
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!
Web Browser Grand Prix Champions
The table below lists all of the previous Web Browser Grand Prix winners, with links to their respective articles.
Web Browser Grand Prix Contenders
![]() | Chrome | |
|---|---|---|
| Vendor: | Google | |
| Debut: | 9/02/2008 | |
| Current Version: | 21 | |
| Layout Engine: | WebKit | |
| JavaScript Engine: | V8 | |
| Supported Platforms: | Windows, OS X, Linux, Android, iOS | |
| HTML5 Hardware Acceleration: | No | |
| WebGL: | Windows & OS X-Only | |
| WBGP Wins: | 6 (4 Windows 7, 2 Linux) | |
| Download Chrome! | ||
Chrome 21 on Windows 7
Chrome 21 on OS X 10.8
![]() | Firefox | |
|---|---|---|
| Vendor: | Mozilla | |
| Debut: | 11/09/2004 | |
| Current Version: | 15 | |
| Layout Engine: | Gecko 2.0 | |
| JavaScript Engine: | JaegerMonkey | |
| Supported Platforms: | Windows, OS X, Linux, Android, iOS | |
| HTML Hardware Acceleration: | Yes | |
| WebGL: | Yes | |
| WBGP Championships: | 3 (Windows 7) | |
| Download Firefox! | ||
Firefox 15 on Windows 7
Firefox 15 on OS X 10.8
![]() | Internet Explorer | |
|---|---|---|
| Vendor: | Microsoft | |
| Debut: | 8/16/1995 | |
| Current Version: | 9 | |
| Layout Engine: | Trident | |
| JavaScript Engine: | Chakra | |
| Supported Platforms: | Windows (Vista and 7) | |
| HTML5 Hardware Acceleration: | Yes | |
| WebGL: | No | |
| WBGP Championships: | 2 (Windows 7) | |
| Download Internet Explorer! | ||
![]() | Opera | |
|---|---|---|
| Vendor: | Opera Software | |
| Debut: | 12/09/1996 | |
| Current Version: | 12 | |
| Layout Engine: | Presto | |
| JavaScript Engine: | Carakan | |
| Supported Platforms: | Windows, OS X, Linux, Android, iOS | |
| HTML5 Hardware Acceleration: | No | |
| WebGL: | No | |
| WBGP Championships: | 2 (Windows 7, Windows XP) | |
| Download Opera! | ||
Opera 12 on Windows 7
Opera 12 on OS X 10.8
![]() | Safari | |
|---|---|---|
| Vendor: | Apple | |
| Debut: | 1/07/2003 | |
| Current Version: | 6 | |
| Layout Engine: | WebKit 2 | |
| JavaScript Engine: | Nitro | |
| Supported Platforms: | OS X, iOS | |
| HTML5 Hardware Acceleration: | Yes | |
| WebGL: | No | |
| WBGP Championships: | 2 (OS X) | |
| Download Safari! | ||
Hardware Setup
| Test System Specs | |
|---|---|
| Operating System 1 | Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate (64-bit) |
| Operating System 2 | Apple OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.1 (64-bit) |
| Processor | Intel Core i5-2500K @ 3.3 GHz (quad-core) |
| Motherboard | Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD3 (F10 BIOS) |
| Memory | 8 GB Crucial DDR3 @ 1333 MT/s (2 x 4 GB) |
| Graphics | Asus GeForce GTX 560 Ti 1 GB GDDR5 (PCIe 2.0 x16) |
| Storage | Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500 GB SATA 3Gb/s, 7200 RPM, 16 MB Cache |
| Optical | Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS |
| Power Supply | Corsair TX750W (750 W max) |
| Case | Zalman MS-1000 HS2 |
| CPU Cooler | Scythe Mugen 2 Revision B |
| Keyboard | Logitech Wireless Keyboard K320 |
| Mouse | Logitech Wireless Trackball M570 |
Windows 7 Test Installation
OS X 10.8 Test Installation
The following table contains the system specs of the local Web server used for our Start and Page Load tests, as well as JSGameBench.
| Local Web Server Specs | |
|---|---|
| Operating System | Ubuntu 12.04 LTS Server Edition "Precise Pangolin" (32-bit) |
| Processor | Intel Pentium 4 @ 2.41 GHz |
| Motherboard | Biostar P4M80-M4 |
| Memory | 768 MB DDR @ 333 MHz |
| Graphics | Nvidia GeForce FX 5500 128 MB DDR (AGP) |
| Storage | Western Digital Caviar SE WD1600AAJD, 160 GB EIDE, 7200 RPM |
| Optical 1 | Hitachi-LG DVD GDR-8163B |
| Optical 2 | Hitachi-LG CD-RW GCE-8483B |
| Extra Packages | Apache2, MySQL Client, MySQL Server, PHP5, PHP-GD, PHP5-MySQL, PHPMyAdmin, SSH, Node.js, NPM |
The table below holds additional information on the test network.
| Network Specs | |
|---|---|
| ISP Service | Cox Preferred (18 Mb/s down, 2 Mb/s up) |
| Modem | Motorola SURFboard SBS101U |
| Router | Linksys WRT54G2 V1 |
Motorola SURFboard
Linksys WRT54G2
Software Setup
Both test installations were freshly installed and fully updated as of midnight on August 25th, 2012. Power management and automatic updates were disabled before testing.
All the software we installed, including the exact version number of the browsers tested, is listed in the table below.
| Software | Version |
|---|---|
| Chrome | 21.0.1180.83 |
| Firefox | 15.0 |
| Internet Explorer | 9.0.8112.16421 |
| Opera | 12.02 (build 1578) |
| Safari | 6.0 (8536.25) |
| Adobe Flash | 11.4.402.265 |
| Microsoft Silverlight | 5.1.10411.0 |
| Nvidia Driver (Windows-only) | 301.42 |
| Oracle Java (Windows-only) | 7.0.70 |
| Java for OS X (OS X-only) | 2012-004 |
Changes
