Internet Explorer 8, the update to Microsoft's omnipresent browser, was released yesterday, on March 19th, 2009. It is an evolutionary update, not at all revolutionary and Microsoft stays away from making any major changes. This is a good strategy for its business users but the average user has a lot more features with Firefox or Chrome.

Google has done it again with the release of their new web browser, Google Chrome. An online comic-book was written and released to explain the Google Chrome details.

Take a look.

Most of my review is within the youtube video below. Additional information is below that.

There are three main differences between Google Chrome and other competing web browsers.

The most important is that each process within the browser is sand-boxed. Sand-boxing is a programming term that means each process is segregated from every other process. What this means is that each browser tab runs independently and cannot cause the entire browser to crash. This is one of the biggest problems with the current crop of browsers that are in use. Their core was designed in a time when people did not run as many browser windows concurrently as we do today and the web was not as complicated. Javascript and Flash plugins are notorious for causing the browser to crash and for all of your work to be lost.

Google Chrome however was built from the ground up to circumvent this problem by locking each tab into its own process. So your data is safe when you are surfing.

The second major feature is the improved Javascript runtime. If you have been to a complicated site in a while you may notice that it takes a while to load. This is probably because of either Flash or Javascript. Javascript is kind of a strange programming language in that it is not very well supported across browsers and as such has evolved into something of a dirty and hack filled mess.

Google Chrome features a new Javascript engine that is purported to be ten times faster than any other. While I don’t believe that bit of marketing as the absolute truth I have noticed a marked improvement in speed when surfing. A number of independent sources have tested the new javascript engine, and have seen speed improvements as well.

What this means for the entire Internet community is that other web browsers will be forced to innovate, and upgrade their current Javascript engine. This will be incredibly powerful in the continuing development of the web.

Finally Google Chrome is poised to be not just a web browser but a full web platform. Google Chrome features integration with Google Gears which allows you to take your online applications; offline. This is important for Google, which is a web company, because it finally allows them to reach you, even when you cannot connect to the internet. The improved Javascript engine means that their trademark applications run quick. Sand-boxing makes the browser a fully capable replacement for the Office workstation.

Google stands to corner the online application market with this wonderful product. Since it is still in beta it will just keep getting better.

Firefox 3 is the latest release of the Firefox Browser and it is an amazing update. Firefox 3 was released on June 17th 2008. I took this time to look at it in depth and make sure that all of its features were actually useful. So far I have been pleasantly surprised.

I have talked before about making sure not to jump into any piece of software until it has been tested for a while. The same holds true for your web browser and once it has passed the critical and usually rocky first month of public release then you should update. Keeping your internet browser updated is vitally important.

So what’s so great about the new Firefox browser and why should you switch?

• Improved Security
• Better Graphics/Flash
• Faster Loading
• New Themes
• Improved Password Management
• Improved Navigation

The biggest issue I had with using firefox was how slow it often was when starting up. Loading any of the many thousands of available addons did not make the problem any better. Fortunately the new Firefox fixes all of these issues and it now starts very quickly, almost as fast as safari.

Each version of Firefox now has a theme for the particular operating system it is being deployed on. This means that I no longer have to look at the somewhat ugly interface that was Firefox 2. It now looks different and appropriate on each platform.

The new navigation bar is surprising in that it actually made a huge change in how I browse. The navigation bar now pops open when typing in a url and displays not only the web address but the site Favicon if available and the Page title. It does take up more screen real estate but it helped me navigate much easier than I had before. New RSS signup and other goodies are also included.

The final great new feature is password management. Firefox now will only ask to save your password after it has been entered and the page loaded. This means that it does not automatically save passwords that you enter incorrectly. A simple fix that works very well, the annoying password popups are also gone, replaced with elegant drop-down menus.

Firefox 3 is the first browser that has made me seriously consider switching from Safari. As I work and play on a Mac, the built in Safari browser is great, it is still faster than Firefox and integrates with all of my other programs. Because of this I am still sticking with it, though I do tend to keep both open at the same time with different things running in them as its easy to switch.
If you are on a PC though it is hands down a complete Internet Explorer killer. Internet Explorer feels clunky by comparison. It does not run as fast and has so far been more crash prone than Firefox. Install it and use it.