Browser Wars Revisited: Microsoft tells a different story

Last week I discussed a ZD Net report that indicated Safari 4 was found to be the "world's fastest" browser, particularly at tasks involving rendering JavaScript.  Microsoft has responded, completing their own study of IE 8, and now say that it's faster than both Chrome and Firefox.  See more of their results after the break.

According to the Ars Technica article, Microsoft tested IE8 against Firefox 3 and Chrome 1 to see which browser would load up 25 of the web's most popular sites.  Maybe it's no surprise with Microsoft backing the report, but IE8 clocked in anywhere from .02 to .5 seconds faster than either other browser for 12 of the 25 sites.  Chrome 1 came in second in their study rendering 9 of the sites fastest.

A half-second might mean a lot to you, or maybe not.  With rendering speeds across browsers being 1-2 seconds anyway, it's usually the extra features included with a browser that attract users.  It's interesting to see the bad rap Firefox is getting these days, though, with reports showing that it had the most security holes among popular browsers (even though it fixed them faster than any other).

Read the original article here, or check out the full Microsoft report.  And if you're really looking around to compare browsers, why not read Browser Battle, comparing the 9 popular browsers available for way more than you ever wanted to know about browsing the web!