COMGT TEST CENTER
Our lab include a variety of platforms that can be combined per your specific requirements (e.g.):
| Operating Systems | Web Browsers | Media Players and Technologies | |
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Operating Systems |
top | Operating Systems | Web Browsers | Media Players and Technologies | Email |
(Section last updated in January 2016.)
| Operating System | Released | Lab State |
Primary Browser |
Common Sec./Alt. |
Additional Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mac | Apple Mac OX 9 | 1999 Oct | arch | n/a | ||
| Apple Mac OS X v10.0 ("Cheetah") | 2001 Mar | arch | n/a | n/a | ||
| Apple Mac OS X v10.1 ("Puma") | 2001 Sep | arch | n/a | n/a | ||
| Apple Mac OS X v10.2 ("Jaguar") | 2002 Aug | arch | n/a | n/a | ||
| Apple Mac OS X v10.3 ("Panther") | 2003 Oct | arch | Safari1,IE5 | IE5,Firefox2 | IE5 was part of std distr. (we believe) | |
| Apple Mac OS X v10.4 ("Tiger") | 2005 Apr | arch | Safari 2 | Firefox2 | ||
| Apple Mac OS X v10.5 ("Leopard") | 2007 Oct | std | Safari 3 | Firefox2,3 | ||
| Apple Mac OS X v10.6 ("Snow Leopard") | 2009 Aug | arch | Safari 4 | Firefox3.x | ||
| Apple Mac OS X v10.7 ("Lion") | 2011 Jul | arch | Safari 5.1 | Firefox | ||
| Apple Mac OS X v10.8 ("Mountain Lion") | 2012 Jul | arch | Safari 6 | Chrome,FF | ||
| Apple Mac OS X v10.9 ("Mavericks") | 2013 Oct | arch | Safari 7 | Chrome,FF | ||
| Apple Mac OS X v10.10 ("Yosemite") | 2014 Oct | std | Safari 8 | Chrome,FF | ||
| Apple Mac OS X v10.11 ("El Capitan") | 2015 Sep | std* | Safari 9 | Chrome,FF | *) NOT using on primary computers! Drivers for MS Ergonomic keyboard doesn't work any longer! Be cautious with installing 10.11. |
|
| Linux | Linux - Debian, Ubuntu, and other distros | varies | ask | Firefox,... | ||
| MS Windows | MS Windows 98 ("Memphis") | 1998 Jun | arch | IE5,IE5.5 | Firefox2 | |
| MS Windows Me ("Millennium") | 2000 Sep | arch | IE5,IE5.5 | Firefox2 | ||
| MS Windows 2000 (n/a1) | 2000 Feb | arch | IE5,IE5.5 | Firefox2 | ||
| MS Windows XP ("Whistler") | 2001 Oct | std | IE6 | Firefox2 | ||
| MS Windows Vista ("Longhorn") | 2006 Nov | tbd | IE7 | Firefox2,3 | slow adaptation by the market | |
| MS Windows 7 ("Blackcomb", "Vienna") | 2009 Oct1 | ask | IE8 | 1Retail | ||
| MS Windows 8 | 2012 Aug | not | IE10 | |||
| MS Windows 10 ("Blackcomb", "Vienna") | 2015 Jul | ask | Edge (+IE11) | |||
| SUN | Sun OpenSolaris | tbd |
Legend: Colors indicate to what degree we at COMGT support this - NOT to what degree the original manufacturer supports it.
| Red: older release, or something we don't support for other reason. Normally not supported (possible to setup on demand) |
Yellow: older release. Some support. |
Green: current release. Supported. |
Purple: test release. May support. |
Blue: Future release Not supported yet. |
White: tbd / multiple |
1 Windows code names from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_codenames.
Also: PDAs: Palm OS, Windows Mobile, iPhone
Web Browsers |
top | Operating Systems | Web Browsers | Media Players and Technologies | Email |
(Section last updated in January 2016.)
Note: we are not updating this list too often but rest assure we always have the most commonly used browsers in our test center.
For some own browser tests, check out our Browser Tests area.
