Microsoft released IE9 recently, so I decided to take a look at their "Browser comparison" to see just what it brought to the table. Looking at it, I was astounded by how many idiotic mistakes they made in their fact checking, even given that it's Microsoft's propaganda. I'll just go through the mistakes in the comparison to Firefox (areas where IE has features and FF supposedly does not), in the interests of brevity and in keeping myself within an area where I have some knowledge. I also took the liberty of using features from the last Firefox 3.6 in addition to the 4.0 beta that the comparison was made to simply because, let's face it, they're not going to abandon features when it comes out of beta. It's a much more accurate comparison to assume that they'll carry them through. So...
Well, Firefox 3.6 doesn't have hardware acceleration as far as I'm aware, but even the outdated version of the 4.0 beta that I have does. It's called WebGL and it's indeed provided by default.
Not sure why you'd need this since you can disable any add-ons you want, but I doubt Firefox has it. Microsoft is probably right about IE being the only browser to feature it.
In Firefox, we have this little thing called the Bookmarks Toolbar that does exactly the same things. It was probably one of the first things implemented in the beta.
Well, both the beta and the standard versions have this, so I don't know where they got that idea.
Firefox->History->Recently closed tabs. Did they even download the browser to check this?
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I should just give up now. That's been a feature of Firefox for god only knows how long.
There are quite a few add-ons that have that particular feature. Maybe it lacks it out of the box, but the whole point of the browser is that you only install what you need.
No idea what this means, but I'll give Microsoft the benefit of the doubt. IE+1
From what I can gather, accelerators are essentially things that hook into your right click menu, which Firefox 3.6 allows its add-ins to do. I never really use that particular feature, but there's probably some relevant add-ins that offer it.
1) Why would you care if the URL is highlighted?
2) Firefox one-ups this by coloring the whole bloody screen to tell you that the site is probably malicious.
I'd say least, since IE9 probably doesn't require an intelligence test to download it.
Well, Firefox doesn't bother you with annoying messages upon recovery, but it does tell you when connections time out.
To understand that would require greater familiarity with video encoding than I posses, but if the beta doesn't have it now, wait a little bit.
Since Firefox 3.6 views websites from 1996 very well, I'd assume that compatibility won't be much of an issue.
First, >95% of users will never even touch such tools, so why include it?
Second, those tools probably add tremendously to the program size without adding much functionality for the average user.
Third, Microsoft admits that the Firefox tools are available in the previous comparison.
Again, bulky and unnecessary. Also, there are dedicated tools for doing that that are probably much better than IE9 at doing it. For example, this site (which was found in ten seconds on Google) will take pictures of your site in an ungodly number of different browsers. Chances are, if you're doing web design at such a level that you need those kinds of programs, you're probably doing it professionally and would thus presumably have access to the professional tools.
Basically, what I learned from that comparison is that it was probably put together by monkeys on keyboards and that IE9 is almost certainly bloatware with an annoying tendency to use Bing, the inferior search engine, and the MSN homepage. I think I'll stick with Firefox and Chrome when FF fails me.
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Full hardware acceleration for text, graphics, and video provided by default
Well, Firefox 3.6 doesn't have hardware acceleration as far as I'm aware, but even the outdated version of the 4.0 beta that I have does. It's called WebGL and it's indeed provided by default.
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Notification when add-ons slow browser performance
Not sure why you'd need this since you can disable any add-ons you want, but I doubt Firefox has it. Microsoft is probably right about IE being the only browser to feature it.
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New Tab page includes quick access to common tasks and your favorite sites
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Websites can be pinned to the taskbar in Windows 7
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Websites can be pinned to the taskbar in Windows 7
In Firefox, we have this little thing called the Bookmarks Toolbar that does exactly the same things. It was probably one of the first things implemented in the beta.
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Tear-off tabs with Windows 7 Aero Snap
Well, both the beta and the standard versions have this, so I don't know where they got that idea.
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Reopen accidentally closed tabs
Firefox->History->Recently closed tabs. Did they even download the browser to check this?
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Combined search and Address bar
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I should just give up now. That's been a feature of Firefox for god only knows how long.
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Visual search suggestions shown as you type
There are quite a few add-ons that have that particular feature. Maybe it lacks it out of the box, but the whole point of the browser is that you only install what you need.
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Jump Lists and thumbnail preview controls for pinned sites
No idea what this means, but I'll give Microsoft the benefit of the doubt. IE+1
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Accelerators for quick access to web services without leaving the page
From what I can gather, accelerators are essentially things that hook into your right click menu, which Firefox 3.6 allows its add-ins to do. I never really use that particular feature, but there's probably some relevant add-ins that offer it.
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Domain name highlighting in the Address bar to alert you to deceptive websites
1) Why would you care if the URL is highlighted?
2) Firefox one-ups this by coloring the whole bloody screen to tell you that the site is probably malicious.
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Most protection against socially engineered malware
I'd say least, since IE9 probably doesn't require an intelligence test to download it.
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Tab recovery with messaging and prompting when websites time out
Well, Firefox doesn't bother you with annoying messages upon recovery, but it does tell you when connections time out.
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H.264-encoded HTML5 video support
To understand that would require greater familiarity with video encoding than I posses, but if the beta doesn't have it now, wait a little bit.
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Compatibility mode to view websites designed for older browsers
Since Firefox 3.6 views websites from 1996 very well, I'd assume that compatibility won't be much of an issue.
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Developer tools built-in to the browser
First, >95% of users will never even touch such tools, so why include it?
Second, those tools probably add tremendously to the program size without adding much functionality for the average user.
Third, Microsoft admits that the Firefox tools are available in the previous comparison.
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Tools that show pages in different rendering engines to let developers understand and debug browser differences
Again, bulky and unnecessary. Also, there are dedicated tools for doing that that are probably much better than IE9 at doing it. For example, this site (which was found in ten seconds on Google) will take pictures of your site in an ungodly number of different browsers. Chances are, if you're doing web design at such a level that you need those kinds of programs, you're probably doing it professionally and would thus presumably have access to the professional tools.
Basically, what I learned from that comparison is that it was probably put together by monkeys on keyboards and that IE9 is almost certainly bloatware with an annoying tendency to use Bing, the inferior search engine, and the MSN homepage. I think I'll stick with Firefox and Chrome when FF fails me.