Filed under: Microsoft, Browsers
Questionable Microsoft Chart proclaims IE8 is the fastest browser
There have been a lot of speed claims lately when it comes to web browsers - when Apple released Safari 4, I put half a dozen options through the paces to see who came out on top. IE8 didn't appear in my chart, because it handled the benchmarks so badly that I canceled them before its javascript engine seized up completely and cracked the block.
"Hey, wait just a gosh darn minute!" shouts Microsoft. "We ran our own tests, and they showed that our browser is the fastest!" On a related note, I've done my own testing that conclusively proves that I am, in fact, the all time leading goal scorer for the Detroit Red Wings. Sorry, Gordie Howe!
But really. Come on, Microsoft, are we supposed to take this seriously or is this some halfhearted attempt at humor like the recent news about Firefox conquering one entire continent (Antarctica)?
Put simply, IE8 is a dog. What kind of dog? A very slow, old dog. Though apparently one that manages to squeak out enough decent load times on a particular bunch of websites for Microsoft to sneak a chart in at the end of a 14-page report showing it to be the browser speed king.
Let's take a look at the sites Microsoft chose to include in the report: Google, Yahoo, AOL, Facebook, Ask, Mozilla, Blogger. None of these are really giving the browsers a workout, espsecially if it's only the landing pages that were being tested. How much time do you spend on Facebook's intial page when you visit? Barely any, I'll wager. It's just not a compelling way to measure how fast a browser is or isn't.
Try it yourself and give your browser a challenge. Send it to a more intense site like Compfight or twitter.peoplebrowsr.com, and the difference is obvious: IE8 is simply outmatched when it comes to the heavy lifting.
There are things that IE8 does well, and Microsoft should be emphasizing them better - rather than pointing to internal tests and singing drunken choruses of We are the Champions.
I'm sorry, Microsoft, but I can tell the difference between shine-ola and the other stuff, and I think our readers can, too. If you'd like a bigger whiff of the report, you'll find it in the MS Download Center.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Quikboy said 11:55PM on 3-11-2009
I don't see anywhere where it "proclaims" it's the fastest browser. The table just shows a comparison of browsers (Chrome, Firefox, and IE8) and how fast they load up the top 25 most-trafficked sites on the web in seconds.
It did show a good number of sites that loaded up faster in IE8 than Chrome or Firefox, but I don't think they're trying to claim the fastest browser award. I think they're just showing how well the new IE performs. In fact, the whole report is mostly about the new performance.
IE8 being a dog is a bit over the top.
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Quikboy said 9:07PM on 3-12-2009
I just found this post, the goes into a bit more in-depth of how Microsoft did the test, and there's even a video :)
http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsexperience/archive/2009/03/12/ie8-gets-you-where-you-want-to-go-quickly.aspx
Like I said, they're not trying to claim they're the fastest, but they are showing IE speed has improved a lot in IE8, and it's no longer the "dog" of all browsers. Here's a quote from the video:
"So Internet Explorer is fast, just like the other browsers." See? They're not claiming to be the top. Watch the video, and you'll see the point.
PixelSlave said 1:04AM on 3-12-2009
I am not sure if Compfight or twitter.peoplebrowsr.com would even make to the top 100 websites people visit.
Make no mistake, IE8 IS SLOW when it comes to serious AJAX usages, but your comparison is worse than Microsoft's own test. Assuming that MS didn't tweak their test result and IE 8 indeed is the fastest browsers visiting the top 25 most-trafficked sites, then it IS the fastest browsers to A LOT OF people who don't visit sites that use a lot of AJAX -- which could be a lot. We don't know, but I have a feeling that there are a lot. After all, the sites MS used to run the test are the top 25 sites.
I agree that none of those sites and their landing pages really tax the JavaScript engine of the browsers. But looking it from another point of view, it might mean that IE8 beats every other browsers when it come to render static web pages.
But, it's time for MS to give up on IE. Why spends so much effort on its own browser when it's not making money out of it? Just pick up the WebKit engine or the Gecko engine and create its own variant and call it IE 10.
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sitruc said 2:37AM on 3-12-2009
I have to agree that your complaining is much worse than anything Microsoft is trying to do. While you may not like their methods, your own testing was very flawed as well(just the Javascript engines) while their test offers a more real world approach.
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psycros said 3:15AM on 3-12-2009
About three months ago a guy I know (web designer/database guy) did a bunch of access and rendering tests for different browsers. It was part of a big project for a national financial firm that was moving databases off their old mainframe. He told me that IE8 came out pretty much in the middle of the pack on almost every test (I'd predicted it would be dead last, lol). It had a few Java and AJAX issues that he was working on, but he thought he could whip it. Last I heard they had temporarily settled on Firefox for the moment, although it didn't support all the Microsoft stuff that he wanted to use. BTW, Firefox and Safari were pretty much tied for first place in speed, but Safari had so many problems accessing backend that it was pretty much tossed out of the race.
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Transcontinental said 5:00AM on 3-12-2009
I guess Microsoft's claims were intended to IE users, the only ones perhaps able to mistake the joke for the truth ... sorry guys, I love you all, but if you're still on Internet Explorer don't worry : you'll make it, one day :)
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Fr0z3n said 12:36PM on 3-12-2009
LOL on writer
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whiskey said 1:26AM on 3-13-2009
Aww come on... The table data shows clearly that they think they are faster than the other guys. IMHO, it depends on where you use the browser and what you use it for
There's no way you can get up and running on old hardware a copy of IE8 that runs at least respectably slow. Meanwhile Safari was blazing fast on OSX on a P4 with 512MB RAM. FF does wonders too on Linux on the same machine (yes OSX was one of those "because i can" moments). Although XP can run there, it will be seriously slow and IE8 will be too. Vista won't run well either. ON THAT CONFIGURATION.
So it will all boil down on what hardware this or that user has.
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