1, 2, 3, Fight!

A good fifteen years ago, there was a virtual slugfest between two conquerors of the relatively new realm that is cyberspace: Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and Netscape’s Navigator. Much like the historical vessels which carried brave souls into uncharted territories, the two competing web browsers ferried the Internet’s modern-day explorers through miles and miles of the information highway. Netscape Navigator was the early entrant and the initial favorite but the fact that Internet Explorer literally sat on the shoulders of the giant that is Microsoft gave it unparalled advantage. Netscape’s market share dwindled through the years as Explorer users increased. Eventually, in 2007, Netscape development was halted and user support also ceased.

2009 has brought with it new players to the field. Internet Explorer still waves its flag proudly akin to a ship which had successfully circumnavigated the world. But other browsers have made their presence felt and now stake a claim in the market – Opera, Mozilla Firefox, Apple’s Safari and the latest youngster to join the batch, search engine king Google’s Chrome.

The new phase of the browser wars is, in many ways, more exciting. For starters, the arena is not populated by two gladiators. Second, one should also note the backers behind every browser being fielded in the competition. Internet Explorer has Microsoft whereas Safari has Apple. However the browser which is slowly and steadily nipping at Internet Explorer’s heels is a scion of a rising new breed in the world of cyberspace. Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer’s close runner-up, is free open-source software.

Just to see how the hotly contested virtual pie is apportioned among the competitors, Internet Explorer is still the leader with a share at 67.44% (according to Marketshare for browsers in http://marketshare.hitslink.com/report.aspx). Next in line, as previously mentioned is Firefox with 21.77% followed by Safari with 8.07%, Google Chrome with 1.15% and Opera with 0.71%. However it should be noted that Internet Explorer’s share has been on a steady drop since April of 2008 where it was noted to have a market share of 74.83%. Firefox, on the other hand, has been gaining a following as seen in a rise in its market share from 17.76% in April 2008. The other browsers in the race have also noted an increase in market share.

With more competitors in the field, web users are given more choices as to which browser to navigate cyberspace with. After all, choosing a web browser is, in one way or another, akin to shopping for shoes – it all depends on what the web user’s personality is and what he wants to do. Internet Explorer is the convenient choice since it comes bundled with the Windows OS. However the popularity of Internet Explorer has made it an easy target for the characters which make up the shady population of Internet users. As a matter of fact, Microsoft has been churning out security patches for Explorer like a conveyor belt that has led many users to realize how vulnerable they were before such patches were released. Thus security issues have often driven users to look for alternative browsers which they deem to be more stable and would give them more protection online. Firefox has been deemed to be a more stable alternative but then again, its perceived invincibility could be due to the fact that all heads are turned towards gunning down Internet Explorer so it is somewhat in a lull in terms of enemy attack.

However Firefox has been noted by users to be a more innovative browser. For instance, earlier versions of Firefox were the ones which featured tabbed browsing. It is a practice of some users to open several instances of a browser so as to further multitasking. With a handful of windows open, keeping track of them becomes difficult. With tabbed browsing, each new instance is opened within the window as a tab and thus makes a web surfer’s life less complicated. Firefox also has support for extensions or software add-ons to the browser, allowing the user to customize the browser according to his preferences. The Awesome Bar is another Firefox innovation which automatically shows a scrolldown box of previous sites visited by a user which matches the web URL typed in the address bar. Internet Explorer has seen how such features appealed to users that the Awesome Bar and tabbed browsing were integrated into Explorer’s latest version, IE8.