CNET: Which is the world’s fastest browser? According to Zimbra, Safari runs fastest, though it didn’t beat out Firefox by much. Both Safari and Firefox were roughly twice as fast as Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 7. Of course, Zimbra was testing for how these browsers perform with the Zimbra web application. Your mileage may vary with other applications. In fact, I’d love to see a wide range of tests for different sites and applications. Who’s next? As an aside, I continue to be impressed at how Zimbra treats non-Microsoft platforms as first-class citizens (along with Microsoft). Firefox is the same way. Both allow you to run on the Mac, for example, without losing any functionality that you’d find in Windows/IE. It’s called great code. Weak developers write code that limps on anything but Windows. Great developers write code that ports well to a diverse platforms. MORE
WALL STREET JOURNAL: The “record-setting” debut of Firefox 3 on Tuesday is generating serious buzz on the Web. But the potential impact of the revamped software on the Web-browsing landscape remains to be seen. Foxy gets round one. But it’s a long fight. Mozilla, which makes the Web browser, served up more than 8.3 million downloads in 24 hours, according to CEO John Lilly’s blog. At the height of the Firefox frenzy, Mozilla logged 17,000 downloads per minute, or 283 per second, and people in over 200 countries acquired the new software. The launch, planned for 10 a.m. Pacific Time, was delayed by over an hour as Mozilla’s servers were overwhelmed with traffic. At present, the number of downloads tops 12 million. But this number doesn’t represent an absolute gain in market share for Mozilla. The nonprofit software maker estimates that 53% of Firefox 3 downloads came from Firefox 2 users and that only 25% came from users of Firefox’s main competitor, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, a Mozilla spokeswoman tells the Business Technology Blog. Worldwide, IE held a 74% share of the browser market as of last month, according to Net Applications, which tracks browser market share. Firefox has steadily — albeit slowly — eaten away at Explorer’s dominance, and the launch of Firefox 3 may speed up that process in coming months. MORE