Firefox vs. IE vs. Opera vs. Safari Smackdown

People may be passionate about their favorite sports team, but if you really want to get them fired up, ask what Web browser they use. There’s the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” crowd who tend to stick with the browser that’s included with their operating system — Microsoft’s Internet Explorer on Windows and Apple’s Safari on the Mac. There are the “I’ve just gotta be me” folks who prefer lesser-known browsers, such as Opera from Opera Software. And there are the “live free or die” open-source true believers who champion Mozilla’s Firefox above its commercial counterparts.

Then there are those people who simply demand the best browsing experience there is. They’ll defend their favorite browser to the death because they think it kicks all the other browsers’ butts in terms of elegance, features, security and so on. But if a better option comes along, they’ll happily switch and speak out just as loudly for their new browser of choice. At Computerworld, we fall into this camp, always looking for the Next Great Browser. Browser Smackdown: Firefox vs. IE vs. Opera vs. Safari