Browser wars - choose your weapon

No-one who accesses the Worldwide Web from a computer or mobile device does so without the aid of a browser - more properly, a 'web browser' - and most users probably take their choice of browser for granted.

Chances are you are reading this using Microsoft Internet Explorer (MSIE or just IE), currently the most popular browser for PC users. Most popular by dint of being pre-installed with the Windows operating system since 1995 or thereabouts.

But it wasn't always so. In the early days of the Web, Netscape Navigator was the browser of choice for many a surfer. It served as my introduction to browsing, but slowly and surely, Microsoft's browser has come to hold sway. At its height, IE had something like 90% of the market. And what this graph doesn't tell you is the sheer number of users that use IE, which runs to several millions.

But IE's popularity has also been its greatest weakness: it's been the target of virus writers throughout the years. The 'attraction' to virus writers is two-fold:

1. the vast number of PCs in use around the world; and
2. the in-built functionality in IE, which meant it interacted with many other Windows programs: it's 'user-friendliness'.
   

One might add that Microsoft's reluctance or inability to 'patch' (or fix) vulnerabilities in IE was a third factor: IE was an easy target.

Despite this, IE usage remains at around 70% for PC users (notice I keep referring to 'PC users' - Linux & Mac users, always breeds apart, have had their 'own' browsers, such as Firefox or Safari). It has seen off Netscape, but the 'browser wars' are far from over - in fact, they are entering a new round.

Internet Explorer has credible and serious competition and there is also the hint of a turning of the tide. Firefox is now the second most popular browser in use, bolstered by its popularity amongst Linux and Mac users and a growing realisation of what an Open Source development community can achieve. Firefox comes installed on Linux machines (whilst Mac users have their own browser, Safari). It's been a long haul for Firefox, however: 10 years to get this point and in that time, it has become a real alternative to IE. Its latest version, Firefox 3, was subject to possibly the biggest launch a browser has ever had, back in June 2008.

Still, it has only 20% share of the 'market'. But, crucially, it has shown itself to be faster than IE, just as secure (just because it is Open Source does not mean that security is not taken as seriously) and - with the hundreds of extensions available for users to play with - more versatile.

Being Open Source means that its 'engine', the software at the heart of the browser, is available to any developers who would like to build upon it. Currently, its software or variants thereof are used in Google's Chrome, Mozilla's SeaMonkey, Flock and more. Some of these are 'specialist' browsers, aimed at users with specific needs, but Google's Chrome is seen as a potential threat to IE. Google, I think, is proving to be Microsoft's nemesis, quietly developing applications which one day may rival Microsoft's and taking the lead in a number of areas in which Microsoft is having to compete, e.g. 'cloud computing'.

And the challenge to IE's dominance seems to continue steadily and surely, but ever so quietly. Yesterday saw the release of Lunascape 5, the world's first 'triple-engined' web browser. Apparently, this means is that it has the choice of three different software cores (one of which, admittedly, is the one that powers IE), but the fact you have a choice is innovative in itself. Furthermore, it seems to have a staggering number of features which users can configure themselves from toolbars to proxy settings.

It also claims to be the world's fastest browser under test conditions. Now, that may or may not be the case, but the striking thing about the test results is the fact that IE is by far the slowest, whichever way you look at it. That's another nail in the coffin for Microsoft's browser.

Personally, I have ditched IE; even the name, 'Internet Explorer' is misleading. I flirted briefly with IE8, but found it horrendous to use. For me anything else will do, although my preference is for Firefox. But, increasingly, like some others I know, I will actually use more than one browser to accomplish different things.

I don't know if these developments spell doom for IE, but in a strange case of serendipity, shortly after a friend had sent me the link for Lunascape, I found a link for browsehappy, an anti-IE site if ever there was one...and I suspect there are many. Hosted by Wordpress and registered by Matt Mullenweg, Wordpress' founder and a member of the Web Standards Group, this site has been going since 2004 and seems to be an attempt to undermine IE's near hegemony in browser software. Not dissimilar to Microsoft's I'm a PC compaign running at the moment, the site is advocating the use of browsers other than IE with user stories and a message that IE is unsafe. It recommends Firefox, Mozilla (SeaMonkey, Camino, etc.), Opera or Safari.

Now, even though I agree broadly with its sentiments and its conclusions, I think the site should be more transparent and balanced. In the interests of fairness, I'd like to see that list expanded to include other browsers. User stories make it real and people can relate to that- but there needs to be more information to allow people to make comparisons and draw their own conclusions. At the moment, it reads just like another 'we hate Micro$oft' site, with extraordinary bias. Other browsers are not flawless, but can be a real alternative; so long as people have the facts, they can make up their own minds. Whichever way you look at it, it's about choice and choice is good.

Customer service worth shouting about?

Seth Godin had an apposite post yesterday.

Apposite for me, in any case, as I had to call Orange, my ISP, to get technical support for my router. Like Tesco, if you are an existing customer and have a problem, you go to the end of the queue (the sequence of buttons to press, by the way, in case you are a Home Broadband user with a Livebox problem, is 1-5-4-1-1). Not quite the nine button presses Seth had, but equally frustrating to know that you are not valued.

But, in fact, it got worse. In my case, they were answering and it was enough for me to finally pull the plug on our relationship.

I called them yesterday to follow up a long-standing problem. My router loses its LAN connection intermittently (often enough to be an annoyance) and I wanted a replacement box.

