Firefox Memory Management is Perfect for the Times
June 26, 2008 by Jayvee Fernandez
Filed under Computers
Firefox 3 not only fixes Firefox 2’s infamous memory inefficiencies. It blows all other browsers’ memory efficiencies away, according to a test by developer Sam Allen.
Memory usage per browser
Safari: 636.9 MB
Internet Explorer: 194.4 MB
Flock (Firefox 2) 191.9 MB
Opera 9.5: 190.6 MB
Firefox 3: 111.8 MB
Firefox 3 takes a lot of memory to get her motor running at first — but she gives you the smoothest ride in the long run. With the explosion of rich Internet applications, we’re going to spend a lot more time in the browser. A lot more people will open a browser once they turn on their computers, and then stay in it throughout their computing sessions. Gone are the days of opening and closing browser windows only as needed.
That makes Firefox 3’s memory usage patterns perfect for the times. That’s not surprising, since Mozilla is supported by Google, and Google makes rich Internet applications.
Interestingly enough, Safari turned out to be the most memory-inefficient browser, by a huge margin. Take that, Apple fanboys.
