Microsoft "impartial" browser test fails the grade

This is incredibly annoying: http://i.imgur.com/ZrrH3.png

It distracts me, AND as a bonus feature, offers absolutely no information that I care about.

The web is now 17 years old, and Microsoft STILL does not get it, even on a basic level. This is exactly the kind of stuff that has made Microsoft a laughingstock for a long time now.

Guys: the Internet Explorer era is OVER.

While this is blatant FUD, there may a grain of truth to what MS is saying. Malware and phishing detection are heavily dependent on external servers for accuracy.

I hope other browser vendors don't just dismiss these functions MS touts, instead look critically at if these functions to see if they’re worth implementing.

Also I love the fact they picked up on a typo:

>doesn't [sic] have most of the features that help protect against modern threats

I don't see how this is a surprise. Why would Microsoft care about testing browser security on other operating systems other than Windows when the goal of the site is to get users to upgrade their Internet Explorer versions? They did all the tests on Windows for each browser at a given time and just spits out the scores when a user visits the site depending only on the browser type. No test is rerun at that time.

This article is almost as bad as the site it's complaining about.

The author complains: Based on these criteria, Your Browser Matters seems to rate your browser regardless of how your settings are configured, or what operating system you're using.

Then he goes to show Firefox 7.0.1 on two different OSs with two different scores. Then says again that they're the same.

Furthermore, he doesn't raise any complaints about the tests themselves, just about the resulting scores.

It's not remotely surprising that Microsoft would favor its own product. What is surprising (at least to me) is that they would make efforts to APPEAR impartial.