WHAT? There are alternatives to Internet Explorer!

Browser alternatives abound in today’s Internet society. You’re not limited to Internet Explorer or Safari.

Internet Explorer has had a corner on the browser market for some time now. According to Microsoft’s website, Internet Explorer 1.0 was released July 1995 bundled with the Windows 95 operating system. Since that time, it has been the browser of choice for over 90% of internet users, knocking off other browser developers such as Netscape.

The market saturation of Internet Explorer has caused some of our less tech savvy customers to believe that IE was their only way to get an internet connection. In fact, I have had some customers who believed that Internet Explorer WAS the Internet!

I’m here to let you know that there are alternatives and they are picking up steam. Many of the alternatives stem from open source projects. Many of those open source projects stem from the browser wars of the mid to late 1990’s when Netscape opened its source code to the world. That is another post at another time.

Let’s explore some of the alternatives. We will divide them up by browser families. These are browsers that are developed out of the same code lineage.

Gecko Rendering Engine Family (Long Live the Lizard)

Firefox

Firefox has recently released version 3. This browser has gained momentum over the last 18 months. Many people have opted to start using this one over Internet Explorer. Firefox is available on a number of platforms including Windows, Mac OS and Linux. Some of the features that have helped make Firefox popular are tabbed browsing (long before IE had it), tighter security (not integrated into the OS), third-party add-ons (largely due to the fact it is open source), and compatibility with modern web technologies (CSS and HTML). Firefox is a branch of Mozilla.

Mozilla

Mozilla was the original code base to come out of the Netscape decision to release its code to the public. Before Firefox, Mozilla offered a great alternative to Internet Explorer. Mozilla 1.0 was released in 2002. The development of Mozilla as a browser has ceased with the increased popularity of Firefox. However, the benefits of Mozilla have been lasting. One of those benefits was the suite of products that have come from the Mozilla project including Thunderbird, an email client, and Sunbird, a calendar client.

Camino

The Camino browser is another Gecko-based browser that is for the Mac OS X platform. This browser has a loyal following and is currently at version 1.6. It boasts fast page loading and enhanced security. Camino includes AppleScript inclusion for those Mac “power-users” who want to enhance their browser with customization through scripting.

Netscape (RIP)

Netscape, of course, falls into this family as the parent. Netscape is no longer supporting the browser project and has stopped developing as of version 9.1. Netscape holds a special place in the history of the internet. At one time it was the browser. (Sentimental note: I purchased version 2.0. It came in a box with six 3.5 inch floppies.) Netscape released its code base to the public and the rest is history.

KHTML (aka WebKit) Rendering Engine Family

Safari

Safari was released in 2003 when it was bundled with Mac OS X 10.3. It proved to be lightyears ahead of the soon to be defunct Internet Explorer for Mac. Safari was fast to pull pages up and also introduced tabbed browsing to the internet world. A Windows version was released in 2007. Safari was CSS2 compliant from the start. One of my favorite features of Safari when it came out was spellchecking when typing into search boxes. I have been known to misspell a word now and then.

OmniWeb

OmniWeb dates back quite a ways when it comes to browsers. The first version was released in 1995 by Lighthouse Design company as part of the NextStep platform of which Mac OS X is a direct descendant. OmniWeb is developed using the Cocoa API which allows it to take full advantage of Mac OS X features. Some of those features include drawers, sheets and customizable toolbars. This browser will also take advantage of multiprocessors if available. The software is currently at version 5.6. You can download it for free but to take full advantage of it you can purchase it for about $15. I personally have purchased a copy of this browser and have used it often.

NEW! Google Chrome

Released in September of 2008, Chrome is the newest browser to hit the internet. With the backing of Google , interest levels are high. It is estimated that Chrome has already gained 1% of the market share. Currently, it is only available for Windows with a Mac OS X and Linux version soon to follow. Chrome has passed the ACID2 test with flying colors and though it didn’t pass ACID3 it scored higher then all browsers with the exception of Opera.

Others

Opera

Opera uses the Presto rendering engine and is the most CSS compliant browser. Opera was first released publicly in 1996. Opera likes to lay claim to “The Fastest Browser on Earth.” It is possible to control nearly every aspect of the browser using only the keyboard and the default keyboard shortcuts can be modified to fit your needs. It is the only major browser to include support for spatial navigation. Opera also includes support for mouse gestures — patterns of mouse movement that trigger browser actions such as “back” or “refresh”. These features have made it a viable option for mobile devices and they have produced a special version for use on such devices.

So as you can see, there are alternatives to Internet Explorer. While many of these have similar features they each have special things that make them attractive to users. Take some time to check them out and find one that works for you. Happy surfing!

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