The Browser Wars Continue: IE8 Faster Than Chrome, Firefox?

Like just about everyone I know, Microsoft's Internet Explorer hasn't been a part of my weblife for years. It's hard to remember exactly when I abandoned Internet Explorer in favor of Firefox, but I've distrusted that blue "e" icon on my desktop since at least Windows 98.

But given the results of some speed test browser jousting, Internet Explorer 8 might warrant a second chance. Take a look at the load times for IE8, Firefox and Chrome on a variety of sites:



Full report in PDF format.

Internet Explorer boasts faster load times on youtube, google and facebook--essentially the whole of the internet that I care about. And IE really throws down the gauntlet by loading mozilla.com a handful of milleseconds faster than Firefox. How Mozilla will respond to this affront on its honor?

Hard to say for sure, but IE8 looks to perform spectacularly. Just be sure to take these results with a grain of salt, as the testing was undertaken by Microsoft itself. There's a fair chance that some experimenter's bias may have played a role in these favorable results. I still however find these results to be credible. Anecdotally, I was very impressed with Windows 7's IE8 in beta phase earlier this year (read the full review).

As the current skirmishes heat up between Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome and friends, check out our web browser review site for background info. Otherwise, keep up on your tech news with more from our blog:

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