It has becoming increasingly difficult to keep lists like this up to date as multiple browser developers has moved into a very gear with releases... (E.g. Firefox went from v4 to v7 from March to October 2011, Chrome was version 10 in March 2011 and is now - Nov 2011 - working on releasing v17.)
| Browser Family | Developer | Version | Released | Mac OS X | MS Windows | Linux | other | Additional Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Firefox | Mozilla Foundation | Firefox 1.0 | 2004 Nov | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No longer supported |
| Firefox 1.5 | 2005 Nov | -"- | -"- | -"- | -"- | No longer supported | ||
| Firefox 2.0 | 2006 Oct | -"- | -"- | -"- | -"- | No longer supported | ||
| Firefox 3.0 | 2008 Jun | -"- | -"- | -"- | -"- | Test release (Feb'08) | ||
| Firefox 3.6 | 2010 Jan | -"- | -"- | -"- | -"- | |||
| Firefox 4 | 2011 | -"- | -"- | -"- | -"- | Release Candidate Mar 2011 | ||
| Firefox | - | -"- | -"- | -"- | -"- | We're always keeping up with FF. | ||
| Internet Explorer | Microsoft | IE 5 | 1999 Mar | Yes | Yes | No | No | No longer supported |
| IE 5.5 | 2000 Jul | No | -"- | No | No | No longer supported | ||
| IE 6 | 2001 Aug | No | -"- | No | No | Old release, still common but really, really, should be replaced | ||
| IE 7 | 2006 Oct | No | -"- | No | No | Still very common | ||
| IE 8 | 2009 Mar | No | -"- | No | No | Was in development for a long time; was expected in 2008 wasn't released until Spring 2009. | ||
| IE 9 | 2011 Mar | No | -"- | No | No | |||
| IE ... | No | -"- | No | No | If using IE, we're always using latest. | |||
| Safari | Apple | Safari 1 | 2003 Jun | 10.3 | No(?) | No | No | Only Safari available for 10.3 |
| Safari 2 | 2005 Apr | 10.4,min | - | -"- | -"- | |||
| Safari 3 | 2007 Jun | 10.4,min | XP & Vista | -"- | -"- | |||
| Safari 4 | 2009 Jun | 10.4,min | Yes | -"- | -"- | |||
| Safari 5 | 2010 Jun | 10.4,min | Yes | -"- | -"- | Public beta (per Mar '09) | ||
| Safari .. | We're always keeping up with Safari. | |||||||
| Chrome | Chrome 5 | 2010 Mar | 10.5,min | XP & later | Yes | No | Rising market share (3rd pos Mar 2010) | |
| Chrome 10* | 2011 Mar | Yes | Yes | Yes | -"- | "* Don't expect this list to show latest Chrome... Google has a very aggressive release schedule and both v11 and v12 is expected soon after March 2011." [Mar'11] | ||
| Chrome .. | - | Yes | Yes | Yes | -"- | We're always keeping up with Chrome. |
Legend: Colors indicate to what degree we at COMGT support this - NOT to what degree the original manufacturer supports it.
| Red: older release, or something we don't support for other reason. Normally not supported (possible to setup on demand) |
Yellow: older release. Some support. |
Green: current release. Supported. |
Purple: test release. May support. |
Blue: Future release Not supported yet. |
White: tbd / multiple |
- Firefox: THE choice for any user who want anything more but vanilla! Fast, standard-compliant, extendible, supported on many platforms.
- Internet Explorer: only for MS Windows users and we still recommend getting Firefox (add-ons!).
- Internet Explorer 9: An Early Look http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2361444,00.asp (2010-03-16)
- Safari: from Apple exist for both Apple Mac OS X and MS Windows operating systems (no other, sorry Linux - people).
- See also en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_web_browsers, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_web_browsers.
- Market shares: http://www.netmarketshare.com/browser-market-share.aspx?qprid=0
Media Players and Technologies |
top | Operating Systems | Web Browsers | Media Players and Technologies | Email |
(Section last updated in January 2016.)
With underlying technologies improving, and simplifying web-based use, we're nowadays focusing on
- HTML5-supported audio and video
- Essentially stopped both development and general use of Adobe Flash!
- Due to the never-ending patches for security problems.