The Start and Page Load test pages are updated to current versions, with the exception of the Tom's Hardware Wikipedia page, which has not changed since the last update. We say goodbye to YouTube, eBay, and The Huffington Post. In their place is an About.com page on barbeque, a randomly-selected popular question on Ask.com, and my own LinkedIn profile page. The Google homepage is replaced with the search results page for "Tom's Hardware", and craigslist is now the "free stuff" results page for Los Angeles. Amazon remains as the Computer Parts & Components page, though we update it. And finally, the Yahoo homepage is updated and now serves as the single-tab test page in place of the old Google homepage.
We're introducing the remaining RIABench JavaScript, Flash, Java, and Silverlight tests. RIABench JavaScript consists of eight tests, Java has seven tests, while Flash and Silverlight have all ten tests. The final RIABench scores are now the geometric mean of individual tests, instead of simple averages.
CSS Stress Testing & Performance Profiling is now performed on the CSS version of the CSS3 Speed Test demo page. Microsoft's Maze Solver CSS3 benchmark is being retired in favor of the bookmarklet applied to the CCS3 version of the very same CSS3 Speed Test demo page.
We're also adding The CSS3 Test to our standards conformance tests. It replaces the HTML5 Capabilities section of Futuremark Peacekeeper 2.0. HTML5Test.com is now the sole HTML5 conformance test in the standards conformance composite, providing an even split between JavaScript, HTML5, and CSS3 in our final standards conformance grade.
Last but not least, the JavaScript Composite score is also being switched to geometric mean instead of the inverse averages we used in the previous installment.Web Browser Grand Prix Test Suite v12
The table below lists all 34 benchmarks (consisting of 77 individual tests) currently in our suite, along with the version number and link (where applicable), and the number of iterations performed.| Benchmark Name | Iterations Performed |
|---|---|
| Performance Benchmarks (24 Benchmarks, 67 Tests) | |
| Cold Startup Time: Single Tab | 3 |
| Hot Startup Time: Single Tab | 3 |
| Cold Startup Time: Eight Tabs | 3 |
| Hot Startup Time: Eight Tabs | 3 |
| Uncached Page Load Times (Eight Test Pages) | 5 |
| Cached Page Load Times (Eight Test Pages) | 5 |
| RIABench JavaScript (Eight Tests) | 3 |
| Mozilla Kraken v1.1 | 2 |
| Google SunSpider v0.9.1 Mod | 2 |
| FutureMark Peacekeeper 2.0 | 2 |
| Dromaeo DOM Core | 1 |
| CSS Stress Test and Performance Profiling - CSS Speed Test | 2 |
| CSS Stress Test and Performance Profiling - CSS3 Speed Test | 2 |
| GUIMark 2 HTML5 (3 Tests) | 3 |
| Asteroids HTML5 Canvas 2D And JavaScript | 2 |
| HTML5 Canvas Performance Test | 2 |
| Facebook JSGameBench v4.1 | 2 |
| Psychedelic Browsing | 2 |
| WebVizBench | 2 |
| Mozilla WebGL FishIE | 2 |
| WebGL Solar System | 2 |
| RIABench Flash (10 Tests) | 3 |
| RIABench Java (7 Tests) | 3 |
| RIABench Silverlight (10 Tests) | 3 |
| Efficiency Benchmarks (Four Benchmarks/Tests) | |
| Memory Usage: Single Tab | 3 |
| Memory Usage: 40 Tabs | 3 |
| Memory Management: -39 Tabs | 3 |
| Memory Management: -39 Tabs (extra 2 minutes) | 3 |
| Reliability Benchmarks (One Test) | |
| Proper Page Loads | 3 |
| Responsiveness Benchmarks (One Test) | |
| General Responsiveness Under Load | 3 |
| Security Benchmarks (One Test) | |
| BrowserScope Security | 1 |
| Conformance Benchmarks (Three Benchmarks/Tests) | |
| Ecma Language test262 | 1 |
| HTML5Test.com | 1 |
| The CSS3 Test | 1 |
Methodology
We restart the computer and allow it to idle before benchmarking. Most individual benchmark final scores are an average of several iterations. More iterations are run for tests that have short durations, lower scales, and/or higher variance. Any obvious outliers (usually network hiccups) are removed and retested.
We switched most of the composite scores from arithmetic mean (average) to geometric mean in order to ensure that every test in each category is given equal weight, regardless of absolute value. The exceptions are the Standards Conformance grade and Memory Efficiency score, which are achieved differently, as well as the Reliability, Responsiveness, and Security composites, each of which only contains a single test.
Individual detailed methodologies and information regarding composite scoring is described on the corresponding benchmark pages.
Start times are recorded right after a fresh boot (cold) and again after the browser has already been launched (hot). We time both a single home tab and an eight-tab group. Yahoo! serves as the test page for our single-tab tests, while pages from About, Amazon, Ask, craigslist, Google, LinkedIn, and Wikipedia round out the test pages of the eight-tab measurement. All test pages are hosted on our local Web server and cached in the Web browsers.
Composite Scoring
The start time composite score is the geometric mean of the hot and cold times for the single-tab and eight-tab tests.

