Ads by TechWords

See your link here
Receive the latest technology news and information.
Application/Web Development
Computerworld Daily News (First Look and Wrap-Up)
Computerworld Blogs Newsletter
The Weekly Top 10
Cloud Computing
View all newsletters




Privacy Policy
 

Microsoft: IE8 faster than Firefox, Chrome

March 13, 2009 12:00 PM ET

"IE8 RC1 is a release candidate, and was very close to being done," explained Pratt when asked why newer versions of Chrome and Firefox had not been used. "But Google and Mozilla were still actively working on [those newer browsers], and they weren't super stable."

JavaScript benchmarks have become a point of dispute between Microsoft and its rivals. While Mozilla, Google, Apple and Opera have all updated their JavaScript engines in the last eight months, and have then trumpeted scores in JavaScript test suites like SunSpider, Microsoft executives have dismissed the bragging as so much noise.

Dean Hachamovitch, IE's general manager, has called claims of competitors a "drag race" that Microsoft isn't interested in joining, while Pratt has downplayed comparisons of any kind. "We're at the point, with what people do in the browser, that users can't really tell the difference between browser [performance]," he said in a January interview.

Pratt said that the just-released report backed that up. "As you can see from the scores, the differences between the browsers are actually very small," he said.

When Computerworld last tested the major browsers' JavaScript performance, immediately after the release of the public beta of Safari 4, IE8 ranked last.

Although Google did not respond to a request for comment on Microsoft's benchmarks, Mozilla's Mike Shaver, who heads all development at the company, applauded any attempt to boost IE's performance. "I don't think anyone here has had a chance to really look at their methodology yet or tried to reproduce their results, but to whatever extent Microsoft is working to improve the performance of IE, it's a good thing for the Web," said Shaver in an e-mail late Thursday.

Microsoft's browser performance report can be downloaded from the company's Web site.

Read more about software development in Computerworld's Software Development Knowledge Center.



Jump to comments

Microsoft

Additional Resources

Microsoft
Here are some of the key reasons why you would want to run Unified Access Gateway with DirectAccess.
Microsoft
Review how one energy firm tightened protection and simplified IT work using business-ready security solutions.
Sybase
In this white paper, IDC analyzes the role of next-generation mobile enterprise platforms as organizations seek a more strategic deployment of mobile solutions.

Learn the important issues you must consider before starting your next mobility initiative. Get your mobility white paper from IDC now, compliments of Sybase.

What People Are Saying

White Papers & Webcasts

Three IT Strategies to Cut Cost Intelligently
Register for this Webcast! Provided by BMC Software.

Five Steps to Successful IT Consolidation
Has your Enterprise made the strategic decision to consolidate remote site IT infrastructure into central data centers?  

The True ROI behind WAN Optimization
Looking for solid data behind the cost-savings story of WAN optimization?  

The Workday User Experience Video
Watch Workday's Creative Director, Scott Lietzke, discuss the business-centered design philosophy at Workday.

Forrester Consulting - Optimizing Users and Applications in a Mobile World
Learn how to successfully deploy a WAN optimization solution that is specifically tuned for a mobile environment!  

Business Process Framework Demo
Learn about Configurable Business Processes and Calculated Fields. Watch Now!


IT Jobs