- Typically disable Flash completely in all web browsers (e.g. Chrome and Safari), but one (FF, for AV-use)
(Table below from March 2011.)
| Framework, Player | Developer | Version | Initial Release |
Mac OS X | MS Windows | Linux | other | Additional Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| QuickTime Player | Apple | QT 7 | 2005 | std | Yes/DL | - | - | Current generation (also 2010; QT X, next, is only 10.6 |
| QT X1 | 2009 | std | no | - | - | 1Pronounced 'QuickTime Ten'. | ||
| QT 10.1 | 2011 | Std | tbd | - | - | W/ Mac OS X 10.7, "Lion" | ||
| QT .. | std | Yes/DL | ? | ? | Always keeping up with QT. | |||
| Windows Media Player | Microsoft | v9 | 2003 | Yes | 98/Me/2000 | - | - | |
| v10 | 2004 | no | XP | - | - | |||
| v11 | 2006 | no1 | XP, Vista | - | - | 1 3rd party solutions exist that allows playing, editing | ||
| v12 | 2009 | -"- | Windows 7 | - | - | |||
| .. | Typically keeping up on WMP/corresponding from MS | |||||||
| Flash | Adobe (old) |
v9 (CS3) | 2007 | yes | yes | yes | yes | |
| v10 (CS4) | 2008 | std/ Safari |
std/IE6,IE7 | yes | yes | (Mar 2010: v10 is still latest version) | ||
| v10.1 (CS5) | 2011 | yes | yes | yes | yes | |||
| lastest | - | Yes | Yes | Yes | varies | We've basically stopped using Flash. But, if ever, always using latest (a must - to keep up with patches). | ||
| May change though not seeing any reason now. | ||||||||
| Silverlight | Microsoft | v3 | 2009 Mar | Yes | Yes | no | no | |
| v4 | 2010 Apr | yes | yes | ? | ? | |||
| v5 | (2011) | tbd | yes | ? | ? | |||
| .. | Typically keeping up on WMP/corresponding from MS | |||||||
| Other...: | ||||||||
| Real Player | don't care | don't care | yeah... | yeah... | ? | ? | Avoid it!! We believe it's hard to find a more bloated and messed-up software. |
Legend: Colors indicate to what degree we at COMGT support this - NOT to what degree the original manufacturer supports it.
| Red: older release, or something we don't support for other reason. Normally not supported (possible to setup on demand) |
Yellow: older release. Some support. |
Green: current release. Supported. |
Purple: test release. May support. |
Blue: Future release Not supported yet. |
White: tbd / multiple |
Test Cases
Which platforms to focus on depend on which market you want to reach, what software your anticipated users will have.
See also our web statistics section for additional information.
For developers and tester - an example of checklist with permutations of operating systems, browsers, and media platforms that should be considered.
| Case | OS | Browser | Media Platform | Test Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | MS Windows | IE 7 | Windows Media | |
| 2 | -"- | -"- | Flash | |
| 3 | -"- | -"- | QuickTime | |
| 4 | -"- | IE 8 | Windows Media | |
| 5 | -"- | -"- | Flash | |
| 6 | -"- | -"- | QuickTime | |
| 7 | -"- | Firefox | Windows Media | |
| 8 | -"- | -"- | Flash | |
| 9 | -"- | -"- | QuickTime | |
| 10 | -"- | Chrome | Windows Media | |
| 11 | -"- | -"- | Flash | |
| 12 | -"- | -"- | QuickTime | |
| 13 | -"- | Safari | Windows Media | |
| 14 | -"- | -"- | Flash | |
| 15 | -"- | -"- | QuickTime | |
| 16 | -"- | IE 61 | Windows Media | |
| 17 | -"- | -"- | Flash | |
| 18 | -"- | -"- | QuickTime | |
| 19 | Macintosh | Safari | QuickTime | |
| 20 | -"- | -"- | Flash | |
| 21 | -"- | -"- | (Windows Media) | |
| 22 | -"- | Firefox | QuickTime | |
| 23 | -"- | -"- | Flash | |
| 24 | -"- | -"- | (Windows Media) | |
| 25 | -"- | Chrome | QuickTime | |
| 26 | -"- | -"- | Flash | |
| 27 | -"- | -"- | (Windows Media) | |
| 1 If continue support this ancient and dangerous browser | ||||
| Then if want to support mobile platforms... | ||||
| 28 | iPhone | Safari | QuickTime (no flash) | |
| 29 | iPad (larger screen | Safari | QuickTime (no flash) | |
| 30 | Android | Flash, ... | ||
| 31 | Windows Mobile | ? | ? | |
| 32 | RIM | ? | ? | |
| 33 | Symbian | ? | ? | |
| ... | ||||
| top | Operating Systems | Web Browsers | Media Players and Technologies | Email |
(Section last updated in January 2016.)
