Internet Explorer 8 – Most Secure Browser, Microsoft Says

By | June 22, 2009 | 8 Comments

Interent Explorer 8 - Most Secure Browser, Microsoft Says

An analysis done by Microsoft between Google Chrome 2.0, Firefox 3.0 and Internet Explorer 8 shows that IE8 wins in 7 out of 10 categories, while 3 are draw.

So let’s analyze the categories.

IE8 comparisonSecurity. No browser is 100% secure, even the Chrome sandbox that separates your browser from the operating system. Unless they count the fact that IE introduced anti-phishing before other browsers.

Privacy. Somehow agreed, InPrivate mode makes a difference.

Ease of Use. Just to begin, not even an IE veteran will find the reload and stop buttons as dumb being away from the back and forward buttons as possible, also no easy way to modify user interface.

Web Standards. IE8 is the first version that passes the Acid2 test but gets the lowest percentage of any browser in Acid3 test.

Developer tools. It just beats the awesomeness of Firebug, Dragonfly and Web Inspector combined. Right…

Reliability. You can trust that IE8 will rarely crash. However, if it does, the whole browser will crash, nothing compared to the tabs isolation of Chrome, something every browser should follow.

Customizability. I love IE add-ons such as adware, spyware and malware they just make my browsing experience so much better.

Compatibility. Many websites were developed “IE only, need I say more?

Manageability. Not much to argue here.

Performance. All browsers performance is somehow pretty much identical, Microsoft says.

Via Genbeta.com [Spanish]

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  • http://www.favbrowser.com Vygantas Lipskas

    As for developer tools, it depends on whether you compare just installed web browser or also add-ons, extensions, etc.

    You could probably make Firefox win in all but performance categories, in case of add-ons.

  • ps

    Developer tools for IE are great. They are easily better than Firebug in serious applications due to Visual Studio. Most developers stay away from MS technologies by default, but they are doing a serious mistake. There is no more powerfull tool than VS for Javascript debugging. It beats Firebug easily.

    Dragonfly? That Opera thingy? It should be debugged first before using it to debug other stuff. This thing is useless.

    • Ben2talk

      Actually developers are becoming a little more interested in Open Source software, and also Cross-Platform compatibility.

      Internet Explorer is a massive fail in these areas, and should NEVER be considered as a default browser. The ONLY reason that people use it is that Microsoft distorted the market through unfair means and basically force it onto nearly every computer sold. You have no real choice – it’s either a trip to the Apple shop, or it has Microsoft pre-installed, or you pay a premium to get no operating system installed becasue Microsoft tax the vendors for allowing people to opt out.

  • solcroft

    “No browser is 100% secure, even the Chrome sandbox that separates your browser from the operating system.”

    I don’t see Microsoft claiming that IE8 is 100% secure. But with built in anti-XSS, anti-clickjacking and Protected Mode, IE8 is very well one of the most secure browsers today.

    “However, if it does, the whole browser will crash, nothing compared to the tabs isolation of Chrome, something every browser should follow.”

    Wrong. Not only does IE8 feature a multi-process architecture like Chrome does, it can also restart crashed tabs on-the-fly – something Chrome can’t do.

    “I love IE add-ons such as adware, spyware and malware they just make my browsing experience so much better.”

    Sure. Enjoy Firefox’s non-stop security vulnerabilities, then (12 critical- and 6 high-impact vulnerabilities this year so far and counting), and its ‘feature’ of letting other software silently install extensions that cannot be easily removed.

    “Many websites were developed “IE only, need I say more?”

    Who cares? Go ahead and enjoy staring at your badly-rendered page while insisting that your browser is in the right. The rest of us are getting work done with a browser that sites work with.

    • http://my.opera.com/yeeliberto Alejandro Yee Cota

      It doesn’t matter how many vulnerabilities a browser have as long as they fix them, not like the 50% that are not patched by IE
      http://secunia.com/advisories/product/21625/?task=statistics_2009
      comparing all patched by firefox even though they are more.
      http://secunia.com/advisories/product/19089/?task=statistics_2009

      And the only feature I know of IE8 is

      Automatic crash recovery
      A crash recovery mechanism has been incorporated; if the browser crashes, web pages being viewed may be recovered, at the user’s discretion, when the browser is restarted.

      And the XSS was introduced by other browsers before IE8, nothing to brag about.

      What happens when almost now 50% of the market share follow standards and the web page looks the same in every browser except IE? Are they wrong? No. Is someone wrong? yes and it’s the IE team.
      So far some pages look the same in IE8 like the other browsers but from IE7 they look very different, just open browsershot.org and view the pages with all IE versions and they will look very different instead of the same version of browsers like Firefox 3 and 2 or Opera 9,8 and 7 where they will look the same.

      • solcroft

        Looking at single snapshot in time is uninformed at best, and deliberately misleading at worst. At various periods in 2009 Firefox had up to 9 unpatched vulnerabilities, sometimes with half of them rated as critical. Using this argument against IE when Firefox fails even more badly at it is just plain silly.

        “And the only feature I know of IE8 is”

        Then maybe you should use IE8 first before commenting. Basing your arguments on uninformed opinions does not help your credibility.

        “And the XSS was introduced by other browsers before IE8, nothing to brag about.”

        Oh, really? Which ones, exactly? The closest thing I know of is NoScript, which basically breaks websites unless you whitelist them all one by one, and whose developer has a record of malicious intent. Good to know that the tools you think makes Firefox safer just might backstab you at any time.

        “What happens when almost now 50% of the market share follow standards and the web page looks the same in every browser except IE? Are they wrong? No. Is someone wrong? yes and it’s the IE team.”

        Unfortunately at this point standards compliance is just geekspeak for “doesn’t render web pages properly”, and IE is the browser that gets the job done. Wake me up when Opera and Apple are finished patting themselves on the back about how AWESOME their layout engine is, and manage to make a browser that displays pages properly.

  • http://my.opera.com/yeeliberto Alejandro Yee Cota

    Better not speaking with a fanatic they are stubborn and they think what they think is the best and maybe should be the only existent.

  • Beth Farrelly

    Brickfish is currently running a UGC campaign for Internet Explorer 8 with a chance at $2,500 for the winning entry! Just film a creative short video explaining your internet affliction and how IE8 can solve it for an opportunity at a great prize. http://www.brickfish.com/MSFTInternetExplorer8

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