Browser Choice in EU

[Dai.]

Hey guys, this is the week the browser choices in the EU rolls out

It gives you the choice to pick what browser you want to use on your computer I thought this would be a good topic here because we have a huge mix of techies and not-so-technical members!

Here is what it looks like.

Countries the update will be passed out to will be -
Austria
Belgium
Czech Republic
Denmark
Finland
Estonia
France
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Iceland
Ireland
Italy
Latvia
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malta
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
United Kingdom

All of these, to my knowledge are in the European Economic Area. Correct me if I'm wrong though, I don't know much about it.

In my opinion this will be a good update allowing people to pick and choose different browsers at different points, from what I gather from the microsoft website about the update the shortcut will be placed on your desktop so you can easily go back onto and pick a new browser if one bores you!

It'll make competing easier, which in turn will improve the browser quality!

What do you think about browser choices?

 

[Ivo]

I wondered what this thing was for. I thought that it was just a publicity scam by Microsoft! I think that it's good that we all have the choice of browser, because obviously some people will find some browsers easier than others. It's a fact of life (well, maybe not browsers in particular, but hey!). I'm not keen on Chrome though. It seemed to be really slow to me. And being an Aspie, I don't like to change things unnecessarily. So I think that I'll stay with IE for the moment, even if there are better options out there.

Also, I can confirm that the shortcut is placed on the Desktop. And it suggests that it may activate every time you switch on! (Or maybe it's just me?)

 

[Geezertronic]

I think the EU should butt out and leave the decision making to us minions.

 

[Oswyntail]

Big deal. We have always had a choice of browser - if it really worried us, we were probably IT aware enough to be able to find an alternative. I personally think the anti-Microsoft campaign is daft, as their products are generally usable and feature-rich, if sometimes bloated. I know there are alternatives, and choose not to use them. If propeller-heads want to argue that the latest open-source gizmo is at least 2.3ms more efficient, let them so long as they don't bother me.

 

[bengley]

Whatever you do, don't choose IE. It's possibly the worst browser available. The only reason it's so popuar is because of the fact that there is no publicity for any of the others.

At least choose firefox, it's a really good browser.

 

[Mojo]

Let the people choose for themselves as long as it doesn't affect everyone else. I choose to use Firefox as it has addons that I really like mouse gestures and LeechBlock (Google them if you don't know what they are), if people don't want tools that make things easier or provide added functionality (if they even want it) then that's their decision.

The problem is when you get things like Internet Explorer 6 (for which many popular websites such as YouTube are about to/have already withdrawn support for) which are non-standards compliant and cause headaches for web developers and degrade the internet experience for everyone else.

 

[jon0844]

I use Firefox because our CMS was built around it (even though it does work with other browsers). Personally, Opera is the fastest - 10.5 is faster than Chrome and renders pages instantly; it's quite scary!

Firefox has far too many updates, and is probably a browser that will suffer more security breaches given that so many people now use it. Opera, and others, are therefore pretty safe - for now.

I would also say that IE8 is pretty decent and is not the worst browser available!

 

[flymo]

I would also say that IE8 is pretty decent and is not the worst browser available!

Sorry Jon, I wouldn't and yes it is. [in my opinion]

There has been a choice of browser available for everyone for years now. Firefox (FF) isn't perfect but it is streets ahead of IE. I was a bit reluctant to change from IE to FF in case something broke but once I did I saw the light and would never go back. FF just works.

 

[Drsatan]

Firefox is superior to IE, end of. It has fewer security holes, is faster, and has support for really useful addons like AdBlockPlus and Web of Trust (google them if you don't know what they are), which IE8 doesn't.

 

[Dai.]

Well I'm probably one of the small Minority that have switched to using Chrome because it's faster, more lightweight

It also has extensions like themes and plugins

 

[Pumbaa]

Well I'm probably one of the small Minority that have switched to using Chrome because it's faster, more lightweight

It also has extensions like themes and plugins

Chrome is rubbish in my opinion - FF is far better. I use Safari however; far more enjoyable user experience and naturally works best on OSX.

 

[Dai.]

