What is a Browser?

[Thorin]

Google asked normal people in New York's Times Square what they think a browser is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4MwTvtyrUQ&feature=player_embedded

As much as we techies want to laugh at this, it's a sobering reality that many people simply don't know the difference between Windows, Browser, and Search Engine.  And as techies, we have to remain cognizant that the easier we make software and hardware, the more likely normal people will be able to use it and the bigger our possible base of paying customers.

[Mr. Analog]

facepalm...

[Darren Dirt]

They just needed to be pointed to this vid...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrXPcaRlBqo

[Thorin]

Or better yet, the website that video originated from:

http://www.whatbrowser.org/en/

"About"

A few of us at Google created WhatBrowser.org to help teach people about web browsers. We wanted to show people that they have a lot of choice in browsers, since we noticed that most people were using the browser that their computers came with.

[Darren Dirt]

Yeah, I visited that site about 17 seconds after posting the above. Nice info, well put together... Plus for the techies some easy to find links to browser-comparing stress tests, I compared with SunSpider my Chrome vs. FF3 and WOW it was about 2x as fast, in almost every measurement!

[Lazybones]

My iPhone comes up as Safari 4.

[Thorin]

Isn't that what iPhones run?  Some mobile version of Safari 4?

[Lazybones]

Ya but it doesn't indicate it is the mobile version.

[Tonnica]

Forget about being able to tell what a browser is, how about people who can't tell when they're not on Facebook. (read the comments section then re-read the bolded text in the article and let it sink in for a minute)

[Mr. Analog]

how about people who can't tell when they're not on Facebook. (read the comments section then re-read the bolded text in the article and let it sink in for a minute)

Holy crap! At first I thought it was just people joking around but it keeps going and going and going...

[Thorin]

LOL

Not until comment 50 is there someone who understands the difference between Facebook and other web pages:

This is what happens when people use Google to enter sites instead of typing it on their address bar...

Damn you all Farmville users...

[Tom]

LOL

Not until comment 50 is there someone who understands the difference between Facebook and other web pages:

This is what happens when people use Google to enter sites instead of typing it on their address bar...

Damn you all Farmville users...

Could blame it on browsers that do a "I'm feeling lucky" when you type a non url into the address bar. Maybe.

[Lazybones]

LOL

Not until comment 50 is there someone who understands the difference between Facebook and other web pages:

This is what happens when people use Google to enter sites instead of typing it on their address bar...

Damn you all Farmville users...

Could blame it on browsers that do a "I'm feeling lucky" when you type a non url into the address bar. Maybe.

Ya most do that, and chrome is even worse in the fact it doesn't have a separate search bar.

[Thorin]

I doubt any of those commenters were using Chrome.  But just in case, I tried typing "facebook" into Chrome's ultrabar, and sure enough it took me to www.facebook.com.

[Tom]

I doubt any of those commenters were using Chrome.  But just in case, I tried typing "facebook" into Chrome's ultrabar, and sure enough it took me to www.facebook.com.

Unless chrome tries to be smart and checks for www.X.com before doing an "I'm feeling lucky" google's own algorithm can make a single word like "facebook" go to some other site on occasion.