Microsoft claims IE8 is faster than Firefox and Chrome
Internet Explorer 8 is almost with us, and so begins Microsoft’s effort to drag people back from one of the other alternatives many have moved to. Microsoft has started the push by claiming IE8 is faster than either Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome.
This claim has to go down under the, “Oh really, how surprising” category. There’s an old adage that you can prove anything with statistics, and that’s certainly true if the stats are stacked in your favor. I’m obviously not going to call Microsoft liars, mainly because its lawyers are some of the best in the business. But am I right to be suspicious?
Microsoft claims that when it comes to loading Web pages, Internet Explorer 8 is three times faster than Firefox and slightly faster than Chrome. The company made the claim that IE8 is the fastest browser around in a 14-page report (pdf link) titled ‘Measuring Browser Performance: Understanding issues in benchmarking and performance analysis’.
Microsoft tested the three browsers side-by-side using the top 25 sites according to comScore. The sites tested range from Google.com to Ask.com and even include Microsoft and Mozilla’s own domains. IE8 supposedly loaded 12 sites faster than the other two, Chrome nine, and Firefox only four.
To be fair to Microsoft, the methodology for the testing is explained in detail. We learn that some content from the sites was cached. Also, that add-ons were kept to a minimum, which as any Internet Explorer user will attest, is likely to have vastly affected the results.
To be unfair to Microsoft, I don’t really hold much stock in these results. Using a browser is a personal experience, which is tempered by the sites you visit, content you view, and a host of other factors. In the end, personal experience reigns supreme and I have yet to see any version of Internet Explorer faster than either Firefox or Chrome. The latter being especially speedy.
This report could at least make some people give IE8 a whirl but I personally cannot see myself heading back to the comfort of Microsoft’s wing. I use Firefox and using Internet Explorer feels like a backwards step every time I give it a go.
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March 12th, 2009
These claims by MS are as credible as the MS website “Get the facts”. I put it in the BOHICA category!
March 13th, 2009
Dillo is the fastest browser on Earth.
March 16th, 2009
“Microsoft claims [...]”
How many claims has Microsoft made during the time they have existed as a company? How often have their claims proved either exaggerated or false?
When Microsoft offerings were the only viable alternative, it didn’t matter whether one believed the lies or not – we all paid, willingly or otherwise. Now there are alternatives, and Microsoft’s total lack of credibility is causing them problems. The Microsoft business model has always been predicated on abuse of their monopoly. The thugs in Redmond never had to claim that IE was faster than Netscape; all they had to do was bundle IE with Windows and – voila! – browser market dominance. Now things are different, and Microsoft find themselves in the totally unfamiliar (and no doubt rather humbling) position of having to compete on the basis quality – hence this specious claim regarding IE.
Microsoft are losing their grip, and they understand this all too well. The future belongs to the web, but the web does not belong to Microsoft. What a shame.
March 16th, 2009
IE8 refuses to run on my computer. It loaded, then balked, then crashed the whole thing. I ended up having to reformat. It reloaded itself when I was attempting to get back IE7, crashed the computer again….Found out it will not work with XP-SP3 and the patch did not work. Since many web pages load only in IE (Unemployment) it sneaks in (IE7) because I have a plugin for Firefox for the pages that refuse to use Firefox. It never loaded faster than Firefox for me. It will not keep its files in a central group, it is in nearly all program files…it is hard to kill…