I'm starting to get tired of reading articles that suggest this software is the best and here is why. This software is the worst and here is why. No one can keep up with all the reports and trying to figure which one carries more weight is ridiculous. It would seem there never is a complete report. And no I'm not going to believe it because someone said it when there are others that say differently.
The problem is finding a report that is not biased and complete. Many report on just one aspect, then they call the winner or loser the best or the worst when in reality, the testing and reporting should be all inclusive. For example, there are several out there that focus merely on speed. Speed is certainly important but it is not the only thing that matters.
Microsoft, Mosaic, and I am sure all the others fund "studies" that magically report their products as best. They may clearly be biased where the funder says we want you to test these criteria with these parameters, or they may give the "appearance" of bias, which may be just as bad.
I like NSS Labs because they are independent. And while I think security trumps all, they don't test for speed, rendering accuracy, etc. I usually post the NSS Labs reports in response to FF fans who claim IE (which I've been using steadily since it surpassed Netscape) is insecure to slap those folks back to reality. That report, along with the
Cenzic Web Application Security Trends Report which shows Firefox to be the
most vulnerable tends to get them to be quiet. These reports show what I've been saying all along - the more popular alternative browsers become, the bigger the target they become, more vulnerabilities will be discovered, exposed, and exploited. Interestingly, that Cenzic report shows Opera to have the fewest vulnerabilities.
In any case, when it comes to browsers (and security), it is the user that is always the weakest link, not the browser of choice. The rest is just a matter of personal preference. Okay, speed may be an issue, but typically, were talking fractions of a second. I'm not in that big of a hurry.
