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>> What's up, Prize Fight fans? I'm Brian Tong, and we've got a special one for you. It's the battle of the web browsers. It's a four-way free-for-all between Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, and Chrome. Now, our judges for this fight are Download.com's senior associate editor, Seth Rosenblatt, and webware.com associate editor Josh Lowensohn. And we'll need them both. Now, scoring will be little different with this many contenders, so for each category we'll rank them first through the fourth. First place will receive four points, and last place will receive one point. We know it's not the most scientific, but we want to get you guys talking about which browser is king of the ring. We've got four rounds with four fighters. Who hits the fastest? Round one is about speed.
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Internet explorer is the old guy, and it's not that he's slow, but he's not as fast as the rest of the pack. Safari's speed keeps getting better, but Firefox will pass it up. Now, depending on the test, Firefox 3 can be nearly as fast, or slightly faster, as Chrome. But at the end of the day, Chrome is the flashiest when it comes to speed. There isn't even a progress bar because it's that snappy. IE is fourth, Safari is third, Firefox is a close second, and Chrome takes this round. Who's got your back? Next round is security.
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Internet Explorer is the reason antivirus software exists. They've made improvements, but Microsoft has been the slowest to respond when updates are needed. Chrome is still the new kid on the block, so it really has a limited history. Safari shares the same engine as Chrome, so fixes will cross over to both. Now, Safari has had security loopholes, but Apple's been fairly quick to react to them. And out of this bunch, it's Firefox whose open-source platform has made it one of the most secure browsers around. And what isn't fixed, third party plugins take care of. There's an honorable mention here for Opera, which is one of the safest browsers because of its closed code, but it's not in this battle. IEs fourth again. The young Chrome is third. Safari comes in second, and Firefox takes this round. Now, here's a look a to our current scores. It's very close at the top with Firefox ahead of the pack. Now, what browser can you make your own. Round three is about customization.
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Chrome's still the baby, but its start page showing you recent pages and bookmarks is sweet. Now, there's no plugin support, so it hurts it in this category. Safari is limited to bookmarks and the navigation buttons, but you can tinker with add-ons if you're a Mac user. IE's ActiveX controls get you deep access to your system, and its catalogs of add-ons, accelerators, and toolbars keeps growing. Now, you want what Josh calls "the Swiss Army knife of browsers?" Firefox's developer-created extensions and add-ons are mind boggling, and it may not look like a browser once you're done with it. Chrome is fourth, Safari's third, IE falls just a little short at second, and Firefox takes the top spot.
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Now, after round three, Firefox is starting to pull away. The final round that decides it all is killer feature. What makes each browser unique? Well, Safari has a SnapBack feature, and it jumps you back to the search you started. It was also the first browser with private browsing. That's caught on. Now, Chrome's customized start page is refreshing and new. Another feature, each site can be run as its own application, and also, if one tab crashes, the whole browser doesn't go down in flames. Now, IE's tabbed view lets you see thumbnails of all the pages you have open, and it's a lot easier than reading the text. Plus, even though you might think it's a dinosaur, it's still the most compatible browser out there, and I know you've come across a page or two that's required it. Now, this might be a cop-out to you, but Firefox ridiculous killer feature is its customization. Themes, add-ons, whatever you want, you've got it. And no browser can match it. Safari gets third. Third you say? Well, that's because we're calling it a tie between Chrome and IE. And Firefox once again stands tallest. So let's total up the final scores. Coming in last with an admirable effort, it's Internet Explorer with eight points. Now, Safari and Chrome end up tied with ten points apiece, a great showing for Chrome out of the gates because Safari, it ain't no chump. And with 15 points, Firefox is the champ and your prizefight winner. I'm Brian Tong. Thanks for watching. We'll catch you guys next time on another prizefight.
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