On: Spidermonkey has passed V8 on Octane performance

[wlesieutre]

I've been using FF for a while, but partly switched off when I got a Surface (on account of IE's better touchscreen support).

But soon I'll be moving from iOS to Android, the wonderful land of being able to change your default browser. And I'll be using FF there for the bookmark syncing. Firefox on 2/3 devices ain't bad.

There was a lot of hate over the australis redesign, but I like it better than Chrome.

[Encosia → wlesieutre]

+1 for IE's touchscreen support. I keep holding out and using Chrome on my laptop for a few extensions and all of the bookmarks/passwords I have synced over the years, but IE makes Chrome look absolutely kludgy and clunky when it comes to performance and UI these days. It's a shame IE doesn't have a more approachable extensibility model...

[eru → Encosia]

Does IE run on anything but Windows these days?

(Edit: Doesn't look like it. Alas.)

[SloopJon → eru]

Not that I've tried that hard, but the most recent IE that I can run under WINE (Crossover Mac) is IE 8.

[wlesieutre → eru]

You could always scrounge up a copy of IE5 for Mac ;)

[pjmlp → eru]

So what? Safari is also stuck in Apple land.

[SixSigma → pjmlp]

Perhaps he means "I don't run windows, can I run I.E. on anything else, like it used to run on Solaris or under Wine"

Some people do exist that have Linux desktop / Android smart device as the only computers we can change.

[eru → pjmlp]

Yes, that makes it harder to try Safari, too.

Firefox, Chrome, Opera and others are not so picky about which operating system they run on.

[mdellabitta → pjmlp]

Safari is available for OS X and Windows.

[callahad → mdellabitta]

The Windows version was silently killed last year.

[robin_reala → mdellabitta]

Safari on Windows has been abandoned; it’s now 3 versions behind.

[wlesieutre → robin_reala]

And since that includes security patches, probably best to avoid it.

[wfjackson → Encosia]

Rumored to be coming in IE12.

http://www.zdnet.com/how-the-next-version-of-ie-codenamed-sp...

[MichaelGG → wlesieutre]

Android is also the land where almost every single app can see who you call, who calls you, and get a unique serial number for your phone hardware. All because Google smuggled "check to see if the user's on the phone" permission, which many apps rightfully need, into that whole bundle.

As this is technically a very stupid move, it feels like the only way to interpret this is that Google wants more people giving up privacy, for it to be normal.

Also see: Chrome flips around OK/Cancel in the DNT enable dialog, purely to confuse and prevent users from enabling DNT.

[MichaelGG → MichaelGG]

For those curious, go look up Phone State and Identity. If an app wants to behave while your in the phone, it also needs to be able to read your IMEI and the number calling or called. So a flashlight app that wants to disable in call can now see that you're calling a cancer doc. This hardly seems accidental, given that knowing if the user is oh the phone isn't s sensitive operation.

As far as Chrome: go compare. Enable things like spell check, which put up a normal little explanation. Then try DNT, which elicits a scary disclaimer and swaps the OK and Cancel buttons.

[zobzu → wlesieutre]

I actually think that while its very debatable on desktop, firefox for android may be the best all around android browser.

Now for surface I hear you - i was sad they discontinued the work for that. Even on touchscreen latpops.

[wlesieutre → zobzu]

Even with no Metro version of Firefox, the desktop version could be better. Touch scrolling in IE for desktop feels like it does on a smartphone. Firefox is jerkier and doesn't get momentum quite right.