*I am writing about browsers meant only for Windows Operating System (OS) i.e: Windows 98, Windows XP, Windows VISTA
The browser war has definitely heated up. What with IE, Opera, Firefox, & now Google's very own Chrome (Shiny name for a browser isn't it!). But, given all the players vying for your Desktop space & fighting to become the "Ultimate Fighter Champion" who do you choose?
Are we really spoilt for Choice or is there only a single browser worthy of giving enough attention
to master its tricks & get the best of Internet Delivered to your Screen via the most efficient & highly productive Browser.
My theory is no one's perfect. You have to use the best the "work" with the rest to get what you want. head over after the break to the Juice.
We all remember the old days where there were only two choices for browsing the net: Internet Explorer (IE) & Netscape. Not many people remember Netscape. During the incubation of Internet, Netscape was set to be huge. It had EVERYTHING. Browser, Mail client (able to handle all Mail protocols). POP was extremely popular. Whereas you needed an additional MS Outlook /Outlook Express if you wanted Mails on your Desktop.
But then, it failed in India miserably. Reason: India had Dial-up back then & Netscape tried to access Internet, the moment it was started, the dial-up window showed just once. Plainly it was just too much for the newly discovering Indians, who preferred the simple IE. But, more so, IE muscled out Netscape. AOL formally stopped development of Netscape Navigator on 28 December 2007
All the while Firefox was working quietly. It was generally believed that Firefox was a browser for the Geeks only. Not meant for "Normal" people. They were about to be proved wrong. On November 29, 2005, Firefox 1.0 was released. It was not immediately adopted. People were shy/wary or plain lethargic to try something new.
Meanwhile Opera was trying to rear its head. But could not gain popularity simply because it was "Buy To Use" Software & was add-hogged otherwise. Why would anybody prefer it was doubtful. But it always held promise, no matter what. Finally on September 20, 2005 Opera realized it's mistakes & launched Version 8.5 completely Add-Free as a Freeware. Instantly, it's popularity started to increase. By this time people were starting to experiment with new browsers anyways. Opera has not looked back since & am certain will never regret the release of add-free version.
Broadband was slowly penetrating in India & surfing was gaining importance. People were slowly getting hooked onto the net for reasons as varied as: Data mining, videos, news, shopping, banking, unmentionables, E-mail, etc.
Switch to Current Scenario: IE 7 has failed the high expectations people had from it & MS is trying hard to release IE8. Opera, released it dubious 9.51 which caused havoc with Gmail. It immediately released v9.52, but it was a bit late. Fence-sitters, immediately switched to Firefox & it's fans rejoiced the surge in FifreFox Fanbase.
Google has recently launched Chrome. At the face of it, it really looks a Minimalistic browser, but the improvements are "Under-The-Hood". We will have to wait & see, what are the "seen" upgrades which raise/raze it's popularity.
The browser war seems to have come to the cold-war stage wherein the winner will be decided on the basis of who has the highest number of useful & practical plugins which can extract the last bit of Internet Juice & make surfing, not only efficient but fun & productivity.
DOWNLOAD Links to all browsers is given below:
Internet Explorer (You have to be owner of a legitimate copy Windows OS (to even download!!)
Netscape
Opera
Firefox
Google Chrome
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