| Platform | Platform / Application | cost | more | |
| Apple Mac OS X | Mail (Apple) | Included in Mac OS X www.apple.com/macosx/features/mail.html |
free | below |
| Outlook (MS; and older Entourage) | Part of MS Office for Mac, can't be bought separately http://www.microsoft.com/mac/default.mspx |
$$$ | below | |
| Thunderbird | Open source, multi-platform, email client www.mozilla.com/en-US/thunderbird/ |
free | below | |
| Microsoft Windows | unless specifically noted, for more info, go to www.microsoft.com. | |||
| Outlook Express | Included in MS Windows. | free | ||
| Windows Mail | Part of MS Windows Vista; successor to Outlook Express | free | ||
| Microsoft Outlook | Part of MS Office, can also be bought separately www.microsoft.com/outlook. |
$$$ | below | |
| Linux/Multi-platform | Thunderbird | Open source, multi-platform, email client www.mozilla.com/en-US/thunderbird/ |
free | below |
Comparison of E-mail Clients: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_e-mail_clients.
Eudora, which once was a fairly popular email client, is no longer developed (since 2006) and Qualcomm now refer to Mozilla for email client software. www.eudora.com. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eudora_%28e-mail_client%29.
Mac OS X Hints - May 2007 - Send long URLs via e-mail www.macworld.com/article/57245/2007/04/may07osxhints.html
Apple Mail.app (Mac OS X only)
Two options for formatting: Plain Text and Rich Text (default). As far as researched so far, unfortunately Apple's choice of terminology seems to be a bit confusing - the Rich Text format seem to create HTML-formatted emails, and Apple Mail's Rich Text is not the same as Rich Text as in Microsoft Outlook.
Email received sent in Apple Mail with its Rich Text format selected:
--Apple-Mail-5--678064959
Content-Type: text/html;
charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Read More:
- Mac OS X Mail: Plain Text Compared to Rich Text (RTF), docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106189, Last Modified on: January 03, 2008 (per 2008-04-05)
- Mail (application), en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mail_(application).
- HTML - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTML
- Googling ' rich text format Apple Mail ' www.google.com/search?q=rich+text+format+Apple+Mail.
- Googling ' mail applications mac os x ' www.google.com/search?q=mail+applications+mac+os+x
Microsoft Entourage (part of MS Office up to Office 2008 for Mac, Mac OS only)
Selectable Mail Formats: Plain Text and HTML.
Selectable Encodings:
- Any Computer (AppleDouble)
- Macintosh (BinHex)
- Windows (MIME/Base64)
- UNIX (UUEncode)
Microsoft Outlook (Mac, MS Windows only before MS Office 2011 for Mac)
| Format | Description, Comments | MIME Type |
|---|---|---|
| Text | Plain text can be read by anyone but does not contain any formatting |
text/plain |
| HTML | HTML messages can contain formatting and are compatible with most e-mail readers. (HTML = Hypertext Markup Language) | text/html |
| Rich Text | NEVER USE (i.e. on MS Windows, select Text or HTML as default format). Rich Text messages can contain formatting but are only compatible with Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Exchange [on MS Windows]. (Descriptive text as described in MS Outlook itself.) | text/rtf |
- Outlook at Microsoft: www.microsoft.com/outlook.
- Windows Mail (Vista) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Mail
Mozilla Thunderbird (multi-platform)
Open source, multi-platform, email client
Updated 2016-01-16