Google Chrome takes a slight lead over Safari on Apple's own operating system, at two and 2.2 seconds (respectively). Firefox places third with just under 2.5 seconds, followed by Opera at three seconds.
All of the Windows 7 times are significantly lower than OS X, with Chrome again taking the lead at just 0.8 seconds. This time, Chrome is followed by Opera at just under one second. Internet Explorer is in third place at just over 1.2 seconds with Firefox placing fourth, mere tenths of a second behind IE9.
Drill Down
The charts below contain results for cold and hot single-tab start times, followed by the cold and hot eight-tab times.
Chrome is the clear winner at start time, with the only exception being a longer single-tab cold start than the other competitors. Firefox and IE9 also display irregularities. Mozilla's browser has a slight advantage starting with a single-tab cold versus hot, while IE9 takes an incredible amount of time to open a single tab cold versus any other situation.
The page load time tests are the same eight pages in our start time tests: About, Amazon, Ask, craigslist, Google, LinkedIn, Wikipedia, and Yahoo.
Composite Scoring
Composite scores are the geometric mean of the uncached and cached page load times.

Chrome is in first place on OS X, followed closely by Safari, at 0.65 and 0.7 seconds (respectively). Opera places third at just over three-quarters of a second, with Firefox placing last with a time just over 0.8 seconds.
The page load times are also lower across the board on Windows 7 than OS X. Here, Microsoft's own IE9 takes the lead at just 0.4 seconds. Close behind in second place is Chrome at 0.44 seconds, followed by Opera in third with a time of almost 0.47 seconds. Firefox comes in last place at nearly 0.6 seconds.
Drill Down
The charts below contain the geometric mean for uncached and cached page load times, as well as the individual page load time averages.
Uncached - OS X
Cached - OS X
Uncached - Windows 7
Cached - Windows 7
Opera seems to have more trouble than the rest of the OS X browsers at uncached page loads of About and Ask. However, this behavior goes away when loading from cache.
Firefox for Windows also reveals longer load times for About and Ask, but when loading from cache. In a reversal of what we observe on OS X, Opera for Windows 7 displays an advantage over the other browsers when performing an uncached page load on About and Ask.
Composite Scoring
The JavaScript composite is the geometric mean of the four JavaScript performance test results (RIABench, Peacekeeper, Kraken, and SunSpider), multiplied by one thousand (to create nice, whole number scores).

