Up until a couple of years ago, Microsoft pretty much had the internet browser market stitched up, there was only really Internet Explorer along with Netscape Navigator to choose from, but more recently, much to their embarassment and despite having the whole weight of the Microsoft corporation behind them, they’ve been knocked off the top spot.
These days there are five major internet browsers to choose from:
- Mozilla Firefox
- Internet Explorer
- Google Chrome
- Apple Safari
- Opera
So how do you choose which one’s the best for your needs?
FIVE MAJOR INTERNET BROWSERS
MOZILLA FIREFOX – is now the most popular internet web browser. It has Open Source Development, meaning that it has been developed by a whole network of users and encourages its users and volunteers to help to maintain and make suggestions to improve the software. It also doesn’t have any of those annoying pop-ups when it’s downloading. It works with Windows 2000, XP and Vista, as well as MAC.
INTERNET EXPLORER – Microsofts own! Allows you to customize the browser and synchronize any information from the web between the browsers, documents or various mobile devices. There are also parental controls available so that you can monitor and control exactly what the kids are getting up to on the internet.
GOOGLE CHROME – is pretty new and proving popular. It’s another Open Source Development but is compatible only with Windows Vista and XP. There are no parental controls on Google Chrome.
APPLE SAFARI – on the other hand, is compatible with Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista and MAC, although it also has no parental controls.
OPERA – has a range of extras which are not included on the other browsers. For starters, they have Mouse Gestures (a bit like shortcut keys) whereby movements of the mouse can represent certain commands. They also have a Voice Interaction facility so the user can speak to the browser using headphones and a microphone, and the browser can read stuff to the user. Cool!