The Top Four Browsers, Tested And Ranked

But before we find out, let's get everyone caught up on the latest happenings in the world of Web browsers.

Recent News And Events

07/17/12: MSFT Faces EU Probe Over Browser Ballot Compliance

07/25/12: Apple releases Safari 6 along with OS X 10.8 'Mountain Lion'

07/25/12: RockSalt Could Pave Way to Safe Native Apps in Browsers

07/26/12: Did Apple Just Kill Safari for Windows?

07/28/12: Firefox Add-ons Reach 3 Billion Downloads

07/31/12: Google releases Chrome 21

08/02/12: Mountain Lion: Three Million Downloads in Four Days

08/02/12: Opera updates to 12.01

08/06/12: Microsoft Finally Intros Its Own WebRTC Proposal

08/09/12: Microsoft Sticks to 'Do Not Track' Plans for IE in Windows 8

08/15/12: Mozilla's Firefox OS Ported to Raspberry Pi

08/16/12: Google Increases Rewards for Bug Catchers...Again

08/20/12: Break Google's Chrome, Get Up to $2 Million

08/20/12: Mozilla Rechallenges Google in Browser Speed Race

08/23/12: Google Introduces Octane Browser Benchmark

08/28/12: Mozilla releases Firefox 15

08/29/12: Mozilla Ports Full FPS Engine to WebGL; Playable Demo

08/27/12: Google Patents WYSIWYG Printing for Web Apps

09/02/12: Google's Chrome Browser is Now 4 Years Old

And Then There Were Four...

While the latest version of Safari for Windows (v5.1.7) is available for download on the Apple support pages, links to any mention of a Windows version have been completely removed from the Safari product pages on Apple's website. Notably, Apple no longer attempts to bundle Safari with the iTunes and QuickTime downloads either. And although Apple refuses to comment on Safari for Windows, the writing is on the wall.

I want to take a moment to relate our experience with Apple Safari, which unfortunately, never saw the light of day.

Web Browser Grand Prix 0: Safari's Finest Hour

In the months of preliminary testing and benchmark gathering, which eventually coalesced into the first Web Browser Grand Prix, Safari was the front-runner. Before Chrome 4 and Opera 10 came along, Safari dominated the Windows landscape in terms of performance. In fact, Safari 3 becoming available for Windows was the real catalyst for the browser speed wars we've seen over the past few years, and not the debut of Google Chrome, as most people seem to think.

Mere weeks before the first Web Browser Grand Prix published, Safari had a lock on the (then) purely speed-based test suite. It was looking like a landslide. In the end, though, it all came down to unfortunate timing for Apple, as Chrome 4 and Opera 10 emerged just before we began testing. In my mind, Safari 4 is the Champion of the Web Browser Grand Prix that never was.

If you're one of the few Windows users who loved Safari, our sincere regards. Even if you only liked the browser in order to hate on it, the loss of one of the five major players is a loss for all. The more competition between Web browsers, the better. The more browsers, the more fractured the market. The more fractured the market, the better and more important standards become. And when you have open, universally-recognized standards, new players can compete more readily, and any company looking to impose vendor lock-in on the Web will have a much harder time doing so.

Let us observe a quick non-denominational moment of silence in honor of Safari for Windows...

OK, that was enough. Let's ditch this funeral and hit the track!