Predictably, Chrome takes the lead in JavaScript performance, followed closely by Safari in second place. Firefox grabs third place, with Opera taking last.
Once again, the Windows 7 scores all dwarf the OS X scores. Chrome remains the leader on Windows, followed by Firefox. About 200 points behind Firefox is Opera in third place, followed by last-place finisher IE9.
Drill Down
The charts below contain the individual JavaScript benchmarks, Peacekeeper, Kraken, and SunSpider, followed by RIABench JavaScript for OS X and Windows 7.
Peacekeeper
Kraken
Google SunSpider
RIABench JavaScript - OS X
RIABench JavaScript - Windows 7
All of the JavaScript performance tests place Chrome in the lead, with the exception of Peacekeeper, where Safari wins by a hair. In OS X, Firefox has a poor showing in Run-length Encoding, while Opera has a disadvantage in the Focus test. IE9 exhibits considerably lower scores than the other browsers in the Focus test and MD5 Hashing
Google Octane
About a week ago Google introduced its new JavaScript performance benchmark, dubbed Octane. This new benchmark contains the eight tests that make up the older V8 JavaScript benchmark, along with five new tests. Unfortunately, IE9 cannot run Octane, and the IE10 RTM build cannot finish the test. Therefore, Octane will not be included in the JavaScript composite until it functions with the current version of Internet Explorer.

Chrome takes the lead in both operating systems, followed by Safari on OS X and Firefox on Windows 7. Firefox snatches third place on OS X, while Opera takes third on Windows and fourth on OS X.
While Chrome dominates the Windows 7 results, the OS X results are a lot more in line with the other JavaScript performance benchmarks.
DOM
Mozilla's Dromaeo DOM tests began working with Chrome for Windows again just a few days before publication, so Acid3 is no longer needed as a substitute.

Safari takes the lead at 1140 runs per second. Chrome earns a respectable second-place finish with 840 runs per second, followed closely by Firefox with 746 runs per second. Opera finishes a distant last place with just 227 runs per second.
Chrome takes the lead in Windows 7, followed closely by Firefox. Opera finishes in third place, but with just half the runs per second as Firefox. IE9 places last at just 373 runs per second.
CSS
Composite Scoring
The CSS composite is the geometric mean of the CSS Stress Testing & Performance Profiling bookmarklet applied to both the CSS and CSS3 versions of the CSS3 Speed Test demo pages.

With no more Microsoft Maze Solver exposing its bugs, Firefox takes a strong lead on both operating systems. Chrome places second on both OS X and Windows, and is the only browser to do better in this test on OS X than Windows. Safari places third on OS X, while IE9 takes third on Windows. Opera places dead last on both operating systems, showing scores that are significantly slower than the third-place finishers.
Drill Down
The charts below contain the results of the CSS Stress Testing & Performance Profiling bookmarklet applied to the CSS and CSS3 versions of the CSS3 Speed Test.
CSS Performance
CSS3 Performance
Opera's scores are relatively terrible, whether in Windows or OS X, CSS or CSS3. We're seeking another set of CSS/CSS3 demo pages to see if this results is valid, since previous CSS performance tests show Opera to be pretty average.
Composite Scoring
The HTML5 composite is the geometric mean of GUIMark 2 HTML5, Asteroids HTML5 Canvas 2D and JavaScript, and the HTML5 Canvas Performance Test.

The native browsers have a lock on HTML5 performance, with Safari grabbing an easy victory on OS X, and IE9 taking the lead on Windows 7. Chrome places second on OS X, while Firefox is the Windows 7 runner-up. Google and Mozilla trade places for third , while Opera finishes last on both OSes.
Drill Down
The charts below contain the geometric mean and average results of the individual GUIMark2 HTML5 tests, followed by Asteroids and the HTML5 Canvas Performance Test.
Facebook JSGameBench v0.4.1
JSGameBench measures both native HTML5 hardware acceleration as well as WebGL.

