Only recently we had two mainstream web browsers to choose from. Internet Explorer 7 which is still a popular browser, despite only receiving minor security fixes. I guess people just trust the browser that ships with their computer. The other is or was Mozilla Firefox 2, with the beta of Firefox 3 available soon. Since the release of Opera 9, that's now a serious competitor to the browser crown and the forthcoming Opera 9.5 looks fantastic. It's updated on a weekly basis and the first beta is out soon. Opera 9.24 has also been released which ships with a number of minor fixes and security updates.

Netscape Navigator 9 has had an official launch and, although this is simply based around the existing Mozilla Firefox 2, with its own customised user-interface, it is said to be rather swift and not quite as bloated as Firefox. So, with this in mind, it might be worth investigating if you like Firefox, but think it's become a little bloated and slow (and crashes frequently under Vista).

18 Oct 2007