Home : Articles : Why Does Google Hate Your Browser?
If you don't know what Google Suggest is, read this first. In a nutshell, as you start typing into Google's search box, it starts making suggestions as to how your query might be completed; basically, this is based on search query popularity (I suspect this is a slight oversimplification but I haven't looked into it in any great depth). The funnest thing about this feature is using it to expose prejudice in Google's enormous user community.
I decided to try some software related examples.
Web Browsers
Hmm, ouch, looks like MSIE's got a bit of a hanging / crashing issue there. Can't say this is much of a surprise. It's interesting how MSIE users have so many different ways of saying "crashes."
Mind you, before us Firefox fanboys (yes, I'm included) start resting on our laurels, let's see what the world thinks of our chosen browser:
Oh dear, slow and bloated. In fairness to Firefox, this is not my experience of it; on my development box it takes less than a second to start from cold (i.e. when it's not been loaded before since startup; each time after that it's more like 1/5th of a second). But in the interest of some semblance of fairness I should stop sticking up for my chosen browser; I didn't do the same for MSIE.
Looks like life isn't much better for users of Apple's browser - although I do wonder how many of these are from users of Safari on Windows, where even the finest application can struggle to stay afloat.
Not a lot more luck with Chrome. My favourite here is the last one - somehow the suggestion of shady dealings at Google tickles me.
But, I've saved the best for last; the last browser I decided to try was Opera:
Operating Systems
While I was at it, I thought I'd try some operating systems too:
And just in case that's just Windows' reputation getting tarnished by earlier versions, let's get specific:
Heh heh heh. Now, for comparison, here's Linux:
Good, neutral, and bizarre, and finally not a single reference to crashing! By this flawless method I determine that my favourite operating system is clearly (objectively) the best.
