On the Web at Warp Speed

“NEWS that Sony would be installing Google’s Chrome browser on
its sleek, if pricey, Vaio laptops instead of the ubiquitous
Internet Explorer from Microsoft has prompted your correspondent to
re-examine the internet-search company’s foray into the world of
web browsers and operating systems. The announcement came just as
he began to notice how the latest version of Mozilla’s highly
regarded Firefox browser was dragging its feet.

“From cold, it was taking anything from 20 to 25 seconds for
Firefox 3.5 to load his home page. Even Internet Explorer 8 was
five seconds nimbler. Opera 10, the latest version of an old
favourite from Norway, was faster still. But Chrome 3 blew
everything away, loading the home page in half Firefox’s time. Once
they had been started from cold and had loaded their innards into
memory, all four browsers could be restarted and load the home page
in five seconds or so.”

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