It seems as though we’re always talking about Internet browsers and what the “Big Three” are doing or trying to do to each other. Remembering back a few years, anyone who thought the death of Netscape was the end of the browser wars was sorely mistaken.
Prepare to be overwhelmed by an onslaught of new browser updates and releases in the coming months as Microsoft, Mozilla, Opera, and Google all vie for the leadership spot in our web browsing application of choice.
Before you make YOUR decision however, there are other alternatives out there that you may not have heard of. No they’re not big players in the ongoing browser wars but one may provide an attractive alternative for you. Some of the lesser-known browsers sport unique features that the big boys lack – here’s 3 that might fit your particular browser requirements:
FLOCK – The browser for Social Networks
Take A Load Off. Would you run errands all day if you could have someone do it for you? Of course not! Flock delivers the latest webmail, photos, videos and updates from your favorites sites, so you can stop running around. Some ideas are ahead of their time – billed as a social web browser, Flock owes it’s ongoing success to its integration with several social networking sites and web applications. Myspace, Facebook and Twitter to name a few as well as various media sharing outlets like Flickr, Photobucket and Picasa. A bevy of blogging tools, easy webmail access and the ability to upload photos just by dragging them are the icing on a multilayered cake.
Take a look: http://www.flock.com
MAXTHON – Internet Explorer for Power Users
Old-school browser aficionados may remember Maxthon by another name: MyIE. Now in version 2 it wouldn’t be fair to refer to Maxthon as an IE shell any longer. Maxthon manages to separate itself with some unique features, split-screen browsing support (like having 2 monitors without the expense), advanced drag-and-drop controls, URL hotkeys, the ability to give URL’s an alias as well as a built in screen capture applet.
Take a look: http://www.maxthon.com
TOR BROWSER BUNDLE – A browser add-on for the paranoid among us
Tor is free software and an open network that helps you defend against a form of network surveillance that threatens personal freedom and privacy, confidential business activities and relationships, and state security known as traffic analysis.
Tor protects you by bouncing your communications around a distributed network of relays run by volunteers all around the world: it prevents somebody watching your Internet connection from learning what sites you visit, and it prevents the sites you visit from learning your physical location. Tor works with many of your existing applications, including web browsers, instant messaging clients, remote login, and other applications based on the TCP protocol.
Take a look: https://www.torproject.org/torbrowser/
My personal favorite of these alternatives is FLOCK. I don’t need MAXTHON’S additions to IE8 because I’m still waiting for Microsoft to fix IE8’s ongoing problems – why add to the mess. And if I were paranoid enough to warrant using TOR’s features I’d probably NOT be on the internet at all.
But hey, don’t go by my opinions, download an alternative browser and decide for yourself.
