Of course, Windows' security is also woefully inadequate . Particularly now that IE9 is so tightly integrated with Windows, could it possibly compare with in this respect? No way.

Part of it is the monoculture effect. Any technology that's used by the majority is going to be subject to more hack attempts, even aside from its inherent security. At the same time, how much of a majority IE9 can come to claim without support for any operating system other than Vista and Windows 7 remains to be seen.

Another part of it, however, is also the fact that Internet Explorer's code is closed, so all the many bugs and vulnerabilities that crop up are fixed only at Microsoft's leisure. With Firefox and Chrome, on the other hand, the code is being scrutinized and improved all the time.

4. Lackluster Scores

Some may tout IE9's "," but the data really doesn't back that up. On the Acid3 test, for example, which measures conformance with Web standards, IE 9 scores far below Chrome 10, Opera 11 and Firefox 4, as noted recently by .