiculous Firefox/Opera rivalry (it’s software, not religion) has given rise to one annoyingly persistent meme: the belief that tabs are just MDI (Multiple Document Interface). They’re not. MDI, as implemented in many Windows applications and eventually abandoned by Microsoft, involves having a mini-desktop inside your application, with its own windows that you can minimize, […]
- Spinning Beach Balls of Death!
The Mozilla-based Camino web browser for Mac OS X has just launched 0.9 alpha 1, and the release notes include this item: Rarely see “beach balls of death”. I don’t remember whether I’d heard the term before (I recall the “spinning pizza of death,” or maybe of doom), but I knew exactly what it meant.
- Fixing broken sites in the browser
The new Opera 8.0.1 includes an experimental feature called Browser JavaScript. It’s a collection of client-side scripts that automatically corrects known errors on websites as they’re displayed. Opera downloads updated scripts once a week. It’s an extension of the User JavaScript concept. Firefox’s Greasemonkey is basically the same thing, and it’s gotten a lot of […]
- iCab beats Acid2?
On Sunday, a development version of Konqueror passed the Acid2 test. In the comments, someone posted a screenshot of iCab also passing the Acid2 test. I did a double-take. iCab? Das Internet-Taxi für den Mac? The browser with the nice “Make iCab smile” campaign to encourage non-broken HTML on websites but CSS capabilities that have […]
- Elephants in the Web 2: Firefox
Following up on my comments on Opera, Firefox supporters have a major blind spot as well. It has to do largely with the heavy emphasis on web standards among the developers and the early adopters, and the ideals of the open source/free software community. There are a lot of websites out there that don’t look […]
- WordPress takes over Browse Happy
I didn’t see that one coming: BrowseHappy Now Part of WordPress as WaSP Refocuses Mission. Apparently the Web Standards Project decided they’d be better off remaining neutral. So they’ve handed it off to WordPress, who has been promoting Firefox on their website and in the admin interface for months. It’s an odd fit, but who […]
- More Netscape 8 Nuttiness
Q: What happens when you break up/fire your web browser-developing group with years of experience, and later hire an outside firm to build your next product? A: Netscape 8. IEBlog has an amazing report—which I’ve just verified. Netscape 8.0.1 disables IE’s XML rendering. So if you try to load an XML document—say, an XSLT-styled RSS […]
- Elephants in the Web 1: Opera
There’s a saying about the elephant in the room that no one will talk about. Everyone knows it’s there, but by some unspoken rule no one will mention it. I’ve noticed that when web browsers are compared, there’s one thing Opera supporters tend to ignore or downplay: Opera’s business model. Internet Explorer and Safari are […]
- No Free Lunch
Some potentially nasty browser security vulnerabilities found this weekend in Mozilla and in Safari. Both involve software update mechanisms. The Firefox one tricks the browser into thinking it’s installing from a trusted update site (the maintainers of updates.mozilla.org and addons.mozilla.org—the only trusted sites by default—have made some changes on their server to prevent the exploit […]
- Opera CEO All Wet
Sorry for the misleading title, it’s sort of an homage to CNET’s recent coverage of Firefox.* Opera CEO Jon von Tetzchner, excited by the response to Opera 8.0, promised to swim from Norway to the US if Opera 8.0 managed 1 million downloads in 4 days. (By comparison, Firefox 1.0 managed 1 million in less […]
- Perspective on the browser wars
At the end of a post on SSL/TLS and just how much security a “secure” site really gives you, Eric Lawrence of IEBlog posted an interesting thought: The so-called “browser wars” have fundamentally changed. It’s no longer Microsoft vs. Mozilla vs. Opera et all. Now it’s the “good guys” vs. the “bad guys.” The “bad […]
- Opera 8 (The OTHER “other browser”)
Opera 8 is out, and their website is swamped so badly they replaced their home page with a stripped-down version pointing to download sites. That’s a first. Unfortunately I can’t get the Linux download link to get me anywhere except back to the splash page, so I’ve only managed to grab the Windows version so […]
- Cross-browser Java Spyware
Talk about convoluted. Someone has developed a Java applet that will use one browser to install spyware on another. The applet runs in any browser using the Sun Java Runtime Environment—Firefox, Opera, Mozilla, etc.—and if it can convince you to run the installer, it will install spyware on Internet Explorer. And since you can’t remove […]
- Multi-Engine Web Browsers
Netscape 8’s ability to switch between IE (Trident) and Netscape (Gecko) isn’t exactly new: Maxthon does this already…and that’s not all.
- One more thing
The built-in weather app on the Netscape 8 beta keeps insisting it’s raining here. It’s not really the browser’s fault, it’s just that WeatherBug’s data doesn’t seem to have anything to do with reality.
