Breakdown of Несомненно, их новые программы работают быстрее, чем мы думали.
мы
we
новый
new
работать
to work
думать
to think
Questions & Answers about Несомненно, их новые программы работают быстрее, чем мы думали.
How strong of a statement is несомненно compared to other parenthetical words in this lesson?
Несомненно (literally "without a doubt") expresses a very high degree of certainty. It is stronger than конечно (of course) and much stronger than наверное (probably) or возможно (possibly). It tells the listener that the speaker considers this a strict fact.
Is the comma after несомненно grammatically required?
Yes. In Russian, introductory parenthetical words expressing certainty, doubt, or subjective attitude must be set off by commas. If you moved несомненно to the middle of the sentence, it would need commas on both sides, for example: Их новые программы, несомненно, работают быстрее.
Why do we use чем for the comparison here instead of just using the genitive case?
You can only use the genitive case shortcut for comparisons when comparing against a simple noun or pronoun (like быстрее нас for "faster than us"). Here, you are comparing the speed against an entire action or clause (мы думали). Whenever the second half of a comparison includes a verb, you must use чем.
Since we are talking about "their" programs, why don't we use the reflexive pronoun свои?