Howdy,
On my computer at work, I do not have administrator rights, and the IT department still only allows Internet Explorer 7.
So I've downloaded every portable web browser I can find, and I'm going through the process of benchmarking them all using Peacekeeper at http://service.futuremark.com/peacekeeper
The following are the browsers I've found that don't get caught up in the IT department's security policies. I'll be benchmarking them all:
IE7
K-Meleon
Seamonkey 1.1.18
Seamonkey 2.0 beta
Opera
QTWeb
SRWare Iron
Lunascape
Safari 3.2.2
Safari 4.0 beta
You've probably noticed that Firefox and Chrome are conspicuously absent.
The reason for this: Even when I'm using a portable version of the software I get an error message telling me that Firefox and/or Chrome violate the IT department's security policies, and have been disabled.
So...
Before I get too far into this exercise, I was wondering if any of y'all know of any other portable web browsers I could try out. I'll add 'em to the list and let y'all know the results.
(FYI: Just to provide a little context, the computer I'm using has a 2.4GHz Intel Core2 Quad CPU, 3GB of RAM, and is running 32bit Windows Vista Enterprise.)
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First off, I'd suggest a different PC. Partially because you're eliminating the most popular portable browser in the world (Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition). Partially because you probably shouldn't be doing it on your PC.
Second, you should pull Safari and IE since there are no legal portable versions of either.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
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[empty reply will be deleted by mod Tim shortly]
SRWare Iron was the clear winner, at least on this computer.
(I cannot replace the computer because, as mentioned, it's my office computer.)
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2484/3993628384_00e7c75140_o_d.png
1. I'd go ahead and benchmark the Safaris, because legal or otherwise, it's just a speed benchmark. However, for IE, I'd just benchmark the locally installed one against the portables,
to show how portable browsers match up to an installed browser (b) to show how other browsers stack up to IE (a and b going hand in hand). The fact that an app's legal status is in question means it shouldn't be used -- but benchmarking it should be fine. Just to see.
2. I'd use a more "normal" computer. How well these browsers work on a beast of a machine says nothing about how well they work on a regular computer. Maybe run the test on a few computers, and publish a grid. List the portable browsers down the left, and across the top, the test computers, with their specs noted below.
3. #2 said, Firefox should be tested on the other test machines. Just put a dash by it for that particular test machine. Firefox is a must because your numbers won't mean squat to us, those of us who use Firefox, because your test would then lack a point of reference.
4. Try one of the Firefox knockoffs. There's Iceweasel, but I'm not sure if that's available for Windows. There's Blackbird, Orca, and a couple others. They're just Firefox rebranded for a particular community (Blackbird, for African Americans) or a specific purpose (Orca and others, for various). But it's still the same browser.
5. Chrome, Chromium, and Iron all share a common base. I don't know the extent of the relationship, but a test of Iron should reflect Chrome's performance, more or less.
... Rename the firefox.exe to something else, like iexplore.exe, then FirefoxPortable.exe to ieuser.exe
Make sure you update the path in the ini file.
...but be advised that, in doing so, you are in willful violation of your company's IT policy, and could very well get you fired.
Winamp is blocked here. Not Windows Media Player, not Media Player Classic, not VLC, just Winamp. Never found another blocked program. I could try to rename it, but I don't wish to run afoul of policy. I fully accept that IT blocked it for a reason. It's not for me to question the motivations and thoughts of those who sign my paychecks. They're gracious enough to let us on the Net and run portable apps (well, they say not to install anything), so I'm happy coloring within the lines.
Yeah, I should have given him that warning message
I do find it ironic that your company, like so many others, forces you to use IE because of "security" issues.
I made this half-pony, half-monkey monster to please you.
To be fair, between extensions and scripts (via GreaseMonkey), Firefox can do damn near anything. It's almost like cheating. If the Web can be compared to gaming, Internet Explorer is, to most people, the most basic and pure Internet experience. Sure, IE slacks in the standards department, but most people either don't know or don't care about that. Firefox is almost like using a Game Genie, Gameshark, or other cheating device. It lets you take the web and bend it to your will, to an extent. Some think it's complicated, others don't get it -- and some see it as a threat.
For example, I could use Firefox, with a proxy, to get around my employer's content filter, if I so desired. (I don't, but the possibility exists.) Not sure it's so easy with IE.
Also, Microsoft regularly rolls out security updates for IE. That makes it look like they're supporting it (and to be fair, to an extent, they are). Firefox's updates come in the form of new versions. Whole new builds. And while the update process works pretty smoothly, I still understand the lack of trust from incompetent IT departments.
Then there's volume license agreements. Get a couple thousand Windows licenses for pennies on the dollar, but you agree not to use products that compete with Microsoft programs. No OpenOffice, no Firefox, no Pidgin -- you're stuck with MS Office (buy it or don't), IE, and Live Messenger. Rather than explain that to employees, IT makes something up. Or they block firefox.exe.