Throughout the last few months, I have been working with the newest versions of Firefox and Internet Explorer. After having spent a fair amount of time with both, I’m convinced Mozilla, with Firefox 4, simply understands the term “web browser” in a way Microsoft does not. Not to say Internet Explorer 9 is at all bad, it just isn’t great.
IE9’s major fault is that it’s almost counterproductive to what the World Wide Web aspires for. A staple of the web is there is no exclusivity; it’s open and free to everyone. Exclusivity is the name of the game for IE9 as the only operating systems that can run the browser are Windows 7 & Vista. That’s great if you have the newest version of Microsoft’s OS, however, those that don’t need not apply. On the other side, Firefox 4 is compatible with all current major operating systems. Mozilla is way ahead of the curve with its core philosophy being a free and open Internet. With IE9, developers now have another browser with its own compatibility issues to take into account. Not exactly a step forward to establishing unified standards.
When comparing the two browsers on a technical basis, it becomes apparent that while Microsoft is finally opening up to the idea of playing on the same field as everyone else, they are not terribly concerned with innovation. All these years of development and they have only ever been able to almost catch Firefox in terms of new web technologies. HTML5 and CSS3 are coming and will forever change the type of experience the web can provide; IE9 still pales in comparison to Firefox in the race for compatibility. While IE9 has made great strides compared to IE8, it’s still a race in which Microsoft refuses to take the lead. IE9 was officially released after Firefox 4, and yet it is perfectly content with just being almost as good as its competitor.
The best definition I have ever come across to describe Internet Explorer reads, “A simple Windows XP tool which allows the user to browse to Mozilla.com and download Firefox, a web browser.” I am all for hamburger to get the job done, but when given the choice, I’ll take the steak.
-Michael Arroyo
Web Specialist