Browser War: Firefox 3 Versus IE 8 Beta

With the release of Mozilla's Firefox 3.0 browser, which spent seven months in beta testing, the upstart group of developers is taking on Microsoft's Internet Explorer on several fronts: security, ease of use and performance.

Security -- FireFox 3

In Firefox 3, developers point out a new feature that allows for basic Web site ID information to be provided by clicking on a favicon next to the URL bar. The browser also provides additional detail by clicking the "More Information" button.

"More Information" provides you, in one window, with a site's identity information if available, personal history with the site and technical details like whether a site is encrypted. It allows for a user to view cookies or saved passwords.

IE 8 Beta offers much less information about a Web site and potential security hazards than its Firefox rival. It merely tells you whether it's been reported as "unsafe" or not, and allows for unsafe sites to be reported to Microsoft.

"Internet Options," IE 8 continues, like previous versions, to provide for custom-restriction (manually) of Web sites that might be harmful, and a "protected mode" which may block some cookies or ActiveX add-ons.

Mozilla has adopted a feature available in IE7; when a website uses Extended Validation SSL certificates the link in the Locator bar will turn green.

An EV SSL secure site as displayed in IE 8.

One of the most touted features of Firefox 3.0 is the bookmarking feature in the URL bar. By clicking on the star to the far right on the URL, the browser will bookmark a site.

After hitting the star icon in the URL bar, the user can quickly enter a site into its bookmarking folders. It then allows for quick editing, such as custom naming, of a bookmark.

The end result of the work is to allow for a customized browsing experience -- not to mention a quicker experience. This "Library" is an advance beyond earlier versions of the Mozilla browser.

Not much has changed in this version of Microsoft's browser from earlier versions. The browser offers a standard "Favorites" function that allows for bookmarking.

Mozilla's "autofinish" feature in URL typing -- along with recognition and association of words to sites previously visited -- is referred by by fans as "The Awesome Bar." It's a shortcut that could easily become part of the browsing thought-and-action process and is another feature that stands out.

Internet Explorer has had auto-finish for some time, but it's still much less robust and informative than that in Firefox 3.

Firefox 3 has, for a long time, suffered from reports and complaints of memory leaks and slow performance. Early indicators are that Mozilla has ironed out many of the memory wrinkles, although with performance and memory bandwidth Internet Explorer 8 appears to be measurably better.