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Skin or not ...

@Ron White

Sorry, but Maxthon *is* just a reskinned IE. Sure, they've put some interesting features in that skin, but from an actual web browseing point of view, it's IE all the way down. That 30% of the code (according to you) goes to interfacing with the MSHTML control just goes to show how little extra there is.

Maxthon don't have the source code to Trident, and can't fix any rendering or JavaScript issues. A page rendered in Maxthon looks and acts identical to as in IE. They're susceptible to the same security issues as IE. They're missing the same HTML/CSS features as IE. They have the same performance issues as IE.

If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.

Chrome, while it uses (parts of) the WebKit engine, brings a completely different JavaScript engine (V8) to the party. Plus, it uses a different rendering API (Skia), which is faster but looks worse than the one used by Safari. There's code in common, but it's far from just a simple skin/wrapper.

posted by : Cynic, 15 March 2010 Complain about this comment
Lets all be friends!

@ W.-
@ Ron White

The Internet is about sharing opinions but this can also be done in a civil and intelligent manner. Ideas are better received if expressed in a respectful manner.

Comments like "you are a great candidate for retroactive abortion, IMHO" may add some spice, but...actually I LIKE the sound of that comment. YOU SHOULD BOTH WRAP COATHANGERS AROUND YOUR NECKS AND...ohh, there...see what problems flaming can lead to? Please accept my most humble apologies!

posted by : Ethics Nazi, 09 March 2010 Complain about this comment
Idiocy, internet has it.

Hey ron 'white', you are an offensive twat and I think the world would be a tiny bit better if you at least didn't share your thoughts.

posted by : W.-, 08 March 2010 Complain about this comment
OSX and Safari

When is this browser selection page being rolled out into OSX?

Oh, it's not?!

posted by : Dave, 08 March 2010 Complain about this comment
Segregation, pure and simple

I can easiliy understand the commenters who describe as "whinning" the complain by the seven browsers hidden off-screen. They're acting like Rosa Parks when she was told she had to ride in the back of the buss. Do you also call Ms. Parks a whiner?

And I sincerely hope I'm not whinning when I correct commenters such as "Cynic," who calls the banished browsers "skins" for I.E. In Maxthon, for example, the Trident rendering engine, that's also used by I.E., accounts for only 30 percent of the code. The rest of the code is responsible for new features and innovations, many of which you don't find in other browsers. And BTW, since Chrome and Safari use the same rendering engine, is Chrome a sking for Safari or is Safari a skin for Chrome? Or is simply that your comment is a skin covering a closed-minded, ignorant grouch?
MaxthonGuy

posted by : Ron White, 07 March 2010 Complain about this comment
Bonkers browsers

How many web browsers does the world need? Really?

posted by : twelvebore, 06 March 2010 Complain about this comment
Not missing anything.

I just tried 4 of those hidden browers to see how they performed.

All of them struggled to get past 12 on the Acid3 test and two of them looked like the same browser with a slight colour change.

The public are not missing out.

posted by : jason, 06 March 2010 Complain about this comment
Right..

Last I heard the order was suppose to be random, but even so, to in effect say 'the vast majority of users have never seen a scrollbar nor can they figure one out' seems a bit extremely extra deluxe farfetched, and frankly if that were true then they are not the people you want to use your software and come knocking for support..
Next is making the choices small then the farsighted can launch a campaign that they cannot read it.

But I'm guessing this whole story was made up by some EU hater, or some hired 'blogger' of MS itself, or one of those insane yanks who think the EU is out to harm their bodily fluids when the EU asks international companies to play fair.

posted by : W.-, 06 March 2010 Complain about this comment
Microsoft is an evil monster

The United States Department of Justice already found Microsoft guilty of being a monopolist. It is also what the European Union found. This is why Microsoft must be controlled.

It only develops its own I.E (Internet Evil) web browser so that it can subvert W3C web standards, and the only reason it does that is so it can control the internet. The I.E. browser is continually proven to not adhere to web standards. It must be stopped, or Microsoft will eat away at the very fabric of our society.

posted by : Herman Entelweisser, 06 March 2010 Complain about this comment
Marketing?

"...much lesser known options that will probably only suffer more from their placement."

Why on earth would they suffer MORE? They should be considered lucky ones since they at least got the place in the list... I for one have never heard of most of those anyways, it's unequivocally free marketing for these others. Period. Sometimes things should be kept simple.

Those unheard browser compilations have now much greater chance to be adopted by some clueless computer user, even by accident.

They only look odd bunch only to us who knows something about these things. If you think about average consumer whom this ballot box is made, it does not hurt those browsers at all, they are just freaking options in ballot box!

posted by : Ciantic, 06 March 2010 Complain about this comment
No great loss

Avant - reskinned IE
Flock - reskinned Firefox
Maxthon - reskinned IE
Slim - reskinned IE
Sleipnir - reskinned IE or reskinned Firefox, whichever you prefer
Green - reskinned IE
K-Meleon - reskinned Firefox

Overall, they don't really add much to browser ecosystem, so I don't see any problem with them being pushed back into a less-visible ballot area.

posted by : Cynic, 06 March 2010 Complain about this comment
Microsoft "subverts"??

Just how has Microsoft subverted the EU's approval of the ballot screen? The title of this article is totally misleading. Yell at the EU Commission, not MS. I'm not a MS fanboi but have to stick up for them against silly articles like this one.

posted by : AllenAndrewStewart, 06 March 2010 Complain about this comment
Just add '12' in the text.

Just change the text with "select one of the 12 browers shown here."

posted by : kedas, 05 March 2010 Complain about this comment
More Nonsense

In what order?, who's fastest? ... ad infinitum. Research it, try a few, see which one does what you need it to do. Consider it a test drive if you will. Non event made worse by coverage. Lately I've been working with K-Meleon and finding that's working really well for what I need, they seem to have been able to leave the "bloat" behind and Secunia shows zero exploits. Imagine.

posted by : steve, 05 March 2010 Complain about this comment
More whining...

The fact that Microsoft even had to do this in the first place is exhibit 589,345,068 of the EU's idiocy.

Since when is it Microsoft's responsibility to provide consumers with knowledge of and links to alternative browser choices?

Enjoy your constantly growing nanny/police state and shrinking freedom, wankers.

posted by : MarkU, 05 March 2010 Complain about this comment

Microsoft subverts the EU browser choice

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