Resource Hogs: Google Chrome and IE8 Beta 2 Compared to Firefox 3.0.1

Google Browser (Google Chrome) and Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 are nothing short of resource hogs compared to Firefox 3.0.1. This is the conclusion presented by researchers from the Devil Mountain Software company, who threw the three browsers one against the other on the same "arena", a Dell OptiPlex 745 (Core 2 Duo @ 2.66GHz) with 2GB of RAM and running both Windows Vista SP1 and Windows XP SP3.

The conclusion on IE8 Beta 2 is not that flattering: "What we found was another example of unchecked Microsoft code "bloat," complete with "shirt-bursting, waistline-stretching" memory consumption and the kind of CPU-hogging thread growth normally reserved for massively parallel server farms," a representative from the Devil Mountain Software company stated.

But the fact of the matter is that Google Chrome, is even worse. "What we found was truly shocking: After re-executing our 10-site, multi-tab scenario across all 4 browsers, we discovered that it is Google Chrome, not Internet Explorer 8, that is the true memory consumption leader," the Devil Mountain Software company member indicated.

In a 10-site, multi-tab browsing scenario, IE8 Beta 2 consumed no less than 332MB of RAM, with Chrome Beta also eating a lot of system memory, namely 324MB. By contrast, Internet Explorer 7 only managed to climb as high as 250MB. In this context, it appears that the new technologies, features and capabilities built into Internet Explorer 8, as well as Google Chrome, require more resources than Firefox to perform the same tasks.

"Of course, both browsers look absolutely porcine when compared to the lean, mean Firefox 3.01 (151MB peak, 104MB average working set size). And lest we forget, IE 7 continues to hover somewhere between the fit & trim Firefox and the obesity that defines Chrome/IE 8 (209MB peak, 142MB average)," the Devil Mountain Software company researcher added.

But when it comes down to CPU utilization, both Firefox 3.0.1 and Google Chrome managed to shame IE8 Beta 2, in terms of their hunger. Google Browser took no less than 45% of the processor while Firefox 3.0.1 managed a high of 42%. IE 8 Beta 2 used just 22% of the CPU under XP SP3 and 33% under Vista SP1, while IE7 took only 13% and 24% respectively.

"Both Firefox and IE 7 spawn a relatively modest number of threads (25 and 43, respectively), a fact related to their reliance on a single process instance to handle all tabbed sessions. By contrast, IE 8 spawns potentially hundreds of threads (153 in our latest test round), and spreads them out across its various instances (in our case, 6 discrete copies of iexplore.exe)," the Devil Mountain Software company member indicated, adding that, by contrast, Chrome was managing just 48 execution threads at the apex of the test scenario.

But in the end, the fact that Firefox 3.0.1 is superior, in terms of resource usage, to Google Chrome and Internet Explorer 8 shouldn't come as a surprise. Both Microsoft and Google's browsers are still in Beta development stage, albeit IE8 is in Beta 2, with the gold version expected to drop in November 2008, and considerably slower than its predecessor.

"Chrome, like IE 8, is a browser designed with tomorrow’s hardware in mind. Its use of a multi-process tabbing model – which, according to Google, helps isolate failures and protect complex web applications (like GMail or Google Docs) – means that it will always use more memory than Firefox, IE 7 and similar, single-process browsers. How such model will hold up under heavy use, especially on today’s hardware, remains to be seen," reads the conclusion from the Devil Mountain Software company.

Google Chrome is available for download here.
Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 is available for download here.
Firefox 3.0.1 for Windows is available for download here.
Firefox 3.0.1 for Linux is available for download here.
Firefox 3.0.1 for Mac OS X is available for download here.
By: Marius Oiaga, Technology News Editor (news.softpedia.com)

Google Browser (Chrome) - the Internet Explorer Killer

If Microsoft is moving into the Cloud, Google is expanding to the Desktop and to the Windows client. The Mountain-View search giant is on the verge of making available a beta version of Google Chrome, a browser initially designed to integrate only with the Windows platform, but which is set to be tailored to additional platforms in the future. Not even out yet, Google Chrome is positioned as an Internet Explorer killer, far beyond what Microsoft's rivals Mozilla and Opera have been capable of doing with their own products.

"This is just the beginning – Google Chrome is far from done. We're releasing this beta for Windows to start the broader discussion and hear from you as quickly as possible. We're hard at work building versions for Mac and Linux too, and will continue to make it even faster and more robust," revealed Sundar Pichai, VP Product Management, and Linus Upson, engineering director.

At the time of this article the Google Chrome bits were not available for download yet. Google is attempting what representatives from the company referred to as a "fresh take on the browser," with every intention to "launch early and iterate." Anchored on the desktop and owning the vast majority of both the operating system and the browser markets, with Windows and Internet Explorer, the Redmond giant is in fact an intermediary between the end users and Google, located almost exclusively into the cloud.

