Browser choices

[Loafer]

Folks,

how many of you are still using Internet Explorer to browse the 'net?

I would recommending changing to Firefox from Mozilla - See below

“Beware of spyware. If you can, use the Firefox browser. (http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/computersecurity/2004-09-08-zombieinfect_x.htm)” - USA Today

“Better than Internet Explorer by leaps and bounds (http://www.forbes.com/2004/09/29/cx_ah_0929tentech.html?partner=tentech_newsletter) .” - FORBES


I swapped a while ago and never looked back. The only thing it seems to have problems with are occasionaly pages hosted by Microsoft (hotmail et al).

otherwise the benefits are enormous, plugins for search engines, dictionaries (useful for the non english amongst you)

tabbed browsing allowing you to open multiple pages in the same "window"

"Skins" allowing you customise the look and feel to your hearts content.

before it launched Mr Gates and his bunch had 98% of the broswer market WORLDWIDE, now after FF launched that has been reduced to 91%

it is really good, and just been updated - go get it.

www.getfirefox.com (http://www.getfirefox.com)

GO

Now

What are you waiting for?

[redkingjoe]

hey dude,

i did a quick "test run". seems to be good but i need more time trying...and learning

dear sSS and other computer experts,
since you are the experts in this field, any additional feedback?

thanks

[Loafer]

Anyone who does want to use this firefox browser and wants help or advice, drop me a line

[NeilNicholls]

I've used Firefox for quite a while.
I originally got it because it had a built-in pop-up blocker
tabs are good

[Drunk Penguin]

Opera is very good; it's certainly the fastest and most secure browser currently available on Winblows/Unix. Mouse movements also make browsing much more efficient - http://www.opera.com/features/mouse/

[Loafer]

Firefox also has the whole mouse movements thing going on!

gestures I believe they are called.

I could not live without tabbed browsing! how did i cope before? very much like my mobile phone and sky plus

[Phil McBride]

My sky+ box is still sitting in my cupboard after I bought it in August and never got it installed, now they won't because I payed £100 more than the current price and it's not the current deal :confused:

Even an independant installer will charge more to get the box installed rather than getting a new one from Sky, there is a £65 difference :confused:

I just don't get that one :confused: :confused: :confused:

[Shady]

Sell it on ebay and you could pick up a good few quid, they are now going for between £150 and £200 a box.

http://search.ebay.co.uk/sky-plus_Receivers_W0QQcatrefZC12QQfltZ9QQfromZR8QQfso oZ1QQfsopZ1QQsacatZ96969

:cool:

[redkingjoe]

Folks,

how many of you are still using Internet Explorer to browse the 'net?

I would recommending changing to Firefox from Mozilla - See below



By Dina Bass
April 7 (Bloomberg) -- Blake Ross, the 19-year-old who
created the Firefox Web browser in his parents' house in Miami,
has done something big software companies have sought to do for
years: capture market share from Microsoft Corp.
In the five months since Firefox was released, the program
has snared 5 percent of the market from Microsoft's Internet
Explorer, according to San Diego-based research firm Websidestory.
Microsoft has dominated the market since surpassing Netscape
Communications Corp. five years ago.
``I don't think I am Bill Gates' worst nightmare, but this is
a serious pride issue for Microsoft,'' said Ross, a Stanford
University sophomore who began work on Firefox two years ago while
doing an internship at Netscape.
Firefox, like the Linux operating system, is distributed
using a free, open-source model that lets anyone modify the
program. The growth of Firefox is a threat to Microsoft because it
could be used as the basis for programs that bypass Microsoft's
Windows operating system, which generates $11.5 billion in annual
sales, said Matt Rosoff, an analyst at Directions on Microsoft in
Kirkland, Washington.
Microsoft has responded to the growth of Firefox by speeding
up work on the next version of its Internet browser, said Rick
Sherlund, Goldman, Sachs & Co.'s software analyst in New York. The
new Internet Explorer will have more resistance to viruses and
other malicious programs.
Mike Nash, a Microsoft vice president, said the company is
accelerating its browser development to boost security. ``If you
look at the number of security vulnerabilities in Internet
Explorer versus Firefox, we feel very good about where we are,''
Nash, 42, said in a Feb. 15 interview. He wouldn't disclose
specific features of the next version.

