While not quite the knock-down, drag-out, dirty-trick-laden battles of the early days of the World Wide Web, the browser wars continue. With much of the computing world moving to cloud-based services, the browser has become more important as both developers and users look for a competitive advantage.

What does the browser-­scape look like today, and which one is best for you?

There are literally dozens of browsers out there, but in terms of market share, and supported by anecdotal evidence, the big four on the desktop are Microsoft’s Edge, Google’s Chrome, Mozilla’s Firefox and Apple’s Safari. All four also run on mobile devices such as iPhone and Android, but for the purposes of this column, we are sticking to desktop/laptop computers.

All new Windows-based PCs have Edge pre-installed and set as the default browser, while all new Macs have Safari pre-installed and set as the default browser. While Mac users tend not to stray from Safari, Windows users often move off of Edge.

So, why would one move off the default browser? Well, if you are using a cloud-based set of applications, such as Google’s G Suite, it should come as no surprise that it will work better on Chrome. Chrome, in fact, is by far the most popular browser today. When it was first introduced, it took the web by storm, due to aversion to Microsoft’s then-current browser, Internet Explorer, as well as aggressive techniques to get it out there.

Nowadays folks stick with what they know.

Technically, Chrome is a good choice and runs on PCs, Macs and, of course, Chromebooks, which, as their name implies, come with Chrome as the browser. While it’s technically possible to use a different browser on many Chromebooks, only the nerdiest of nerds would even attempt that.

Chrome, however, is plagued by complaints about invasion of privacy, more so than any of its competitors. Google uses Chrome to collect data from its users and track them in order to support its ad-­targeting business.

Similar to a Chrome and G Suite combination, Edge works best with Microsoft’s 365 environment. The online versions of Office applications are tuned for Edge, not to mention other applications such as SharePoint. Even Edge on the Mac is much more tuned for the 365 environment than other browsers.

Of course, like Google, Microsoft is often accused of intruding upon user privacy.

Under Windows 11, Microsoft’s old browser, Internet Explorer does not run. However, Edge’s compatibility mode has improved significantly since its inception, and most IE-dependent applications run under Edge, some better than others. Edge’s IE compatibility mode is the best way to run IE-dependent apps, but if you are still using such apps in 2022, it’s time to get some new apps.

Safari is favored by the Mac community because, well, it’s an Apple product. And, in fact, unless you are fully bought into and dependent upon G Suite or 365, there’s not much of a reason to use another browser on a Mac. Like Google and Microsoft, however, Apple has also been accused of collecting and sharing user data.

Firefox has been around nearly 20 years and is the only mainstream open-source browser. This means that unlike the others mentioned above, there is no possibility of nefarious things being hidden. They don’t sell your data, which many folks find to be a huge differentiator. Firefox runs on PCs and Macs.

Finally, browser developers like to claim superior performance as a reason to choose theirs over the competition. The truth of the matter is that speed while surfing is much more dependent on the computer than anything else. Rarely will there be a noticeable difference in performance between browsers on the same computer.

———

John Agsalud is an IT expert with more than 25 years of information technology experience. Reach him at jagsalud@live.com.