Even though Google claims that Chrome will be made available "because we believe we can add value for users and, at the same time, help drive innovation on the web," the fact of the matter is that the Mountain View company is making a decisive move to reduce the relevance of Internet Explorer on the world wide web.

At the end of August 2008, Winifred Mitchell Baker, chairperson of the Mozilla Foundation and chairperson and former chief executive officer of the Mozilla Corporation, announced that "we’ve just renewed our agreement with Google for an additional three years. This agreement now ends in November of 2011 rather than November of 2008, so we have stability in income."

So in this context, Google and Mozilla are now obvious partners, on the same front against Microsoft. At the end of August 2008, all the supported editions of Internet Explorer accounted for over 70% of the browser market, according to data from Net Applications, while Firefox was close to breaking the 20% milestone. As a newcomer, Google Chrome will start from zero, but the browser is bound to get traction fast, especially with Google's resources behind it.

The Google Browser features components from Apple's WebKit and Firefox and is a fully fledged open source product. Chrome sports a new approach to the graphical user interface, with the focus on Tabs but also features such as Omnibox, an address bar with auto-completion functionality, as well as a Speed Dial, privacy mode via the "incognito" window, a new method of managing the execution and usage of web applications, and malware protection.

"Under the hood, we were able to build the foundation of a browser that runs today's complex web applications much better. By keeping each tab in an isolated "sandbox", we were able to prevent one tab from crashing another and provide improved protection from rogue sites. We improved speed and responsiveness across the board. We also built a more powerful JavaScript engine, V8, to power the next generation of web applications that aren't even possible in today's browsers," added Pichai and Upson.

Update: Google Chrome is available for download here.
By Marius Oiaga, Technology News Editor (news.softpedia.com)

Firefox 3.0.1 Is Available for Download

Mozilla assured as early as the past week that the first security and stability update for Firefox 3.0 would be available for download on July 16, and it looks like it lived up to its promise. Although official confirmation has yet to be made available, Firefox 3.0.1 is already up for grabs, one day following the release of Firefox 2.0.0.16, and almost one month since Firefox 3.0 went live and reached the 8 million downloads milestone in the first 24 hours. Version 3.0.1 is the step Mozilla takes toward focusing exclusively on Firefox 3.0.

The first issue deals with a "remote code execution by overflowing CSS reference counter". According to Mozilla, "The vulnerability was caused by an insufficiently sized variable being used as a reference counter for CSS objects. By creating a very large number of references to a common CSS object, this counter could be overflowed which could cause a crash when the browser attempts to free the CSS object while still in use. An attacker could use this crash to run arbitrary code on the victim's computer."

The second security hole plugged with the release of Firefox 3.0.1 involves "command-line URLs launch multiple tabs when Firefox not running". Mozilla revealed that despite the Critical rating, this vulnerability is mitigated by limited privileges. However, in combination with a script injecting flaw, the vulnerability can permit an attacker to execute arbitrary code on a vulnerable system.

Firefox 3.0.1 is designed to fix two security vulnerabilities, both labeled with a maximum severity rating of critical. Not through a coincidence, the pair of security flaws are the very same that Mozilla patched on July 15 in Firefox 2.0.0.16.Nothing is set in stone at this point in time, but with Mozilla' looking to phase out support for Firefox 2.0 by mid-December 2008, Firefox 3.0.1 is considered as a candidate for a major update rollout. In this context, Firefox 3.0.1 might be the version of the open source browser that will get pushed to all users of Firefox 2.0 automatically. "Firefox 2.0.0.x will be maintained with security and stability updates until mid-December, 2008. All users are encouraged to upgrade to Firefox 3," said Samuel Sidler, Quality Assurance Engineer at Mozilla.

Firefox 3.0.1 for Windows is available for download here.
Firefox 3.0.1 for Linux is available for download here.
Firefox 3.0.1 for Mac OS X is available for download here.
Source: http://news.softpedia.com

Browser Wars: Internet Explorer vs. Firefox. vs. Safari vs. Opera

Judging strictly by the sheer volume of vulnerabilities Mozilla Firefox was the most insecure browser in 2007, according to Symantec. Firefox had a total of 122 security holes, more than any other rival browser. Symantec credited the efforts poured into securing Internet Explorer 7 for IE managing to be situated under Firefox in terms of security flaws. Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera and Safari are together synonymous with the browser market, having divided the vast majority of the Internet audience among them. In addition to the constant race for an increased install base, the four browsers are also continually evolving toward new standards of performance, compatibility and security. In this regard, Symantec has published a report offering an insight on one critical aspect of browser security – vulnerabilities.

According to the Cupertino-based security company, there is an increasing trend for the threat environment to shift the focus of exploits and attacks toward client-side problems, with browsers growing in prominence. Obviously, no browser is a panacea to security or a silver-bullet solution, and at the same time the vulnerability count is not, in itself, a complete measure of security.

