browsers

If you're just tired of toolbar clutter and browsing options, this free browser is about as bare-bones as it gets. While novice users might like the pared down approach, Super Internet Browser probably won't sway more experienced users.

The browser name seems to imply something better than what you have (it's super!), but in reality offers users the most basic of user interfaces, with straightforward navigational buttons and a URL field. That's it. The navigational buttons themselves don't even offer picture representations of their functions. Instead, each command is spelled out. You won't find … Read more

Apple's Safari was already the most used Web browser on the Mac, but other browsers like Mozilla Firefox, Opera, and Camino have been quickly gaining on (and in some cases surpassing) the browser that comes preloaded on all Macs. The new version comes packed with interface enhancements and new features to once again set the bar a little higher for the competition. But is it enough?

Check out this First Look video to find out more about the new features in Safari 4 Public Beta.

Orca Browser offers users the standard features found in many of the more popular Web browsers, all of which work very well, but the extras it throws into the mix failed to impress.

Though a little on the cluttered side, the user interface will look familiar to you. Navigational and command buttons are at the top of the window. Menu options give you access to more customization options to change the view, as well as the standard Internet options for managing your browsing history. There's an auto-fill feature that saves you the hassle of signing in and out of … Read more

Microsoft hasn't had appreciable competition for its two cash cows, its Office productivity suite and its Windows operating system, in more than a decade. Recently, however, Apple's Mac OS X and Linux for Netbooks have given Windows a run for its money on the desktop, and Google, Zoho, and other software-as-a-service providers have mounted a challenge to Office.

But the real competition is in the browser, which increasingly displaces the traditional desktop operating system, and through which businesses and consumers reach their preferred applications. This is perhaps why Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer highlighted Microsoft's need to improve … Read more

Apple promises much with its Safari 4 browser, but it ultimately underdelivers. This isn't really its fault: the browser has simply become too big of a product for any one company to manage. Safari 4's blessing and cursing is that it's the brainchild of just one company. Safari lacks community.

Safari 4 is in public beta, but it comes with some pretty grandiose claims: "The fastest and most innovative Web browser for Mac and PC." This would resonate a bit more if Safari 4 didn't strive so hard to replicate features that Mozilla's … Read more

Set the wayback machine for 1999/2000, and you'll find a lot of Gen-X office workers doing the same thing I was back then--wasting hour upon hour of company time playing "Quake III" (or "Unreal Tournament II") with my office mates. (At least in my case, there were extenuating circumstances: I was covering the video game beat at pop-culture Web site UGO.com at the time).

In the years since then, first-person shooters have come to require the kind of dedicated hardware that virtually no office workers have, effectively eliminating the daily fragfest that was … Read more

Google's latest version of Chrome has claimed the lead in my JavaScript speed tests, but Apple's new Safari 4 beta is the first browser to challenge it on Google's own performance benchmark.

JavaScript is a programming language that powers not just innumerable ordinary Web sites, but also many Web-based applications such as Google Docs. With the computing industry's major push to cloud computing, Web application performance is increasingly important, and there's a race on to see who's got the best JavaScript engine. JavaScript engines even have become a named feature, with Chrome's V8, Firefox's TraceMonkey, Opera's Futhark and upcoming Carakan, and now the Safari's newly branded Nitro, which is Apple's version of WebKit's Squirrelfish. … Read more

With Safari 3, I admired Apple's chutzpah for bringing its browser to Windows. With the new Safari 4 beta, I'm actually starting to admire the browser, too.

A big user interface overhaul makes Safari look polished rather than clunky on Windows, builds in better search abilities, and makes good use of the fact that people often visit the same sites over and over.

However, the lack of something like the extensions architecture that Firefox pioneered still means Safari 4 (download for Windows and Mac OS X) is better only than Safari 3, not the competition. … Read more

This is a strange little program that purports to take you to the FWG Government site, whatever that is. But this isn't a program you should try if you're looking for an alternative to your current browser. The FWG-Promo Browser is a browser only in the loosest sense of the word.

When launched, it takes over your entire screen. There are no command buttons, URL fields, or any of the other common browser features. A video appears in the middle of the page that plays some weird footage that doesn't seem to make sense. We kept clicking … Read more