(Review) - In the past, I have discussed the various browsers out there for us to enjoy at length. Despite this, there has always been the question as to which one was best for which type of person. After all, we all know what each offers, but which one best fits different type of users? In this article, I hope to better answer that particular question. And of course, all platforms will be considered, not just Linux.

Opera. You will never see any other proprietary browser try so hard to please. Opera supports no less than nine separate platforms; many of them extremely long tail including BeOS, OS/2 and QNX.

Struggling to become competitive on the desktop, I see Opera doing best with its mobile efforts, thanks to Opera Mini, designed for those with a mobile lifestyle. In addition to that, Opera Link does add a twist to synchronizing your bookmarks in such a way that it makes them accessible everywhere.

This browser is available for every platform you can think of, it is free to use and I believe it to be the best for those who need speed, massive control over their browsing experience, but it’s wary of browser bloat. They also provide a number of helpful add-ons to provide even more functionality.

Smartphones Get Smart, Really

Firefox. Some will refer to Firefox the brilliant nephew of the now defunct Netscape browser. Revenge, served against Microsoft's browser takeover during the 1990's, Firefox has become something of a rock star over the past few years. Today, heading straight into version 3.0, it has become something of a legend for those who want Website compatibility and extra functionality with all of those great add-ons that are being offered.

Despite becoming entirely too reliant on Google for such things as viable RSS management, Firefox is safe and an easy to use general purpose Web browser. That said, it is becoming rather bloated, hopefully this will be addressed in the future.

Internet Explorer. While older releases of the browser may have been incredibly dangerous to use, the latest incarnation, IE7, is generally thought to be as safe as any user could possibly need. Unlike Firefox, Internet Explorer 7 offers the user much improved handling and sorting of RSS feeds. Combine this with improved security over older versions and you have a browser that does not break a sweat every time you are asked to visit a Website.

On the flip side, however, IE7 does lack the value when compared with Firefox's add-ons, those provided are generally created as lame freeware attempts at giving an appearance like IE7 has the kind of add-on offerings as seen with Firefox. This is simply not the case last time I looked. Not saying that there are not some that might be considered as noteworthy, but overall their selection is lacking.

IE7 is generally a decent enough browser. It provides guaranteed compatibility due to market share and with its latest security enhancements, it is safe enough to use.

Flock. Based on the code that makes up Firefox, there is no question that Flock is the best friend to writers, bloggers, social networking types and anyone else looking for something designed purely with the end-user experience in mind.

Designed to make Flickr, YouTube, social bookmarking and RSS something completely transparent, Flock generally feels like Firefox with better networking functionality. Certainly not for everyone, I would say there are some shortcomings to using Flock over Firefox, for instance. The biggest issue I have run into is not being able to use key add-ons that I would otherwise have no problem with on Firefox. This can definitely be quite frustrating.

If you are a blogger or someone who spends a lot of time on the social Web, Flock is a must have browser. If you are simply looking to check e-mail or do other non-social-type browsing activities, you might want to consider Opera, Firefox or IE7.

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