Chrome is rubbish in my opinion - FF is far better. I use Safari however; far more enjoyable user experience and naturally works best on OSX.

I used Firefox previously, I noticed when I used it on its own and with Plug-ins, extensions and the like, it slowed up my computer and started sucking in CPU Usage which made my computer a lot slower, so I decided it was time to switch to a different browser.

Chrome, in my own opinion has worked since day one, unlike firefox and it loads websites a lot faster than firefox did, the extensions are easier to install and uninstall and the themes are prettier! haha.

 

[MCR247]

I used Firefox previously, I noticed when I used it on its own and with Plug-ins, extensions and the like, it slowed up my computer and started sucking in CPU Usage which made my computer a lot slower, so I decided it was time to switch to a different browser.

Chrome, in my own opinion has worked since day one, unlike firefox and it loads websites a lot faster than firefox did, the extensions are easier to install and uninstall and the themes are prettier! haha.

I think Chrome is great, especially if you are typing a post on a forum like this, and you press submit and the internet goes. Just press back and EVERYTHING of what you typed is there

 

[Tom B]

I personally think the anti-Microsoft campaign is daft, as their products are generally usable and feature-rich, if sometimes bloated. I know there are alternatives, and choose not to use them. If propeller-heads want to argue that the latest open-source gizmo is at least 2.3ms more efficient, let them so long as they don't bother me.

Windows does things in awkward and over-complex ways, I think. Simple things take far too long. The other week I needed to join 200 different files together so I could draw some statistics from them. Under Windows I'd probably have to find some high-powered text editor that did that for me, or more simply write a program to do it myself. Under Unix, I just needed to type one line in a shell.

I take it if you ignore comments about efficiency you will not complain when your computer runs ridiculously slow.

 

[will1337]

I am on Ubuntu which came with Firefox by default and was previously using it on Windows 7. It's using about 200MB of RAM with 10 tabs open and using flashblock has helped it stop hogging the CPU unnecessarily. There appear to be no differences in the interface at all.

Many people are unaware that there is an alternative to using IE and that applies for a lot of the other commonly used software. Standards aren't fully adhered to so people are trapped into software like for example if something important like webmail doesn't work in an alternative to IE then the user will stay with it. As user interfaces are becoming more friendly in operating systems I think this will change as more new users will experiment with software. Therefore this browser choice is a good thing as it informs people.

 

[thefab444]

Personally I use IE8, but I've got Chrome installed as well, which I admit does seem to be faster.

 

[Oswyntail]

....
I take it if you ignore comments about efficiency you will not complain when your computer runs ridiculously slow.

Ah, I was running Access 1 under Windows 3.11 with 2mb RAM - now that was slow (but once up it did work)
Slightly off topic, does anyone know anything about why FF uses so much memory and CPU?

 

[Railsigns]

I keep hearing about how this browser choice thing is being rolled out from this week, but it appeared on my home PC on Thursday morning last week!

 

[Dai.]

I keep hearing about how this browser choice thing is being rolled out from this week, but it appeared on my home PC on Thursday morning last week!

Yeah, it has appeared on peoples PCs.

I thought it'd be out next week to be completely honest.
(Next week is the second week in march - Patch tuesday.)

 

[jon0844]

FF is definitely better than IE, but I disagree that IE8 is terrible. It just isn't as good, but it isn't unsafe as long as you don't make the obvious mistakes.

I have all but uninstalled Safari on my Mac, as it's slow and clunky (takes up loads of memory too). Chrome for Mac is still buggy, which is a shame, but Opera and Firefox are both decent and pass the acid tests.

So many things in other browsers started with Opera, I do recommend trying it - especially if you use multiple machines or slower connections (Opera Link & Opera Turbo).

 

[Deerfold]

'm not sure about Chrome. I find it really easy to use, but it crashes a lot on me. But when it does crash, it's fairly good at recovering everything.

What does annoy me is the adverts for it with various numbers of things e.g.

1 sudden holiday plan
17 e-mails
1 bargain fligth found
12 brower windows open
0 crashes.

If only there were 0 crashes. Not sure if I should get onto the ASA about that one...

But then, I started on Netscape and Mozilla.