But Orange won't replace your Livebox - and to add insult to injury, you have to convince no fewer than TWO people of the same facts: the fact that it's not your PC or the cable and can ONLY be your router which is at fault - and then they want to send you a recovery CD.

This arrived today and it won't run on your version of XP (requires XP SP1 or higher...but SP3 is NOT compatible).

So you have to call them back up and speak to someone, who, at every point, asks you what you can see on the screen. When the USB recovery failed to work, he put me on hold. So I tried the Ethernet recovery, while I waited, and got the same results - nada. I'm not sure what the trigger point was, but when the guy got back to me, I couldn't take any more (I had been on for 25 minutes) and I hung up on him.

The best was yet to come, however.

I then phoned customer services and my first request was for a MAC code. Now I know that these service agents are trained to talk you round and convince you to stay with the ISP.

The conversation went something like this:

Me: I'd like a MAC code, please.

Agent: Certainly, sir, but before I do that, let me just look at your history. I see you've had some problems with your router and we sent you a recovery CD.

Me: Yes, which doesn't work. I spoke to your technical support, but I had to hang up.

Agent: OK, well we were only trying to sort this out.

I tried to steer the call back to the issue of the MAC code and, at some point, she then offered me a router. I said I hadn't been offered a router when I asked for one and now I just wanted my MAC code.

I'm unsure what was said next, but it was basically two people having two different conversations simultaneously. She threatened to end the call - presumably, because I was sounding irate (I was). I told her in no uncertain terms I simply wanted my MAC code, to which she replied that they would never refuse that request:

Agent: Do you want it posted or emailed?

Me: Emailed.

Agent: To the address we have on file or another?

Me: Another address.

And this is the point I went into meltdown:

Agent: Well, do you want to give it to me?!

I can laugh about it now, but at the time it was terrible.

They don't have supervisors or managers in the Orange customer service call centre, apparently. When you've finally lost it, you have to have your call escalated to someone who has had a modicum of customer service training and can actually handle your request.

Bye, bye, Orange.

Coldplayer

I like this.

Not only for the idea - turn it 'on', 'tune in' and it plays the tracks Coldplay listen to (or claim to ;) ) - but for the music it plays. The first three tracks I heard were:

Blur - Sweet Song
The Cure - A Forest
Feeder - Comfort In Sound

Sweet.

It's been a good 'geek' week

This week has been good, technologically speaking.

Firstly, I managed to crush a Facebook API error, which had been plaguing Firefox. I say 'crush' because it had been annoying me like one of those persistent little flies, which buzzes past your ear and you constantly have to brush away. Or click on with your mouse.

'Your Facebook status will not be updated' was the error in all and any open Firefox window. EVERY...FIVE...MINUTES.

This had been going on for some time and I had had trouble isolating the issue. Firefox's Error Console told me it was a Facebook error (*sigh*), error 450, which further research told me was an API issue - so I knew it had to be an add-on I was running which updates my Facebook status (natch!).

I eventually tracked it down to 'Fire Status', an Firefox add-on that allows you to send status updates to Twitter, FriendFeed and Facebook. It's now disabled for Facebook and the problem has gone.

Secondly, with the help of a fellow geek, I have managed to download and install a nice little application on my trusty old Nokia 6600, which allows me to record conversations and meetings, thus avoiding the expense of a new phone or a dedicated gadget.

It's actually quite exciting to be able to do this and effectively upgrade an old phone. It's no about saving money...no, really, it's about getting to grips with technology.

In fact, in the face of ever-increasingly powerful and functional phones like the Nokia N96, the Blackberry or something called the iPhone, which you may have heard of, I am more determined than ever to get the most out of what is essentially a 'smartphone', albeit quite a simple one.

It has 3G, Bluetooth, a (crappy) camera and (crappy) video, but I have installed a browser, Opera Mini (much more user-friendly and functional than the default offering), Gmail mobile client for email and Gizmo, allowing me to chat to MSN contacts. I am hoping to add MP3 player and video capture, too, by way applications developed for the the Symbian OS.

Lastly, from the 'it's really quite obvious' department, I solved another longstanding issue, namely that of my laptop overheating and a CPU constantly running at 100%.

The simple answer is to clean any fluff out of the heatsink*, which might be blocking the fan... :$

The lack of space in a laptop means that everything is scaled down in terms of size and power (they have to run less powerful CPUs due to the fact the fans and heatsinks are smaller) and the components are more susceptible to wear and tear and have less tolerance than their desktop counterparts.

In my case, air supplied by the fan, which should have been passing through the heatsink, was blocked by dust and fluff. In turn, the heatsink would not have dissipated as much heat as should have done, leading to the processor running at too high a temperature.

Since I cleaned it, the CPU seems happier, my Skype calls are not interrupted every time I open a webpage and I am getting some respectable frame-rates in WoW, to the point where it's no longer jittery moving around Shattrath or Stormwind. Nice.

*so called, because it 'sinks' all the 'heat' into your leg, scalding it in the process.

Targetted Ad-serving - the proof!

Recently, I wrote that ISPs might choose to spy on their customers and I recounted an example of how my browsing behaviour was being tracked.

Following that post, try as I might, I could not replicate the scenario. Until, that is, today.

Yesterday, I was looking at possible new CPUs for my PC and a digital voice recorder and one of the sites I browsed was dabs.com.

This morning, whilst browsing for applications for my phone, I went to one site and there in an ad banner, were the products I had been looking at the day before, just like the last time: