Alice had her looking glass. We have our web browsers, the portals that connect meatspace with cyberspace. Although we have become somewhat blasé about the technology, cyberspace is still a magical world, full of adventure, profit, entertainment, romance and danger. The application that brings us a front row seat to this galaxy of content is usually taken for granted but that’s by design.
What are the top picks in the browser line-up? According to w3school’s site statistics, Mozilla’s Firefox leads the pack at 46% of users; 30% of us are using Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (IE) 6, 7 or 8; Google’s Chrome comes in next at 16% (up from around 6% same time last year); Apple’s Safari holds 3%; and Opera squeaks into the top 5 with about 2%. But, you know what they say about statistics: they can be made to prove anything – even the truth. The point is – you do have a choice and different browsers offer different features. Some of those features affect how secure and extensible your browser will be.
