Internet Explorer: Fewer Bugs Than Firefox?

So, which Web browser has the most software bugs: Google Chrome, Microsoft Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox? uTest, a fast-growing marketplace for software testing, uncovered some rather intriguing answers. Here’s the scoop, from The VAR Guy.

More than 1300 software testers from 68 countries recently participated in uTest‘s Battle of the Browsers competition. The uTest community found:

So which Web browser was the buggiest? Apparently, Firefox 3.1 — though it’s important to note that Firefox had the most number of testers hunting bugs during the contest. In theory, the more testers you have the more bugs you’ll find. Here are some quick stats on each browser:

Of course, the findings above aren’t exactly scientific results. But The VAR Guy was impressed to see Internet Explorer with comparatively few bugs. (Here’s uTest’s complete recap of the Browser of the Browser bug hunt.)

On Demand Bug Hunters

Still, there’s a bigger story or trend here. During the economic slowdown, many software companies will struggle to maintain their internal bug-testing staffs. On the flip side, novice external testers can either slow down a beta process or fail to properly document bugs for software companies.

Enter uTest, which could serve as an on-demand marketplace for software companies that need to polish their code but either (A) can’t afford a massive, internal code-testing team or (B) don’t have a loyal user base willing to test beta code. uTest potentially fills that void, marrying software companies with beta addicts who love hunting bugs.

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