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In the thick of the browser war.

If you think the world is a peaceful place (except for some hotspots), you are wrong. There is a major war in progress and it will go on as long as the world exists. I am talking about browser wars.

Those were the days when we swore by Netscape Navigator. And there was Internet Explorer. Now there are so many browsers that you can easily fill up your desktop screen with browser icons, including Safari from Apple.

Almost every month, one browser company releases an upgrade and claims it is the fastest. The next month, it’s the turn of another company. Then another. When they get fed up with updates, they come up with a ‘major release’ which is again the fastest and the best.

It’s okay if you are satisfied with your browser and stick with it regardless of what other browsers do. But if you get involved in the war and want to ensure you have the latest version, you may end up spending half your life downloading updates and upgrades. So frequent are the updates that you end up confused which browser you updated last.

Sometimes the oneupmanship game amongst browser companies backfires, as happened last year when Opera decided to launch its upgraded version just days before Mozilla’s new version was due. In its hurry, it ended up releasing a half-baked version that got panned.

Microsoft has its own way. It first releases a ‘release candidate’ and then comes the proper version. Mozilla and Opera have their beta versions before the final version.

Someone like me who wants the latest version ends up downloading two versions of the browsers — the RC or beta and the final version — resulting in more confusion. I constantly go to the ‘About’ section to check what version I have and whether I have the latest. The confusion multiplies when you work on three computers — office, laptop and home — and you don’t know which version you have in them.

Today, as I write this, I have just installed Firefox 3.5 in my office computer. And to ensure my laptop doesn’t feel left out, I have installed it in it also. I now have the latest ‘fastest’ browser. Now I am eagerly waiting for Opera’s ‘fastest’. Sometimes, wars are beneficial — as long as you don’t lose your sanity by getting caught in the crossfire.

R. Dinakaran

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