browser wars.

pros and cons of each major browser-

internet explorer:
- pros: default browser on windows.
- cons: poor css support, security crap, almost 6 years old.

firefox:
- pros: extensions/themes, open source, decent rendering.
- cons: memory usage, umm.

safari:
- pros: amazingly fast, looks cool, passes acid2.
- cons: proprietary, not that customizable for the average user.

opera:
- pros: passes acid2 test.
- cons: slower than safari, bloated, has ads in the browser, costs money, proprietary, shoves a lot of useless features in your face [blog and my opera? no thanks], copied apple with the widgets.

links2:
 - pros: works in text mode, works over ssh, low bandwidth
 - cons: no images, javascript support incomplete

lynx:
 - pros: same as links2
 - cons: well, no javascript at all, or frame support (it sucks, really, compared to links2)

>>12
IE only has a "low footprint" because there's a high footprint OS that it parasites off of for libraries, etc.  If Firefox moved it's shared libraries and rendering core in the kernel or dll's (where it shouldn't be because of security issues) it'd be blazing fast to load too.  Also would cause your computer to be hacked like crazy.