Some of the top Web browsers seem to be crawling with bugs. Over the course of a week, a total of 672 bugs were found in three top Web browsers- Internet Explorer 8, Firefox 3.1 beta, Google Chrome- by testers using
uTest. The "online marketplace" for software testing said 101 of the bugs found in a contest involving 1,331 testers were "showstoppers," which uTest defines as flaws in need of immediate attention.
The breakdown of the three browsers showed that 168 bugs were found in Internet Explorer 8, with 9% of them labeled as showstoppers. In Firefox 3.1, testers found 207 bugs -24% were showstoppers-, while 297 bugs were found in Chrome (12% showstoppers). Doron Reuveni, CEO of uTest, said that the uTest community discovered one bug every 15 minutes in the three browsers.
Additionally, of the 356 uTesters that evaluated Internet Explorer 8, 87% rated its usability as fair or good. The 514 that tested Firefox 3.1 had 81% rated its usability as fair or good, while 74% of the 461 testers that evaluated Chrom rated it fair or good. When asked to name their preferred browser, 55% named Firefox, 30% said internet Explorer, and 6% said the recently released Chrome.
uTest will hold such contests, which it calls Bug Battles, on a quarterly basis. The top prize can include up to US$1,000 in prize money, so make sure you get your bug battle on!