IE8 is a resource hog

[Animegamer]

http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/new...e8-resource-hog


INTERNET EXPLODER 8 is a seriously bloated and resource-hogging mess of software, according to an independent performance evaluation done by exo.performance.network.

The tests were run over several days under both Windows XP (SP3) and Vista x86 (SP1). What exo.performance.network discovered was "another example of unchecked Microsoft code 'bloat,' complete with 'shirt-bursting, waistline-stretching' memory consumption and the kind of CPU-hogging thread growth normally reserved for massively parallel server farms."

In a multi-tab browsing session against 10 websites under Vista, IE8 grabbed about 380MB of memory, in contrast with 250MB consumed by IE7 and just 159MB by Firefox 3.0.1. That makes IE8 nearly one and-a-half times more memory intensive than IE7 and well more than twice as greedy as Firefox.

With regard to the number of threads spawned by the browsers, IE8 created approaching three times the workload of IE7 and more than five times that of Firefox. IE8 spawned a staggering 171 concurrent threads, while IE7 spawned a somewhat less resource-hogging 65 threads and Firefox somehow managed to make do with spawning merely 29 threads.

Nonetheless, Firefox displayed websites faster than both IE7 and IE8, according to the test report, although it didn't present any timing figures. The test report conjectured that Firefox uses "a more efficient rendering engine employing fewer threads in exchange for faster linear performance."

And it appears that IE8 has such an overly complex design that it has trouble getting out of its own way to actually use the CPU resources available, though running under Vista imposed significant CPU overhead too. IE8 used average CPU time of 22 per cent when running under Windows XP and 33 per cent under Vista. IE7 used 13 per cent CPU under Windows XP and 24 per cent under Vista. Firefox made the best use of the available CPU resources, consuming 33 per cent CPU under Windows XP and 48 per cent under Vista.

The report observes that, "By delivering superior performance while maintaining a nearly [two times] smaller memory and CPU [threads] footprint across the board, Firefox 3.01 proves once again that the open source community can often trump even the most well-funded commercial projects when it comes to delivering efficient, streamlined code."

It has been said that "What Intel and AMD giveth, Microsoft taketh away." It appears that this will become even more true when the Vole imposes IE8 on its unsuspecting wibblers.

The test report speculated that Microsoft hopes that IE8 will drive customers into further hardware replacements to acquire systems with more than 4GB of memory running 64-bit flavours of Windows. That makes sense, because it will force buyers to also buy the Vole's next iteration of Windows as well, what our Charlie D has termed Windows ME II SP1a.

It also observed that, with its proliferation of threads and multiple execution processes – six discrete instances of iexplore.exe in the tests – IE8 is being positioned by Microsoft to take advantage of more CPU cores in future Intel and AMD chip designs. But it added that this positioning comes "at the cost of overwhelming today's single and dual-core PCs."

If the earlier versions of Windows ran like "a pig on Qualudes," to quote Eric Raymond, when the already bloated and slow Windows Vista gets loaded down with IE8 on the PC systems most people have now, it'll likely run like a half-ton hog overdosed on heroin.

[Sinitron]

fuck it, get opera instead

[Hammi]

Well no shit

[billy]

Windows Vista isn't slow and bloated. It needs more ram but runs everything faster than an equivalent XP system.

[leone]

Windows Vista isn't slow and bloated. It needs more ram but runs everything faster than an equivalent XP system.

Snorlax isn't slow and bloated. He needs more ram but runs everything faster than an equivalent Munchlax system.

[shittyfurryass]

im sure if vista had enough time for most hardware and software to become optimal with it, it would perform significantly better than xp

I will probably be using it if adobe cs4 is 64 bit compatible with vista, and just keep a partition of a stripped down version of xp for games that i never want to play but feel obligated to

[adamant]

Windows Vista isn't slow and bloated. It needs more ram but runs everything faster than an equivalent XP system.

Snorlax isn't slow and bloated. He needs more ram but runs everything faster than an equivalent Munchlax system.

lm

[rtil]

380MB? what the hell? it's like they wanted to design a bad browser.

[LOGINOK]

fuck it, get opera instead

no, get Firefox

[Sinitron]

fuck it, get opera instead

no, get Firefox

firefox is for fucking wannabes you fucking faggot OPERA IS FOR REAL MEN WHO LIKE TABS AND PROPER DOWNLOAD MANAGEMENT

AND NOT HAVING THEIR FUCKING BOOKMARKS DELETED EVERY OTHER WEEK

[billy]

survey says:

opera is for fruits

[Animegamer]

opera is the best browser out there right now

[rtil]

i'd like firefox a lot more if the download manager didn't get all up in my grill every time i did something that doesn't require a download manager like save a picture

[Sinitron]

opera is the best browser out there right now

oh god i love you i want to make sweet love to you now just because of this

[Philip K Dick]

if you give a shit about download managers just get a 3rd party one

opera has a annoying interface

and firefox has better plugins!

[Sinitron]

if you give a shit about download managers just get a 3rd party one

opera has a annoying interface

and firefox has better plugins!

FCUK YOU I AM A PURIST I CAN NOT HAVE MY LOVELY BROWSERS CONTAMINATED BY IRRELEVANT SHIT

[rtil]

i don't use plugins because they are gay and no one actually needs them lol!

[psi43]

sinister, does Tor work on Opera?

like, torbutton

[Sinitron]

sinister, does Tor work on Opera?

like, torbutton

no idea i dont massvote anymore

[rtil]

there is no torbutton for opera but i searched for proxy stuff and this is what i found: http://widgets.opera.com/search/?order=name&q=proxy
but tor is designed to work on any browser and with vidalia it works just like torbutton