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The Super Browser
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PointGod
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1. April 2006 @ 15:40 |
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I posted this long post in a different forum so I will just copy and paste it here.
While I was looking up FireFox and Opera, I stumbled upon this tank of a browser!
the name?: Maxthon
where?: http://www.maxthon.com/index.htm
*important, read below!*
While reading an up-to-date review of IE7+ FireFox 1.5+ Opera 8.5, the article introduces a super unknown browser known as Maxthon.
[Start reading the article that describes it ... http://www.internetweek.cmp.com/sha...9101486&pgno=16 ... it carries on for 3 pages, here are the other 2... http://www.internetweek.cmp.com/sha...9101486&pgno=17 , and http://www.internetweek.cmp.com/sha...9101486&pgno=18 ]
*important, read the article !!*
The article states that nearly every feature that Firefox or Opera has (exluding Voice i believe) Maxthon has aswell but most arent even Add-ons!!! The ever popular AdBlock? Go to the Maxthon home page, click "Features" at the top, scroll down to "Ad Hunter" and read that and click to show the image! Thats adblock without having to install anything. And thats only one feature. I forgot to mention, Maxthon has over 250 plugins (like FireFox extensions) and more are still being made!! (see the Maxthon Resource center on the right of Maxthon's homepage)
Let me quote some important things from the article...
Intro to Maxthon
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The first rule of Maxthon is, "Don't talk about Maxthon."
If Firefox and Opera are underground favorites among Web surfers, then Maxthon must be the double-dog double-secret browser. Over the last four years, Maxthon has quietly developed a base of devoted ? and tight-lipped ? users who make the Illuminati seem like exhibitionists. How obscure is Maxthon? It's so obscure that, despite more than 46 million downloads, even Google barely knows about it. When I did a search for Firefox, Google yielded some 412 million hits, while a search for Maxthon returned a scant 4 million. I can get more hits than that off my own name. (Of course, it helps if you share a name with a well-known comedian.)
Usually such obscurity is well deserved. But in the case of Maxthon, it's as though Jack Nicholson never made it out of B horror flicks. Maxthon is simply the most powerful, and yet the simplest, browser to be used anywhere, anytime, by anyone.
Tabs
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Tabs are no longer something new in browsers (unless you're Microsoft). All the other browsers have them too, but Maxthon endows them with more capabilities. With Maxthon, you can rename, edit, alphabetize, protect, set for automatic refresh, and juggle the position of the tabs on the page. One of the best things you can do with the tabs is to add them to "groups," collections of pages that you feel belong together. So if you're doing Web research, the system lets you assign one group to, say, sites devoted to investments, another group to job hunting, still another to reference book sites, and so on, until you're able to call on a powerful, specialized scheme for whatever job's at hand. Opera does something similar with its "panels," but their existence isn't obvious and setting them up is awkward.
Searching Plus
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Almost anything you find in Firefox, Opera, and IE, you find in Maxthon, only in an industrial-strength version ? sometimes in several versions. For example, all three of the other browsers have Google toolbars. Maxthon has a Google toolbar, and then some. A Maxthon plug-in modifies the Google results page to give you one-click access to the same search at Yahoo, MSN, and other sites.
Maxthon lets you simultaneously search, Google, Yahoo, Teoma, Alltheweb, Ixquick, Wisenut, Killer Info, and any other search engine you want to invite to the party. And that's just for general searches. On another menu, different engines are joined for specialized, all-out, simultaneous searches for images, multimedia, software, multimedia, news, and others. Maxthon makes it easy to roll your own combination of search tools.
Simile of it's strength
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What sets Maxthon apart is pure brawn. To say it browses is misleading. It blitzes the Internet like a cybertank wrapped in armor plate and studded with heavy-duty weaponry. To be sure, some of the same battlements are available with Firefox and Opera ? although they require a lot more assembly than the ready-to-serve Maxthon. They even have features Maxthon lacks, such as Opera's gee-whiz voice commands. But despite their niftier features, the two together can't come up with an arsenal like that of Maxthon.
Access URLs
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Maxthon's approach to searching is typical of its helpful overkill on many fronts. It provides two extra ways to call up a URL: You can give the URL an alias that takes fewer keystrokes (AM for amazon.com, for example) or you can assign the URL to a function key. You get a half-dozen ways to move among tabbed pages, including assorted buttons, mouse-button chording, and mouse gestures, which are sort of like sign language for computers.
