Windows 8 has been out for about a month now, and Internet  Explorer 10 came along with it. Not only does IE10 have better standards  support, but it features substantially better performance. The good news is that  now those of us still using Windows 7 get to join in the fun thanks to the fact  that Microsoft has just released IE10 on Windows 7 Preview. I’ve  run some tests, and this is a substantial improvement from the previous version,  but how does it compare to Chrome?

First off, I did all of the testing on a fully patched Windows 7 installation  on a 2.5GHz Core i5 iMac with 16GB of 1333MHz DDR3 RAM and an AMD Radeon HD  6750M with 512MB of RAM. Each test was done without any browser extensions  running, and with a cache wipe between every benchmark. I wanted to know how IE10 compared to Chrome and IE9, so I did three different  tests: SunSpider JavaScript performance, HTML5 compliance, and page  load times on live websites.

JavaScript

Using the SunSpider 0.9.1 benchmarking tool from the developers of WebKit,  the three browsers are given an overall score depending on how long it took them  to execute a suite of synthetic JavaScript benchmarks.

For this test, the lower the score the better. IE9 finished running the  performance test in 814.4ms, give or take 0.6 per cent. Chrome 23 was able to  complete it in just 183.2ms, give or take 1.7 per cent. Most impressively, IE10  was the fastest at a mere 127.2ms, give or take 1.5 per cent. IE10 bested Chrome  by 56ms, but it absolutely destroyed IE9 by 687.2ms. That’s a huge difference  that will make for much improved performance when using complex web apps.

HTML5

HTML5 compliance is a bit hard to test because the W3C, the web standards  body, has yet to agree on the complete specification. As of now, we’re working  using its draft spec. Currently, the HTML5 Test is one of the best ways to test if your browser  supports five hundred different HTML5 features as well as bonus features not  defined in the spec, such as multiple codec support for video playback.

IE9 scored a measly 138/500 with five bonus points. Chrome 23 scored 448/500  with 13 bonus points. IE10 scored somewhere in between with 320/500 with 6 bonus  points. The HTML5 Test is not perfect. It doesn’t test how well your browser  performs its tasks, but it does check to see if your browser can perform them,  so it’s good to know where your browser of choice stands.

Load times

In this test, Chrome 23 and IE10 go head-to-head with real-world load times.  Using a stopwatch, I timed how long it took from pressing enter in the URL bar  until a page was in a readable state with all of the text in place. I used three  websites here, ExtremeTech, PCMag and Geek.com, and all were tested three  separate times on both browsers, and then averaged out. On IE10, ExtremeTech  loaded in 1.43 seconds, PCMag loaded in 2.00 seconds, and Geek.com loaded in  2.03 seconds. On Chrome 23, ExtremeTech loaded in 1.17 seconds, PCMag loaded in  1.50 seconds, and Geek.com loaded in 1.23 seconds. On average, Chrome loaded  pages faster, but not by much. In fact, individual tests on the same browser  varied more than the difference between browsers. In the real world, you won’t  likely notice a difference in load times between either browser.

Summary

After seeing how well IE10 compares next to IE9 and Chrome 23 on Windows 7,  the picture is clear. If you’re using IE9, drop it and move to the IE10 Preview.  Chrome users, go ahead and try out IE10 to see if you like it. We’re finally  getting close to the point where we can pick which browser we use simply based  on personal taste instead of basing that decision solely on performance.

Much of the progress made can be attributed to Mozilla for using Firefox to  light a flame under the browser industry, Google for picking up where Mozilla left off, and  Microsoft for taking responsibility for the quality of its product at long last.  Finally, Internet Explorer can hold its head high and compete head-to-head with  other modern browsers.

by Grant Brunner,                           

Based upon the severity of the exploits the participants demonstrate during the event, the search giant will be awarding them with $20,000, $40,000 and $60,000 in cash.

The contest, dubbed “Pwnium” was announced by the company’s security team on an official Google blog on Monday. The blog post states that there won’t be any splitting of rewards, and the results will be determined on a first come first serve basis until the $1 million figure is reached.

“While we’re proud of Chrome’s leading track record in past competitions, the fact is that not receiving exploits means that it’s harder to learn and improve,” Justin Schuh and Chris Evans, members of the Google Chrome security team wrote in the blog post.

“To maximize our chances of receiving exploits this year, we’ve upped the ante. We will directly sponsor up to $1 million worth of rewards,” they added.

The blog post also revealed that Google has removed its support from the Pwn2Own contest after the organisers had enforced a change in the rules. Under the new rules, the hackers can be rewarded even if they don’t disclose the details regarding the vulnerabilities they exploit in web browsers.

Google is planning to introduce an embedded “do not track” button in its popular web browser Chrome so as to enable users to easily and effectively restrict the amount of information they want to share with online advertisers.

Apparently, the move reflects the company’s will to join other Internet outfits in their anti tracking campaign. “We’re pleased to join a broad industry agreement to respect the ‘do-not-track’ header in a consistent and meaningful way that offers users choice and clearly explained browser controls,” Google Senior Vice President of Advertising Susan Wojcicki stated, reported Bloomberg.

The move from the company has come after the Obama administration decided to take some proactive measures in helping out internet users to protect their privacy over the Web. The US government even appealed to the Congress on Thursday to introduce a stronger privacy bill that would safeguard users’ privacy interests while they surf online.

It is worth noting here that the many potential privacy-threats that were exposed during the past one year have drawn some rather strong reactions from lawmakers as well as regulators in Washington. Subsequently, the pressure on Web companies like Google to take stronger precautionary measures for protecting users’ online privacy has substantially increased.