Safari takes the lead in overall hardware acceleration with Firefox being the only other reasonable option on OS X. Chrome places a very distant third, followed by an equally meager score for fourth-place finisher Opera.
On Windows 7, Chrome takes the lead, doubling Safari's winning OS X score. Firefox is again the second-best choice in overall hardware acceleration, followed by Internet Explorer in third, and Opera again in last place.
HTML5 Hardware Acceleration
Composite Scoring
The HTML5 Hardware Acceleration composite is the geometric mean of the average WebVizBench and Psychedelic Browsing scores.

Safari is the big winner on Mountain Lion, followed by Chrome in second place. While Firefox technically places third, it and Opera are equally poor for HTML5 hardware acceleration on OS X.
On Windows 7, Firefox regains its lead over arch-rival Internet Explorer. Chrome manages a respectable third-place finish, followed far behind by Opera in last place.
Drill Down
The charts below are for Psychedelic Browsing and WebVizBench.
Psychedelic Browsing
WebVizBench
Psychedelic Browsing obliterates Opera on both OSes and handicaps Firefox for OS X versus WebVizBench, Chrome 21 comes out of nowhere to claim victory in WebVizBench on both operating systems. A slight lead by Firefox 15 over IE9 in WebVizBench is what allows Mozilla to regain the HTML5 hardware acceleration crown on Windows 7.
WebGL
Chrome and Firefox remain the only stable browsers with default WebGL implementations on either operating system.
Composite Scoring
The WebGL composite is the geometric mean of the average results from Mozilla's WebGL FishIE Tank and WebGL Solar System from Chrome Experiments.

Firefox beats Chrome on OS X Mountain Lion by just seven frames per second, 24 to 17. Firefox 15 takes the lead on Windows 7 with 48 FPS, followed by Chrome 21 with 31 FPS.
Drill Down
The charts below contain the average results for WebGL FishIE Tank and WebGL Solar System.
Both Google and Mozilla do quite well in the WebGL FishIE Tank benchmark, but Chrome has a clear disadvantage in the WebGL Solar System test.
Composite Scoring
The Flash, Java, and Silverlight composites are the geometric mean of the individual RIABench tests for each plug-in. The Java score includes the millisecond results of Primetest, Prime Factorization, JPEG Encoding, MD5 Hashing, Random Key Generator, Run-length Encoding, and Focus Test. The Flash and Silverlight scores also include the frames per second results of 3D Test, 2D Test, and Memory Management.
Flash

Safari, Opera, and Firefox are in a practical tie for first place on OS X. Chrome, with its special built-in version of Flash, performs slightly worse than the other contenders. The same results are seen on Windows 7, although the scores are nearly double the OS X scores.
Java
Java
Java is a complete four-way tie on both operating systems, with Windows 7 more than doubling the OS X scores.
Silverlight

Silverlight performance is another four-way tie on Mountain Lion, however Firefox is shown to be a cut above the competition on Windows 7.
Drill Downs
The charts below contain the detailed view of each RIABench test for Flash, Java, and Silverlight.
Flash - OS X
Java - OS X
Silverlight - OS X
Flash - Windows 7
Java - Windows 7
Silverlight - Windows 7
Chrome is usually slightly behind in Flash performance due to its sand-boxed Flash player, the only real surprise here is Firefox for Windows having a small advantage in Silverlight performance.
Composite Scoring
Overall memory efficiency is gauged by the difference between a browser's single-tab memory usage and final -39-tab memory management total. The browser with the lowest score is able to return the most physical memory back to the operating system without actually closing the application itself, but simply by decreasing workload (closing tabs).

Chrome takes the lead for memory efficiency on both operating systems, as Firefox takes second place on OS X and IE9 takes second under Windows 7. Third place on OS X goes to Safari, while Firefox takes third on Windows 7. Opera finishes last on both platforms.
Drill Down
The charts below are for the single-tab and 40-tab memory usage tests, followed by the -39-tab and -39-tab plus two-minute memory management tests.
The three cross-platform browsers all report approximately double the memory usage on OS X than on Windows 7. Firefox only gives back about one-third of its 40-tab memory usage total on OS X, a sharp increase from Windows 7.
Reliability
Our reliability test is conducted after loading 40 tabs. We open them all simultaneously and record how many pages require a reload due to broken formatting or missing elements. The best score a browser can achieve here is zero, and the worst is 40.

