Browser Dethroned...

[ProxRocks]

Welp, the day is upon us (I think)...

I keep my eyes open and try-and-die (install it, use it for five minutes, uninstall it) different web browsers quite frequently... I've been quite happy with Sleipnir for the last two years or so...

I've stumbled upon some very decent ones along the way (Tablane, SlimBrowser, and GreenBrowser are three that gave very warm fuzzies, but fell short of dethroning Sleipnir as my default run-to)...

Maxthon (used to be called MyIE2) has just surpassed Sleipnir (although Sleipnir 2.40 is still under development, they may reclaim the throne before long)...

Standard version (doesn't come bloated with skins and whatnot) can be optained here: http://www.majorgeeks.com/download1167.html

Of course, Sleipnir isn't about to be booted just yet (it incorporates both the IE and the Gekko engines, which Maxthon does not)...


If you ever wanted to type, for example, "Proxomitron" in the web browser's search field and it automatically open TWO tabs containing search results, one from Google and one from Yahoo, then Maxthon [or Tablane (don't recall on Slim or Green)] is for you...

[Ralph]

ProxRocks , I have used Maxthon for quite a while and think it is very good ; it is very configurable , has mouse gestures and a nice tab system , but it is as secure as IE . I am now using Opera 9.0 which you ought to give a try . I would really value your opinion on this . To me it seems awesome .

[ProxRocks]

9.0 must be fairly recent, the last Opera I tried-and-ditched was 8.54 (it's still in my download directory, but uninstalled [ie, I was unimpressed, lol])...

I'll give 9.0 a whirl sometime tomorrow...
8.54 was a *definite* improvement over past Opera versions I have tried, I give it that...
So 9.0 may be worth keeping, who knows...


to "diatribe" -
Maxthon is *not* "only as secure as IE"... (to paraphrase slightly)

ask any Firefox user about the "Zero-Day" exploit that took how many MONTHS to fix... and how many "partial fixes" along the way? lol...

Opera had some major vulnerabilities with version 7.22 (had something to do with 'skins' as I recall)... don't know about 8.x or 9.0...

Maxthon, IE, Firefox, Opera, AND anything from Notepad to WordPad to UltraEdit or ALL *ONLY* as "secure" as the Operating System they run on... BUT *OVER AND ABOVE* that, they are *ONLY* as secure as the firewall that they connect to the 'net through...

Give me a rock-solid firewall and I'm perfectly happy with running IE 4.0 on Windows 3.11 for Workgroups (okay, a "slight" exaggeration, lol)...

[besafe]

ProxRocks:
I'm the reverse of you; I've been a long time user of Maxthon but it has been dethroned by Sleipnir 2.30. Don't care for Opera 9; just recently removed it from my pc.

[Oddysey]

WARNING!

Drama ahead, watch out for technical jargon!

[ProxRocks]

besafe Wrote:ProxRocks:
I'm the reverse of you; I've been a long time user of Maxthon but it has been dethroned by Sleipnir 2.30.

I was a long-time MyIE2/Maxthon user BEFORE stumbling into Sleipnir (1.something at the time, still have 1.66 installed [and have ran every beta 2.x that has ever come out, currently have 2.40 {build 2404100} installed])...

I've been EXTREMELY happy with Sleipnir...

But it lacking the newfound ability to perform MULTIPLE-SEARCH queries SIMULTANEOUSLY has me wanting for MORE... This newfound feature was first discovered in Tablane (try it, you won't be let down), but it has quite a bit of work ahead of it in regards to the customizability I've become accustomed to (guess I've been spoiled by Sleipnir in that regard)... I've seen the feature in others as well (SlimBrowser, GreenBrowser, Acoo [not 100% sure on that one])...

Searching, for example, Google and Yahoo SIMULTANEOUSLY is actually of limited use to me (if any!)...

BUT sticking a stock ticker in the search field and it SIMULTANEOUSLY opening one tab from Yahoo Finance, one tab from MSN Money, one tab with a Point-and-Figure graph from StockChart, one tab with StockChart's SharpChart, one tab from StockSelector Analyst, one tab from MarketEdge Second Opinion, one tab from EquityTrader, one tab from ClearStation Recommendations, one tab from TradingDay BarChart Opinion, and the like is EXTREMELY useful to me - and with Sleipnir, I put the ticker in the field and have to MANUALLY pull the search engine list down for each and every "search"... Not so with a multi-search capability web browser - put in the ticker, click once, and as many tabs open as you wish... Extremely AWESOME...


edit: and although it's becoming increasingly LESS important to me with each passing year, but Maxthon ALSO has the ability to use the Gecko engine (at least it's listed in the 'new window' drop-down, I haven't tried it personally [as noted in innuendoes, the Gecko engine "ain't no thang" anymore {once, yes, but not no mo'}])...