"Web browser vulnerabilities are a serious security concern due to their role in online fraud and the propagation of spyware and adware. They are particularly prone to security concerns because they come in contact with more potentially untrusted or hostile content than most other applications. This is a concern because attacks can originate from malicious Web sites or legitimate Web sites that have been compromised to serve malicious content. It is also true that browsers can play a role in client-side attacks because of their ability to invoke plug-ins and other applications when handling potentially malicious content served from the Web such as documents and media files," Symantec stated.

Firefox was impacted by no less than 88 vulnerabilities in the second half of the past year, with another 34 in the first half. Mozilla's open source browser cumulated more vulnerabilities in 2007 than any other browser, this despite the fact that Firefox is generally perceived as an apex of security. For Firefox, 19 vulnerabilities in the second half of 2007 and 12 in the first half were labeled with a severity rating of medium by Symantec, and the remaining 34 flaws in July-December 2007 and 22 in January-June 2007 were designated as representing only low-level threats.

"Safari was affected by 22 vulnerabilities in the second half of 2007. One was considered high severity, 12 were medium, and nine were low. This is a decrease from the 25 Safari vulnerabilities that were documented in the first half of 2007, of which seven were medium severity and 18 were low," Symantec added.

No less than 57 security vulnerabilities affected Internet Explorer in 2007, but the volume is lower compared with just the holes that plagued Firefox between July and December of the past year. Furthermore, only 13 security holes were labeled as medium with the remaining five rated as low out of the 18 IE vulnerabilities in the second half of 2007. In the first half of the past year, IE was impacted by 39 vulnerabilities, with 15 medium, and 23 low.

"In the last six months of 2007, 12 vulnerabilities were documented in Opera. Of these, eight were medium severity and four were low. This is fewer than the seven vulnerabilities that affected Opera in the first half of 2007, of which three were considered medium severity and four were low," Symantec said.

According to the Cupertino-based security company, the increase in popularity of both Firefox and Safari has been synonymous with a jump in the number of vulnerabilities discovered. In the second half of the past year, both Safari and Firefox had more security flaws compared to Internet Explorer.

"While fewer vulnerabilities were discovered in Internet Explorer during this period, Mozilla was subject to a sharp increase. The decrease in Internet Explorer vulnerabilities may be due to the focus on security in Internet Explorer 7. The increase in Mozilla vulnerabilities was a by-product of internal and community driven security audits of the browser," Symantec said.

Source: news.softpedia.com

Is Internet Explorer Safer Than Firefox, Opera and Safari?

The face-off for dominance on the browser market is essentially a four-horse race between Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari and Opera. Now, the truth of the matter is that Internet Explorer has long become the preferred browser worldwide, starting with the moment it was bundled with Windows and offered for free in order to beat Netscape at its own game. Firefox comes in second in terms of install base, enjoying the backing of Google, with Safari in third place thanks to the Mac OS X and with Opera a distant fourth. But along with market share, security is another relevant aspect of the browser war.

Now, Microsoft has been claiming throughout 2007 that Internet Explorer has the smallest volume of vulnerabilities compared to all rival products. The statistics put together by Jeff Jones, a Security Strategy Director in Microsoft’s Trustworthy Computing group, illustrating IE's superiority in terms of the sheer number of vulnerabilities do not offer a true perspective over the actual level of security provided by each browser. But at the same time, the data turned out to be correct, as supported by a recent report from Cenzic.

"Application vulnerabilities in Q4 tracked the first three quarters in terms of their dominance, forming 71 percent, a three percent increase over Q3, of the total 1,404 published vulnerabilities. The scary part is that 70 percent of these vulnerabilities are easily exploitable. Application vulnerabilities are the ones that pertain to Web technologies including Web servers, Web browsers, and Web applications. (...) In the browser category, surprisingly Internet Explorer had less vulnerability than Safari, Opera, and Mozilla Firefox browsers," Mandeep Khera, VP of Marketing, Cenzic.

Cenzic revealed that only 10% of all browser security flaws in 2007 impacted Internet Explorer. The next in line is Safari with 15% and then Firefox with no less than 32% of vulnerabilities. Judging strictly by the number of vulnerabilities, Opera is the most insecure browser, having been impacted by no less than 38% of vulnerabilities.

"Vulnerabilities in Web browsers were concentrated among four popular technologies - Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, and Safari. Showing a similar trend as Q3 2007, the Opera Web browser with 38 percent had the most reported vulnerabilities during the Q4 time period, with Firefox coming in second by a 6 percent margin. The chart below shows the percentage of the total browser vulnerabilities associated with each product. Unlike previous quarters, less vulnerabilities were reported in Internet Explorer than in Opera, Firefox, or Safari," reads an excerpt from the Cenzic report.

Source: news.softpedia.com