Once again, Opera shows itself to be the rock-solid option, with only one reload required on each OS. Safari takes second place on Mountain Lion with an average of eight reloads, followed by Firefox in third with ten and Chrome in fourth with a whopping 21 reloads on OS X. The second-place finisher for Windows 7 is IE9 with 12 failures, followed by Chrome and Firefox in a tie for third, each requiring 13 reloads.
Responsiveness
The responsiveness of each browser is gauged by its behavior during the 40-tab memory usage tests. While we're not timing how long each browser can load all 40 tabs, we are looking to see how quickly we can use the browser without scroll lag and other hang-ups while the tabs are still loading.
IE9 is once again the only browser to actually crash during the 40-tab load. Opera again is speediest to become responsive, followed by Firefox, then Chrome. Chrome is noticeably worse on OS X than Windows 7, while Safari is about equal to Firefox. We're calling Opera the winner on both platforms, followed by Firefox and Safari with strong finishes. Chrome is merely acceptable, while IE9 is clearly weak.
Security
BrowserScope Security contains 17 pass/fail security checks.

Chrome takes first place by passing 16 out of the 17 tests. Safari earns second place with 14 out of 17 tests passed. Internet Explorer passes 13 tests to place third, followed by Firefox in fourth place with 12 tests passed. Opera passes 10 of the 17 tests, earning the Norwegian Web browser another last-place finish.
Composite Scoring
The standards conformance composite is determined by dividing the results of each test by the maximum score of that test, then multiplying by 100 to get a percentage. The percentage results of the three tests are then averaged together to achieve a composite grade.

