A new report coming out of Microsoft claims that Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) is on average faster than both Google Chrome 1.0 and Firefox 3.0.5.

The report titled Measuring Browser Performance: Understanding issues in benchmarking and performance analyzes how various parts of the browser and their network components can impact on performance benchmarking.

Contradictory to all other tests, Microsoft claims that IE8 outperforms both Firefox 3.05 and Chrome 1.0, so the results should be taken with a grain of salt.

Of interesting note, IE8 loads mozilla.com faster than Firefox while Firefox loads microsoft.com faster than IE8.

The full 14-page report is available from the Microsoft Download Center.

Mozilla has released Firefox 3.0.7. The updated fixes several security and stability issues.

Firefox is also now available in 3 new languages; Estonian, Kannada, and Telugu.

The browser should be pushed out to existing Firefox 3 users or can be downloaded from the Firefox website. A full list of changes can be found in the Firfox 3.0.7 Release Notes.

Results for Februrary are in and Google Chrome, Firefox and Opera are all winners for the month.

Februrary statistics from Net Applications shows that Internet Explorers share continued its decline, dropping 0.04% to 67.51%.

Firefox was a big winner, with a 0.2% increase to 21.73%, while Google Chrome increased its share by 0.03% to 1.15%.

Opera also had a good month increasing its share by 0.01% to 0.71%.

Apple’s Safari did not far so well, with the first decrease in months to 8.00%. That’s a 0.29% drop from last month.

The next month will be interesting, with the inimant release of Internet Explorer 8 expected this month and Apple’s Safari 4 beta being released just days ago.

Mozilla has just released Firefox for Windows Mobile. Under the name of Fennec, which is the very first public release of the browser.

You can install Fennec on an HTC Touch Pro by navigating to the installation cab file in your exsisting browser. This will then start the installation of the browser.

Early reports vary, with some users unable to open any web pages using Fennec. Mozilla is sure to fix bugs and add new features at the browser progresses.

Happy browsing!

Mozilla has just released Firefox 3.0.6. The new release fixes several issues found in the previous version.

Six new security flaws have been patched, including one which was rated as critical. Mozilla has also fixed several issues causing problems with the browsers stability.

A full list of changes can be found in the release notes.

The new version should be pushed out to existing users of Firefox 3 in the next few days, or alternativly can be downloded from the Firefox website.

Mozilla has delayed Firefox 3.1 Beta 3 for a second time, citing numerous bugs in the browsers new JavaScript engine.

Last Wednesday’s status meeting for 3.1 reveale there are still 18 bugs remaining. The meeting minutes show the extent of the delay. “At this time, we don’t have a good estimate for when we’ll be done”.

After the last delay, Firefox 3.1 Beta 3 was expected to be released Febrary 2nd. A new release date is not yet known.

Google, as promised, has turned off the anti-phishing tool used in Firefox 2 as of 20th January. The anti-phishing tool would block sites suspected of hosting identity theft scams.

Recent Firefox build 2.0.0.19 and 2.0.0.20 have had this feature removed, but there are still thousands out there using earlier versions.

Mozilla is urging Firefox 2 users to upgrade to Firefox 3 as soon as possible. Firefox 3 includes a newer version of the anti-phishing protocol provided by Google.

Firefox 2 users can upgrade to Firefox 3 by selecting ‘Check for updates’ in the help menu, or can download the update manually from the Firefox website.

European Union regulators have laid down fresh claims that Microsoft is again in breach of its anti-trust laws.

The complaint is related to Internet Explorer being bundled with all new Windows installations.

Microsoft lost a similar case in 2004 and was forced to sell Windows versions without Windows Media Player.

This has potential repercussions across the market. Apple currently bundles Safari with every copy of Mac OS X, while most Linux distributions are bundled with Firefox.

“Microsoft’s tying of Internet Explorer to the Windows operating system harms competition between web browsers, undermines product innovation and ultimately reduces consumer choice” said a spokesman for the European Union.

Any final decision on the matter is likely to be years away.

Mozilla has pushed back the release of Firefox 3.1 beta 3 a week from January 26th to February 2nd.

After a developers meeting on Wednesday, notes reveal “due to the large number of outstanding P1 blockers, we are declaring a code slip”. This target may be optimistic however, as one developer hinted that it could be delayed by as much as three weeks.

A code freeze is now scheduled for January 25th, with QA starting on January 27th.

Pixel Labs has posted a rather amusing yet statistical poster of the browser wars. The cartoon depicts web browser and their market share over time.

Strangely absent from this cartoon is Google’s Chrome, which has a greater share than Opera.

Click on the cartoon to see the full version.