Beta battle: IE vs. Firefox vs. Opera
Robert Vamosi
Senior editor
Not since the early days of the Netscape vs. Microsoft Internet Explorer browser wars has the development behind Internet browsers been so energized, with developers rushing out new features every few weeks. Forget what's available today, let's look ahead and see what the next versions of Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Opera have in store. One caveat: since all these browsers are still in beta, not all Web sites may display properly, not all ad-ons or extensions may work within the new builds, and the apps themselves may unexpectedly crash or freeze.
Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Opera should all have their final releases in the latter half of 2006.
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Robert Vamosi
Senior editor
Not since the early days of the Netscape vs. Microsoft Internet Explorer browser wars has the development behind Internet browsers been so energized, with developers rushing out new features every few weeks. Forget what's available today, let's look ahead and see what the next versions of Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Opera have in store. One caveat: since all these browsers are still in beta, not all Web sites may display properly, not all ad-ons or extensions may work within the new builds, and the apps themselves may unexpectedly crash or freeze.
IE 7 beta 2 | Firefox 2 alpha 1 | Opera beta 1 | |
Built-in tabs | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Saved tabs | Yes | No | Yes |
Tab mini preview | No | No | Yes |
Side panel | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Search history | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Integrated RSS | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Widgets | No | No | Yes |
BitTorrent | No | No | Yes |
Antiphishing | Yes | No | No |
Page zoom | Yes | No | Yes |
Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Opera should all have their final releases in the latter half of 2006.
More resources
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Remove from list | Remove from list | Remove from list | |
Product name | ![]() Internet Explorer 7 beta 2 | ![]() Firefox 2 Alpha 1 | ![]() Opera 9 beta 1 |
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Review date | January 31, 2006 | March 21, 2006 | April 20, 2006 |
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Editors' rating (Editors' rating explained) | |||
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Buying choices |
Prices from online stores:Download for free from CNET Download.com. |
Prices from online stores:Download for free from CNET Download.com. |
Prices from online stores:Download for free from CNET Download.com. |
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Product videos | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
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Review summary | CNET editor's take | CNET editor's take | CNET editor's take |
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Product series | N/A | N/A | See all products in this series |
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My Products | |||
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User comments |
5.3 Average (
from 167 users)
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7.7 Very good (
from 24 users)
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8.4 Excellent (
from 17 users)
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Basic Specs | |||
Full specifications | Full specifications | Full specifications |