Chrome takes first place on both operating systems with a B-. It is followed by Safari in second place on OS X with Opera and Firefox caught up in a tie for last, both achieving an equal C. Opera manages an extra percentage point on Windows 7 to place second with Firefox close behind in third. Last place in Windows 7 goes to Microsoft's own IE9 with the only failing grade.
Drill Down
The charts below are for the three standards conformance tests: Ecmascript Language test262, HTML5Test.com, and The CSS3 Test.
IE9 is significantly behind the curve in all three disciplines, while Chrome's better-than-average HTML5 and CSS3 scores allow Google to dominate standards conformance.
Finishes
Each category of testing has four columns: Winner, Strong, Average, and Weak. The Winner is obviously the browser that achieves the highest scores in that category. The Strong column is for browsers exhibiting superior performance, but not achieving a first-place victory. Average is for browsers that perform adequately or in-line with a majority of their competitors. A Weak finish is assigned to browsers that perform poorly, or substantially lower than their competitors.
Brackets
In order to reflect how each category of testing affects the average end-user Web browsing experience, we need to create brackets (or levels of importance) to place the different categories of testing into.
| Essential | CSS, DOM, JavaScript, Reliability, Standards Conformance |
|---|---|
| Important | Flash, HTML5, Memory Efficiency, Page Load Time, Responsiveness, Security, Startup Time |
| Nonessential | Java, Silverlight |
| Unimportant | HTML5 Hardware Acceleration, WebGL |
The Essential bracket contains those categories of testing that are indispensable to rendering the vast majority of Web pages online today. The Important bracket is for categories not quite essential to browsing the Web, yet still affect the user experience to a great degree. The Nonessential bracket contains the popular plug-ins Java and Silverlight. While these plug-in technologies are nowhere near as ubiquitous as Flash, certain applications like corporate intranet apps and Netflix simply will not work without them. Finally, the Unimportant bracket is for emerging technologies, such as HTML5 Hardware Acceleration and WebGL, which still don't really exist outside of testing/demo sites.
Points
Now that the brackets are all sorted out, we can apply a numerical point system to the finishes of each bracket.
| Winner | Strong | Average | Weak | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essential | 2.5 | 2 | 1.5 | -2 |
| Important | 2 | 1.5 | 1 | -1.5 |
| Nonessential | 1.5 | 1 | 0.5 | -1 |
| Unimportant | 1 | 0.5 | 0 | -0.5 |
As you can see, we decided to apply negative point values to the Weak finishes and start the Average performances at zero for the Unimportant bracket. The Winner has also been de-emphasized over Strong finishes, with just a small tie-breaking bonus going to Winner.
OS X 10.8 Analysis Table
| Winner | Strong | Average | Weak | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essential | ||||
| CSS | Firefox | Chrome, Safari | Opera | |
| DOM | Firefox | Chrome, Safari | Opera | |
| JavaScript | Chrome | Safari | Firefox, Opera | |
| Reliability | Opera | Firefox, Safari | Chrome | |
| Standards Conformance | Chrome | Firefox, Opera, Safari | ||
| Important | ||||
| Flash | Firefox, Opera, Safari | Chrome | ||
| HTML5 | Safari | Chrome | Firefox, Opera | |
| Memory Efficiency | Chrome | Firefox, Opera, Safari | ||
| Page Load Time | Chrome | Firefox, Opera, Safari | ||
| Responsiveness | Opera | Firefox, Safari | Chrome | |
| Security | Chrome | Safari | Firefox | Opera |
| Startup Time | Chrome | Safari | Firefox | Opera |
| Nonessential | ||||
| Java | Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Safari | |||
| Silverlight | Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Safari | |||
| Unimportant | ||||
| HTML5 Hardware Acceleration | Safari | Chrome | Firefox, Opera | |
| WebGL | Firefox | Chrome | Opera, Safari | |
Now, let's see how the Windows 7 Web browsers compare to each other.
Windows 7 Analysis Table
| Winner | Strong | Average | Weak | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essential | ||||
| CSS | Firefox | Chrome, IE | Opera | |
| DOM | Chrome | Firefox, IE | Opera | |
| JavaScript | Chrome | Firefox, Opera | IE | |
| Reliability | Opera | Chrome, Firefox, IE | ||
| Standards Conformance | Chrome | Firefox, Opera | IE | |
| Important | ||||
| Flash | Firefox, IE, Opera | Chrome | ||
| HTML5 | IE | Chrome, Firefox | Opera | |
| Memory Efficiency | Chrome | IE, Firefox | Opera | |
| Page Load Time | IE | Chrome, Firefox, Opera | ||
| Responsiveness | Opera | Firefox | Chrome | IE |
| Security | Chrome | Firefox, IE | Opera | |
| Startup Time | Chrome | Opera | Firefox, IE | |
| Nonessential | ||||
| Java | Chrome, Firefox, IE, Opera | |||
| Silverlight | Firefox | Chrome, IE, Opera | ||
| Unimportant | ||||
| HTML5 Hardware Acceleration | Firefox | IE | Chrome | Opera |
| WebGL | Firefox | Chrome | IE, Opera | |
And the winners are...
OS X 10.8 Placing
| Placing | Web Browser | Point Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Safari | 23 |
| 2nd | Chrome | 20.5 |
| 3rd | Firefox | 18 |
| 4th | Opera | 5 |
Safari 6 places first on its native platform of OS X Mountain Lion, followed closely by Chrome 21 just two and a half points behind. Firefox 15 takes third place, trailing Chrome by just another two and a half points. Opera 12.02 loses big time on OS X, earning just a fraction of other OS X browser's point totals.
Congratulations, Apple!
Windows 7 Placing
| Placing | Web Browser | Point Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Chrome | 23.5 |
| 2nd | Firefox | 22 |
| 3rd | Internet Explorer, Opera | 7.5 |
Chrome manages to fend off Firefox once again, keeping its Window 7 Web Browser Grand Prix Championship. However, Firefox 15 is right on the heels of Chrome 21, and upcoming version 17 might change Google's luck if preliminary benchmarks of the new IonMonkey JIT compiler carry through to the final release.
For the first time in the history of the Web Browser Grand Prix, we have a tie in final scoring. Fortunately, it's just a tie for third, or in this case, last place. Opera is feeling the pain of losing Safari for Windows in a real way, with the low-end now totally vacant, Opera is comparatively worse versus the strong scores of Chrome and Firefox. Holding onto reliability and responsiveness is what keeps the Norwegian Web browser from succumbing to even IE9. Meanwhile, strong page load times and HTML5 performance scores are the only thing keeping Internet Explorer from the being the biggest loser on its own platform.
Congratulations, Google!
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