[ProxRocks]

follow-up:

Opera 9 is *NOT* for me...
I know it may sound trivial (but web browser selection is just that, nothing more than personal preference [they are ALL susceptible to "risks"]), but with Opera's toolbars NOT being allowed to be dragged and dropped into position and FORCED to be placed in a few selectable positions is "not my thang"... Many other "customizations" are rather limited as well (at least in regards to Sleipnir [which just released 2.41 today] and Maxthon [new build also just released])...


edit: missed the d above...
ps - I really *hate* how the "last modified" footer is placed at the bottom of a message that has been edited by the poster BEFORE anyone else but said poster has read it (I know, I could just "preview" the posts BEFORE posting instead of proofreading AFTER posting)...

[Ralph]

Quote:Opera's toolbars NOT being allowed to be dragged and dropped into position

I agree , that's a real pain . I played with it most of the day yesterday and went back to Opera 8.54 . It's just too buggy for me . Mouse gestures don't work well , wigets of no real use to me , and browsing is slower .

[ProxRocks]

I may end up putting Opera 8.54 back on, not sure...
I mean, let's face it, the ONE thing that Opera has going for it is its LACK OF MARKETSHARE (currently at 1.5% versus ~25% for Firefox and ~62% for IE)...

20 years down the road, we're going to look back at marketshare statistics and see IE ranging from 40 to 55 percent and Firefox and Opera swapping back and forth in second place inversely ranging from 10 to 30 percent...

It's just a tug-of-war "game" - nobody really wins, not even the "consumer" (if there is such a thing as "consumption" when dealing with FREE software, it's ALL about that famed ol' marketshare, it's got nothing to do with "revenues" of any sort, it's just a mere "percentage" on some pencil-pushers statistics site)...

I mean, with Opera as an example, maybe their marketshare would be higher if users didn't give up on them a long time ago because they got tired of "new releases" every third day or so... I'm betting, based on past Opera releases, that the 9.0 beta isn't being updated every third day or so like those past beta releases that "fed up the masses"...

Firefox does seem to have that "magic number" solved - a new release every two to four months or so (that is, the third number of the release, not the 1.0 to 1.5 bit, but the 1.5.x to 1.5.y releases)...

IE, well, where are they, a new release every two or three years?


Yep, the ol' "Browser Wars" - nobody is winning...

"It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing" ~Shakespeare (or at least a paraphrase thereof)...

[besafe]

I don't need multiple search queries myself. I like trying out different browsers and use the one that I keep going to the most. Security of these browsers is dependant on the skill of the user. Proxo sure makes any browser more secure. Browser wars I don't really worry about. As long as there are selections out there I'm happy.

[ProxRocks]

ps - don't tell sidki, but I'm really havin' fun with Maxthon "extensions", lol...

[elshaddai]

I've been very happy with Maxthon for over 1 year now. i especially like the linkify extension, also the ability to click and drag on a link to open in a new tab.

[ProxRocks]

The "EasyFinder" plugin converts Maxthon's "CTRL+F" Find... (IE's pop-up "Find what:" dialogue box) to a toolbar find-feature comparative to Sleipnir's CTRL+F find-feature...

The "Spoof Bar" plugin is cool also (it displays the hostname and IP address of the current page in a toolbar [I used to use a Proxo filter which would actually open up a command prompt in the background which performed a ping and wrote a .txt file, Proxo would then import the IP Address from that text file and appended it to the web page's title bar])...

There's also a plugin called "More Options" (the beta version) that will display the IP Address in the Status Bar, but I prefer sidki's Page Load Timer to display in the Status Bar (and using both will interfere with each other)...


edit: Speipnir's CTRL+F is similar to the F-word's (ie, "the dead fox", lol) find function...

[ProxRocks]

besafe Wrote:ProxRocks:
I'm the reverse of you; I've been a long time user of Maxthon but it has been dethroned by Sleipnir 2.30.

Have you blocked your Sleipnir from "phoning home"?

I don't recall how long ago I noticed it (and thusly blocked it via HOSTS), but Sleipnir does provide a "Link" that it goes out and fetches upon startup (ie, too phonie-homie for my blood)...

In Sleipnir, pull down your Favorites pull-down menu...
Under Links > Recommended, you'll see a "Sleipnir Blog"...

Now close Sleipnir and DISCONNECT from the 'net...
Reopen Sleipnir and you'll notice that the "Sleipnir Blog" Link is NOT there, but rather a "Connection Error" note is displayed where the Link used to be...

Close Sleipnir, reconnect to the 'net, reopen Sleipnir...
Whoala, the "Sleipnir Blog" Link is back in...

Sleipnir is "pulling in" this link from http://www.fenrir.co.jp/services/good/good-en.xml...

Personally, I feel this "service" should be OPTIONAL (such as the notification of updates "service" [ie, "phone home"]), not Sleipnir doing this all by itself...


Anyway, depending on your views of "phoning home", you may wish to block this .xml Blog-Link feed...

[Siamesecat]

Quote:Sleipnir does provide a "Link" that it goes out and fetches upon startup

What is the difference between that and a home page?