- Trusted Site, Untrusted Browser
I installed the just-released Netscape 8 Beta. It imported most of my settings from Firefox, including bookmarks, cookies and even history. One of the first things I always check with a new browser is how it identifies itself, which in this case is as Firefox 0.9.6. (Presumably they’ll get on this by the time the […]
- Bring It On
As reported all over the place, Microsoft has reversed its previous plans and will be releasing a new beta of Internet Explorer this summer instead of keeping it locked to the next version of Windows. About frelling time. Of course, there’s no word on whether they’ll actually improve page rendering—all the statements so far have […]
- Internet Explorer: Spyware Source!
Satire: “Not only is it able to remove spyware from the system, but also the source of most spyware. Our competitors can’t match that.”
- Browser Switching Revisited
There’s a new anti-IE site on the web: Digital Proof [archive.org]. Rather than tell you why you should switch to browser X, or why you should pick one of browsers XYZ, it just collects links to other people’s articles about why you should switch. The advantage I can see for this campaign is it can […]
- The Web Is Round
It’s official. Now that Firefox has effectively overtaken the Mozilla Suite, all the major web browsers’ icons are round:
- Browser Switch Campaigns Compared
Firefox – Switch [archive.org] is the first of these sites I noticed. Based on Apple’s “Switch” campaign, it’s aimed at raising awareness of Firefox and convincing people to switch from IE. It has stories of people who have switched, a top 10 list of reasons to switch, and answers to questions about just how you […]
- Stealing pop-ups from your bank
Here’s an online security story to freak you out: Security firm Secunia has found a loophole [Edit: originally linked to Yahoo! News] in basic browser window handling that can let any site plug its code into a pop-up window generated by any other site. That’s not just ads, that includes pop-up help files, password dialogs, […]
- Netscape: Re-Clutter the Web
CNET has posted a write-up of AOL’s new Netscape prototype based on Firefox, as well as a screenshot. It seems to be a combination of Firefox + theme + bundled extensions… plus a mode that embeds Internet Explorer for compatibility. There are some nice ideas: adapting Firefox’s RSS capabilities to create a headline ticker, for […]
- Internet Explorer: Unsafe at any speed
Netcraft reports on a series of malicious banner ads using a vulnerability in Internet Explorer 6 to spread the Bofra virus. Clicking on the banners sends you to a website that uses the recently-discovered IFRAME vulnerability to infect your computer. Of note are the facts that there is no patch for this yet, and XP […]
- IE 2 Flashback
I had to reboot one of the Windows servers on Thursday, at which point the GDI+ checker installed by Tuesday’s security fix popped up a message explaining that there was still some software with the JPEG vulnerability. OK, fine, I’ll run it again and see what’s missing. So I clicked on, well, OK, and it […]
- Trust the MIME
Great example of why a browser shouldn’t second-guess file types. In this case, it’s Safari looking at a text document that mentions XHTML in line 1.
- Netscape Returns!
Well, it’s official. After months of rumors and vague announcements, Netscape 7.2 has been released! It’s been just over a year since AOL closed down Netscape and spun off the independent Mozilla Foundation. Despite the uncertainty of that transition, no one can deny that Mozilla has flourished. People everywhere are switching to Firefox and recommending […]
- A new reason to block ads
Great. Just great. Now there are ad networks using banners to install malware. The article from Netcraft goes on to say that some phishing attacks are using banners to install keystroke loggers and other spyware. So now, just by using an insecure browser* to click on the link in a message claiming to be from […]
- What’s in a User-Agent String?
Some people browse collections. I collect browsers. Mostly I just want to see what they’ll do to my web site, but I have a positively ridiculous number of web browsers installed on my Linux and Windows computers at work and at home, and I’ve installed a half-dozen extra browsers on our PowerBook. One project I’ve […]
- Netscape for IE
OK, does anyone else find the idea of a Netscape Toolbar for IE a bit twisted?
- Interesting omission
CNET posted an article today, Concern grows over browser security, about the rise in browser-based attacks (mostly spoofed sites for phishing, but also attempts to install viruses and other malware through web browser security holes). What’s interesting about the article is that nowhere does it mention Mozilla, Opera or Safari. Could it be that attacks […]
- Netscape is dead. Long live Mozilla!
OK, that may be a bit melodramatic, but there are two interesting and complementary bits of news: The Mozilla Foundation was announced as a non-profit that will be the new home for Mozilla. AOL has donated $2 million for start-up funding, and various other companies have announced plans to support it. AOL is dismantling Netscape. […]
- Web Browser Renaissance
The new beta of OmniWeb uses Apple’s WebCore, the Konqueror-based code used to display pages in Safari. What makes this so interesting is that OmniWeb was the first web browser designed to really work with OS X. IIRC MS really didn’t do much to IE except add the compatibility code and change the icons. A […]