Translation
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Other tools in Maxthon are valuable exclusives. Maxthon has the Simple Collector, which lets you select text or graphics and add them to a common collection bin for later offline perusal. If you happen upon a page in, say, Korean, Maxthon gives you an automatic translation link for Korean and 11 other languages, most of them two-way. I suppose it's possible in Firefox and Opera to concoct add-ins that display, with a single click, the local weather, your PC's file tree, Web-based bookmarks you can access anywhere, RSS feeds, and more. In Maxthon, they, and others, come installed and ready to use.
The Next Step
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Even when a feature in Maxthon is basically the same as one of its rivals', Maxthon takes an extra step in the direction of ease of use. Both it and Firefox have drag-and-drop, which lets you launch a search by selecting a word in the current page. Only thing is, Firefox makes you drag the word up to the search bar and drop it there. Maxthon lets you drop it anywhere.
Outro
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I suspect being small and obscure has helped Maxthon become the powerful program it is. In my book, the most innovative software is always the concoction of a single person. Committees and marketing executives inevitably make for mediocre software. A marketing genius might have come up with a better name than Maxthon. (The "h" is silent.) But the best, gathered resources of American industrialism haven't come up with a better browser.
Note that I have only quoted certain things, you all should read the article section about Maxthon for yourselves because it's very interesting.
No I dont work for Maxthon lol. (btw the guy that wrote the article is not biased toward any browser)
I am unable to test this browser out right now due to where I am so can some people test this out and tell us whats really up?
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 1. April 2006 @ 15:41
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Member
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3. April 2006 @ 04:13 |
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sounds really cool, I am on my way now to check it out.
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Senior Member
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4. April 2006 @ 10:51 |
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Just to find out why everyone jumps on a bandwagon, I thought I'd check out Maxthon(MyIE2), Avant Browser....Opera etc.
So, on the server machine, I have installed:
Avant Browser, Maxthon, FireFox, Opera, MSN Explorer, and Internet Explorer.
Firefox and Opera are the two that stand alone. IE and MSN Explorer run off the same files and principles with a different UI for MSN.
Avant Browser and Maxthon are almost completely identical in UI capabilities, and run off the IE engine. So, in essence its just a different version of IE, and I was not impressed by any of it.
People really crack me up, they build a "new" browser off of existing technology, put in a tabbed interface or easier to find plugin tools, and say that browser is "better" than it's competition. All to find out that when ideas float around the internet, or become available in one platform just to show up later in another, brings out the half a billion "you gotta try this browser cuz it's better than the one you're using now" threads.
and....to top it all off, IE7 is a joke. It is nothing but a compilation of already used and abused technologies and ideas. There isn't a single new idea in IE7.
So, you have 4 browsers built from Internet Explorer, and 2 browsers built from their own code.
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PointGod
Member
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6. April 2006 @ 11:57 |
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whats so bad about IE
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Senior Member
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6. April 2006 @ 13:26 |
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Every browser has it's issues...not saying at all that any of them are perfect.
Even IE7 has been targeted by phishing attacks (keep in mind that IE7 is being delivered to us by Microsoft with a major focus on security against phishing attacks, and it's not even out of beta yet)...check out this link:
http://secunia.com/Internet_Explorer_Address_Bar_Spoofing_Vulnera...
This spoofing attack does not work in Firefox, and those of you who may test this even using the IE Tab plugin, may find as I did that the test link will not open with that plugin.
A lot of people believe that because of the popularity of Microsoft's products give reason to so many attacks, however I believe it's a combination of lack of secure code to begin with, and the monopoly (anti-open source) idealism of Bill Gates that gets the negative attention.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 6. April 2006 @ 13:26
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PointGod
Member
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7. April 2006 @ 12:39 |
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well ya my IE6 that i opened that test with was vulnerable, but in overall, FireFox has more vulnerabilities than Maxthon.
vulnerabilities/ security
Maxthon - http://secunia.com/product/4110/#advisories
FireFox - http://secunia.com/product/4227/
in the past 3 years, FireFox has actually had more security issues and more critical ones than Maxthon and the 3 specific ones its found in Maxthon have been fixed in patches already, but out of all of the MANY ones in FireFox, a few may still currently be left unfixed
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Senior Member
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7. April 2006 @ 12:59 |
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Keep in mind PointGod, that a security fix is listed in priority. Those that can crash the entire system, or have malformed code take over the computer show up more in IE and it's subordinates than it does in FireFox.
