Google yesterday released an open-source micro-benchmark test named as RoboHornet for evaluating the browser performance. In the performance test, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 10 scored extremely well, but what was puzzling was Chrome’s own performance in the test. It was extremely bad and displeasing. Firefox fell flat on its face on every platform except OS X, where it managed to place ahead of Opera. Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 10 on Windows 8 RTM build came out the winner all the way!
Though Microsoft appreciated the gesture (IE 10 Performance) and praised its engineering team for building such a browser, it didn’t consider Google’s general-purpose browser speed test RoboHornet as the representative of a browser experience since the test on the specific aspects of browser performance only and not the performance users might encounter on real-world sites.
What Microsoft firmly believes is that most benchmarks such as Kraken benchmark of Mozilla, Octane benchmark of Google do not cover all the aspects of a browser performance. For instance, take SunSpider JavaScript benchmark. It bechmarks only a browser’s JavaScript performance and not other important browser technologies and features that matter more.
Microsoft therefore came up with the new version of the open-source browser benchmark – RoboHornet Pro that seems to take the same Google’s RoboHornet micro-benchmak approach, but run it in the context of a real-world scenario. The impartial benchmark takes into account all the essential factors for evaluating a browser.
It uses modern web technologies like CSS3 Animations, CSS3 Transforms, CSS3 Text Shadows, custom WOFF fonts, Unicode, and Touch. Under Microsoft’s test, Chrome as expected, fails to deliver.
Chrome slows down on several occasions, crawls and stops responding at times that’s because it hasn’t been designed to handle a benchmark load in the context of a real-world scenario, says Microsoft. On the other hand, Internet Explorer 10 remains responsive, continues animating the screen, and finishes the test in less than half the time that Chrome does.
If you do not believe it, you can test your browser at RoboHornet Pro or take a look at the video below.
Source: Windows Team Blog.
Of course IE 10 outperformed Chrome…but not because it’s a better browser.
Windows 8 is actually designed to prevent 3rd party from taking full advantage of all the features of the operating system…particularly on ARM based devices. So naturally IE10 is going to outperform all other browsers running on a Win8 platform.
Simply put: MS wins because they rigged the test…again.
As I understand, the RoboHornet test was by Google, so how could they have rigged it?
Seriously…did you actually READ my post?
If Windows 8 is designed to keep 3rd party browsers (Firefox, Chrome etc.) from from taking full advantage of all the features of the operating system (hardware acceleration, API, etc)…then how could the test have been fair?
If you disconnect half of the spark-plugs on a Ferrari…a horse drawn cart can out run it.
Internet Explorer has never ever come first in a test, so this is quite funny. A majority of the browsers on this planet (Inter Explorer), do not pass any test. They failed all the Acid tests. There is not a single web-developer who isn’t disgusted, daily by having to deal with Internet Explorer’s lack of standards.
It all does not matter that Internet Explorer 10 can handle Robohornet pro better.. Chrome and Firefox will become better and then that problem is solved. It’s just some minor tweaks.
With the upcoming release of Internet Explorer 10 we will have to face the same problems all over: We still need to keep in mind that a lot of users will be using OLD Microsoft software, like IE9 and lower.
I’m sick of Microsoft being the browser market leader. A leader should lead by example, not by pushing their browsers into corporate systems in a way that nobody is able to update their software. This sucks. I live in a time that WebGL and HTML5 flourish. Microsoft should focus on developers!
I want Microsoft to invest in the future by offering large corporations, governments, schools and universities free technicians and network operators that will update all of their infrastructure. If they do this, then they could be ready by 2015 and the result will be that all Internet Explorer users will have AT LEAST version 10 installed AND native WebGL!
Then humanity will no longer be held back, so it can fully experience immersive high quality and very smart designs and tools on the web. It would be a revelation and a revolution. It’s up to you.
Though I Love microsoft I hate distorting the reality. if you don’t win it, cheat it. Its just not fair test. IE is by no mean the winner. chrome is.
For the record…Firefox averages 5 – 6 seconds on this test on a Windows 7 based touch device and runs it every bit as well as IE10/Windows 8.
Firefox has the best results of any browser on this test.