War of the Browsers …

And the winner is ?!
Well, Microsoft came out today announcing their next version of Internet Explorer, version 8. It claims to be the quickest and safest browser, however many other vendors are making the same claim. So the decision is left to the end user to decide which vendor will handle their web browsing needs. In today's discussion I will focus on the big 4, Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8, Google's Chrome, Apple's Safari 4 (Beta) and Mozilla's Firefox 3. I own both an Intel based PC and Intel based MAC, so I am lucky/unlucky to use a number of different browsers in my day to day activities.
I have been beta testing Internet Explorer 8 since day 1 and it has come a long way since it's beta 1 days, but now in full release can it claim to be the quickest and safest browser in the market? In my opinion, I.E 8 is not the quickest by any stretch of the imagination when comparing it to Apple's latest Safari 4 which is still in beta.
I am running Apple's latest offering on my MAC and it's increase in the loading and rendering of websites is very noticeable! It loads and runs quicker when browsing pages than Mozilla Firefox 3 which is also running on my MAC.
I had been running Mozilla Firefox since I purchased my MAC a few months ago but it didn't take long for me to switch to Safari 4, with noticeable speed improvements it was a no brainer. Okay, how does Google's newest offering Chrome fit into play. I have also been using Chrome (beta and final release) on my PC along side Internet Explorer 8 and like Chrome's simplistic design and minimal layout. I have also signed up for the MAC beta version of Chrome and would be interested to compare it against Safari and Mozilla on my MAC.
So, what's my choice of browser and on what platform. In the perfect world I would like to able to create my own browser and use the great features from all 4 vendors, but we don't live in the perfect world. For my work activities, I am using Internet Explorer 8, with my favourite feature being the colour coded tabs. I am also forced to use Internet Explorer due to it's tight integration and compatibility with "other" Microsoft products such as SharePoint, Windows 2008 Terminal Web Services and Microsoft Exchange Outlook Web Access Premium client (rumour has it that you will soon be able to use other browsers when selecting the OWA premium option with Exchange 14).
My browser of choice at home on my MAC is Safari 4, purely for it's speed and performance and along with some really nice features such as cover flow for Top Sites and History (similar to the cover flow offering in iTunes) More on the Apple Web Site. I have given Mozilla the flick for now but miss all the 3rd party developed plug ins that were available, but then again rumour has it that Firefox will skip version 3.5 and release version 4. It might make an eventual come back onto my system!
There isn't a clear winner in my eyes, but browsers have come a long way and will continue to influence the way we surf the net!