And...just because an outside agent lists code vulnerabilities to be security issues in their eyes, doesn't mean it will affect the community as a whole.
Microsoft knows of at least 4 major security issues, to which they will be patching only one this month.
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PointGod
Member
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7. April 2006 @ 15:36 |
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the site is dedicated to security
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Auslander
AfterDawn Addict
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7. April 2006 @ 20:28 |
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that's fine and dandy PointGod, but no one source catches everything. depending on one reference for information can seriously screw you.
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PointGod
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8. April 2006 @ 08:02 |
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i realize that, but i also realize that most people (probably you 2 aswell) are FireFox or opera fanboys or something and just hate IE and will do everything to put it down, while I on the other hand am cool with it all (I have IE6 and Firefox)
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Auslander
AfterDawn Addict
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8. April 2006 @ 08:03 |
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i make a point of myself not to be a fanboy, and i do not appreciate your implication that am one. i have yet to say which browers i prefer on this thread. i try everything, then i go with what works. the item best suited for an application is the one put into mass usage on said application.
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Senior Member
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8. April 2006 @ 08:21 |
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I love it, calling someone a fanboy is a unique perspective in and of itself.....means you'd rather do that then have a intelligent conversation about a given situation.
I've been using, and still use IE since it's olden days of Windows 95...version 3 if I remember correctly. And, I'll be more than happy to tell you why I don't particularly care to use it on a full time basis.
It's a fixed browser. Which means, I have to leave it up to Microsoft to tell me how to use it. Most of it's security features are buried under several clicks of the mouse, instead of being right up in front. If Microsoft doesn't like what I am doing with IE, they will fix it so I can no longer use that option. Take the Windows Genuine Advantage plugin..they knew you could get past that option to download from Microsoft, but now have locked that out. It cannot be disabled, nor uninstalled. What's next? IE7 is also a fixed browser...the design you see is the design you get...like it or not, that's that.
Nice try at a cop out...calling us fanboys because you wish to walk away without even trying to support why you like Maxthon? I do believe this is what the topic is about is it not? Then why are you so heavily defending IE? I have all those browsers installed on the server, and if you missed it go back and read what I posted.
Firefox and Opera stand alone. All the others are just knock offs of IE and therefore do nothing in the line of offering more than what IE can handle itself. They depend on the core of IE, and if that is vulnerable....well, you get the picture. I hope. The interfaces may be different, but they all mock what the other browsers already have. This also goes for IE7.
If you cannot have a civilized conversation, by all means don't start one...and don't fall out by calling others fanboys when you have no clue as to who we really are.
Edit: If you read what you posted about the article, you'd have noticed something right in your face. Maxthon has the "features" of the other browsers "but are not even Add-ons!". Choice? What if I don't want the Addons given in Maxthon? Where's my choice of having a browser I want? Seems to me that Maxthon has the same features as Firefox, but have arranged for you. Like buying a house with furniture already in it...instead of you going out buying what you want, and putting it where you want. It's the total freedom of choice that makes Firefox and Opera stand alone.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 8. April 2006 @ 08:31
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Member
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8. April 2006 @ 08:41 |
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I have IE for many years, with no complaints. The reason I had no complaints was because I didn't know any better. I recently tried Opera and Firefox. I find both to be more user friendly than IE. I tried the test listed above which IE failed and Firefox passed. I do not claim to be an expert in this area. But from a casual surfers point of view I think Firefox is a really nice browser.
I also agree with Morph that it is nice to be able to choose which features you want.
If I can learn here so can you.
Search first, then ask. Words to live by.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 8. April 2006 @ 08:45
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Auslander
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8. April 2006 @ 09:42 |
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Quote:
while I on the other hand am cool with it all (I have IE6 and Firefox)
hmmm...that's like saying your cool with a '70 hemi cuda and a stock '66 VW beetle racing each other at a drag strip. it implies that you don't know what you're talking about and think everything's as good as everything else. being stuck on your preconceived notions like that makes you a bit of a fanboy, doesn't it? no, it makes you a fanwhore :-)
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 8. April 2006 @ 09:45
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