`Cool Things'

About 30 million users have downloaded Firefox, and Ross
predicts the software will capture as much as 15 percent of the
browser market in the next year.
``Six months ago, I would have said the browser wars are
over,'' said Gary Barnett, an analyst at London-based researcher
Ovum. ``Now I have changed my tune. Firefox has not just cloned
Internet Explorer, they have done some cool things and out-
innovated Internet Explorer.''
Microsoft spends about $10 million and has a few dozen people
working on Internet Explorer, said Rosoff. That contrasts with
Netscape's prime, when Microsoft was devoting more than $100
million a year and 1,000 workers to Internet Explorer.
Firefox is faster to download than Redmond, Washington-based
Microsoft's Internet Explorer. Firefox blocks pop-up ads and lets
users quickly switch between different Web pages stored as tabs on
the top of the screen.

Market Share

Internet Explorer's U.S. market share fell to less than 90
percent in a February survey by Websidestory, the lowest in three
years, down from a high of 97 percent in March 2003. Firefox has
5.7 percent.
Investor concerns about slowing revenue growth, competition
with Linux and security flaws have damped gains in Microsoft
stock. The company's shares underperformed the Standard and Poor's
500 Index in seven of the past nine quarters. Microsoft has
forecast sales to rise as little as 8 percent for the year ended
June 30, the slowest growth in company history, down from an
average of 38 percent for every year in the 1990s.
Microsoft shares, down 7.7 percent this year, ended yesterday
up 20 cents at $24.67.

Security Flaws

The U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team, which tracks Web
security attacks, said in June that users could improve security
by switching from Internet Explorer.
Firefox has flaws. Symantec Corp. found Firefox had 21
security flaws compared with 13 for Internet Explorer between July
1 and Dec. 31. Internet Explorer had more ``high severity
vulnerabilities,'' Symantec said.
When Microsoft first released Internet Explorer in August
1995, Netscape controlled 80 percent of the market. Microsoft
hobbled Netscape by striking contracts with Internet service
providers, requiring them to feature Internet Explorer instead of
Netscape. America Online bought Netscape for $9.8 billion in 1999,
and then Time Warner Inc. bought AOL.
Ross got his start at age 14 finding and fixing bugs for
Netscape out of his parent's home. By age 17, he was in his second
year as a Netscape intern when he began to tinker with the code in
the company's Mozilla browser along with co-worker David Hyatt.
The effort eventually resulted in Firefox.
Ross next met with directors from the Mozilla Foundation, a
new non-profit started by former Netscape employees with the
financial backing of Oracle Corp. and International Business
Machines Corp. Sitting around a picnic table outside Netscape's
Mountain View, California headquarters, the group agreed on a plan
to back and distribute Firefox.

Growing Popularity

Firefox became popular with people including Daniel
Camputaro, a software developer at telephone company Verizon
Communications Inc. in Howell, New Jersey, who were concerned
about security. Camputaro started using Firefox two years ago when
the program was still in testing.
``Internet Explorer has a very big problem with security, and
Microsoft refuses to fix the issues,'' said Camputaro, 27. ``You
are exposing your computer to all kinds of nasty stuff. Firefox
filters out most of that.''
Firefox will have to move from ``evangelizing to the sandals
and start evangelizing to the suits'' to sustain growth, Ovum's
Barnett said.
Mozilla marketing manager Rafael Ebron, 28, says that the
word about Firefox is spreading. He said he spent the time on a
flight in February to San Jose explaining Firefox to fellow
passengers and handing around his ``Guide to Firefox.''
Ross is leading the effort to promote Firefox through the
spreadfirefox.com Web site, which has organized 70,000 volunteers
to spread the word on college campuses. He is enlisting Web page
creators to track how many visitors to their sites use Firefox.
``We don't want to dominate; we just want enough share to
make sure that there's a choice,'' said Ross, seated in a
Starbucks Corp. coffee house a mile from his third-floor dorm
room. ``Anybody who thinks Microsoft will keep innovating if they
quell us is silly. They won't do anything unless we push them.

[Drunk Penguin]

It always amuses me when people complain about how slow, insecure etc Internet Explorer is; you put Windows on your computer, what do you expect? It's no worse than the Operating System.

[Loafer]

funny,


i was not complaining, just saying i found firefox better
and my IT department put windows on this, not me

:)

[Ikigai]

Just something you might check out id 'Deepnet Explorer', at (yes you guessed!) www.deepnetexplorer.com

The browswer uses the IE rendering engine (so catering for all those who code for IE rather than the standards) but is attempting to take the security more seriously than Redmond (Microsoft) and doing the other code itself.

A compromise, maybe but I think well worth investigation...

jon