Browser Fun

Between Windows, Linux and PCBSD, although I’ve pretty well standardized on Opera as my web browser of choice, I generally also have available:

Windows: Opera in various versions–currently 9.60 beta, build 10427 for the most part, although I have 9.26, 9.27 and 9.52, as well as OperaTor available on flashdrives as well. Then, of course, I have Internet Exploder (varies depending on the machine: versions 6 and 7, updated as far as possible for the machine, physical or virtual). I avoid using Internet Exploder as much as possible, but there are some Microsoft sites that choke on other browsers. FIrefox 3.X and Safari browser (don’t have the ver # at the tip of my finders) round out m y typical browser selection installed on just about every Windows machine I have. Neither sees much use, though I do like to check web pages in them from time to time. Tried out Google’s Chrome briefly. Didn’t like it enough to keep it around for a longer tryout.

Linux: All the browsers listed above (except for Chrome–it didn’t even want to play with WINE, though my Windows portable versions of Opera have no problems). Yes, I sometimes have as many as three different versions of Opera open at once just in Linux: Linux native version–currently at 9.60 Beta, build 10426–one of the portable Windows versions and Opera (Windows native) 9.60 Beta build 10427 running undere WINE. Perhaps even an instance running in a Windows VM client running on the Linux host. (Yeh, I keep ’em straight by placing toolbars in different places for the different build/versions open).

PCBSD–usually just the latest ‘nix version, although Safari runs fine under WINE and Firefox is also available.

Oh, in Linux and in PCBSD, there are also various Mozilla-based browsers built in, as it were, as default browsers, but they’re usually so crappy the first thing I do is install Opera, then whatever other browser(s) I feel I want to have available (IE usually runs as well as IE can using WINE, although I’ve not gotten IE7 installed and running on a ‘nix box).

I really try to keep an open mind toward using other browsers, but I’ve been a bit spoiled by Opera. *heh* Usually, on a fresh install of Firefox, the first time I forget and make a mouse gesture, I *arrrrgggghhh!* and then go hunt down the latest extension so I can have an almost-as-good-as-Opera implementation of mouse gestures. “Dumb,” think I (every time! *heh*). “Have to get an extension to have basic browser functionality?!?” That’s how having all the goodiest goodies built into a browser (Opera) has spoiled me. I think of the goodies built into Opera–like native mouse gestures–as “basic browser functionality”–*heh*