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Japanese browser maker takes on IE, FirefoxFenrir wants to snare 5% of the browser market 04:12PM Wednesday Jul 23 2008 by Kabanos By Martyn Williams - www . computerworld . comJuly 22, 2008 (IDG News Service) TOKYO -- A Japanese software company is stepping up international promotion of its Web browser in the hope of carving out a 5% share over the next few years of a market dominated by Internet Explorer and Firefox. The Sleipnir browser is well-known among Japanese technophiles, many of whom value the high level of customization that the browser allows. At the center of this customization is the ability to select either the Trident or Gecko layout engines for each Web site visited. Trident was developed by Microsoft Corp. and is used in Internet Explorer while Gecko is used in Mozilla's Firefox. As any user who has changed Web browsers knows, some sites look different or offer different functionality depending on the browser in use. By clicking a small button in the bottom left of the browser and switching between Trident and Gecko, users can choose the best one for the particular site. ... More @ » www.computerworld.com/action/art···=9110459 Sleipnir browser: » www.fenrir.co.jp/en/sleipnir/global.htmlRelated:Sleipnir: Customizable web browser uses IE or Firefox rendering engines » www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/23···dering/
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sivran
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edit:
July 24th, @02:18PM
| Interesting While switching between Gecko and Trident's not new, it's nice to see another browser doing it--this one perhaps a worthwhile one!
Their site seems a bit slow, but that's to be expected if the english version is hosted in Japan. Or it might just be my privoxy box throwing a fit.
Will definitely have to try this one. This browser looks to have the potential to win the "browser war" on my computer. SeaMonkey's decade-long reign may be at an end for me. But enough chatter, time to try it!
Edit: This sucker's nice and fast. Reminds me of Opera when it first came out. Nice: has the option to enable Flash etc, but disable other ActiveX. Mouse gestures and last-session resume right out of the box.
Memory usage is roughly on par with Opera. ie, less than Firefox or SeaMonkey.
Some problems though.
Gecko support is clearly tacked-on. For example to get Gecko in Sleipnir to run through a proxy, you must edit the all.js file under (by default) \Program Files\Fenrir & Co\Gecko_v1712\gecko20051003\greprefs\
...which is another thing, it's using an ancient gecko version.
Gecko support is not included in the installer despite what the site says. You must download and install the plugin. I was also unable to get Gecko working with the portable version at all.
Quite nice but, I don't think it'll dethrone SeaMonkey for me. As it stands it's like an IE-replacement, with Gecko tacked on. And if I were going to use an IE-replacement, it'd be Maxthon.
It has potential, if both engines were included natively (as it was in the latest Netscape) and it used a more recent version of Gecko it'd almost certainly become my primary browser.
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AB
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| Re: Interesting said by sivran  :. . Some problems though. Gecko support is clearly tacked-on. . . . That's all I needed to hear. Thanks for the info.
So right now, all they're selling (so to speak) is a bill of goods.
Potential, perhaps. But not much going now.
I'll check back in a year or two. | |
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