An IE-Based Tabbed Browser from China

wannabgeek writes "CNET reports that a new browser, Maxthon is gaining wide popularity in China. 14 percent of Chinese websurfers have used it ... Part of the reason, it has features that help in circumventing the Chinese government censors. CNET says it was shown at the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas this year, and is slowly gaining foothold in Europe as well as the U.S."

Fun With Statistics

[TripMaster Monkey]

From TFA:

According to Maxthon research, about 14 percent of the Chinese Web population has used the browser and 17 percent employs it for Web search.

So...3 percent of the Chinese Web population employs the Maxthon browser for Web search without having used it?

Ok guys, get over it.

[DoctorDyna]

You are all falling over yourselves comically to point out the fact that sombody said "shinese". It's not that funny.

Out of all you wonderfully articulate people, nobody has anything interesting to say? I think this kinda squashes a huge mis conception that most of the Slashdot community seems to have, that is only people who don't know any better want anything to do with IE. Obviously, these people who created this aren't newbs.

USED it?

[clragon]

14 percent of Chinese websurfers have used it

have used it? I've used countless softwares in the past, but the ones that I continue to use is only a fraction of that. Just because a Chinese websurfer have used it once does not mean they thought it was a good software and continued to use it. IMO some more evidence should be provided before saying this internet browser it is "gaining wide popularity in China"

TorPack?

[aymanh]

Maxthon, a browser made by a tiny Beijing company of the same name, has attracted millions of users in China for functionality that can funnel traffic through a Web proxy and circumvent government controls on information in search engines like Google, Yahoo, MSN, Baidu.com and other popular sites or Internet service providers in that country.

Neither the article nor Maxthon's feature list [maxthon.com] go into the details of how this feature is implemented, does it simply provide a list of open proxy and an easy way to switch to one of them? Or is it something more sophisticated? Anyone tried this feature?

I wonder if Chinese users are aware of TorPack [nyud.net], it is Tor + portable Firefox + some extensions. Being Firefox-based, it can benefit from the wide range of extensions available, and is arguably more secure.

Maxthon Access ?

[Brit_in_the_USA]

I see on the Maxthon web site a related product called "Maxthon Access". Does anyone have any addtional information /reviews about this product?
It looks like it offers "PC Anywhere" features, but the Maxthin browser is a required component (?).
Has anyone used it and could comment?
Is it safe / secure?
Any (known) spyware / back doors to it?

Re:New browser?

[Incoherent07]

I actually in some ways preferred Maxthon's interface to Firefox's, at least out of the box, but I could never get the Gecko support working, so I switched as well.

You know what is sad

[fullphaser]

Is that a third party browser like that could gain such a sizable market share in china that quickly, granted its still IE but they are seeking out browsers none the less. Whats that say about the US & internationally, which still reports firefox and other 3rd party browsers at no more than 10% according to some studies (I can't remember the link right now)
Hey mabye China has got something right?

avant browser

[toirdnim]

Avant Browser is another tabbed browser based on the IE engine. I prefer firefox for most of my browsing, but I use avant when I have to load up my company's intranet site, which breaks in firefox.

Re:Wait until PETA hears about *this*...

[denttford]

Funny you should mention that... [aol.com]

This isn't really new

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm actually using it right now. I've been using this browser for the past few years, ever since it used to be called MyIE. It has most of the same features and a few a like more than Firefox like the mouse gestures feature.

Bah, that's nothing. Try OffByOne. It's uber-light

[Anonymous Coward]

The OffByOne [offbyone.com] browser is way lighter on resources, even lighter than Opera. It does tabbed browsing too. Best of all, it's self-executable, caches entirely in RAM, and not reliant on any other browser. It fits nicely on a floppy too. Granted, its features are minimal, but it's great for surfing message boards and slashdot on even an early Pentium with even a quarter of the RAM you have.