I've been using Firefox for about two weeks and give it high marks. Pages load faster that they do in IE6, popups are suppressed.

Even better, however, is Mozilla's mail client, Thunderbird. Its spam filters really work. Yay!

I'm a linux user, so IE was never a choice for me anyway, but firefox (under fedora core 3) crashes routinely still, so I don't give it high marks.

Browsers are so '90s.

Firefox has a slightly better interface thatn IE, and since it has low numbers of users it benefits from the anti-network effect.

What I mean is that virus' are written to exploit IE since 95% of people use them. Just like virus' are written to exploit MS Outlook.

Raoul,

I'm not an IT guy. I just pick stuff up when it comes to my attention.

If browsers are so '90s, would you tell me what I might look for now that we're in the '00s?

AML: Partly true, but it's much more relevant that the Mozilla folks take security (and web standards) seriously. It's a much better browser, at least for the Windows platform, than IE.

I've resisted the upgrade to 1.0 final until the Qute theme was updated, but now that it has been, no reason to hold back. :)

And be sure to check out the extensions for Firefox when you do upgrade. Many of them are quite useful.

I'm only good at spotting trends once they've ended, which explains my present financial situation.

Because in most people's minds Computer = GatesBox = GatesOS and Browser = WWW = Internet Explorer, people never get upset over where the problem lies. The real problem is that browsers were never intended to be an operating system interface, the common face that all applications present to the world. It was that decision by the folks at the Evil Software Empire, through the use of ActiveX controls and bundling in Outlook and such, which lead to all the problems. Note that most of the problems that people attribute to browsers rarely occur on other operating systems or even other browsers under GatesOS if they avoid Internet Explorer (Windows).

For example-- "spam filters" are a function of mail programs and protocols, and should have absolutely nothing to do with browsers. But someone at a certain company got the idea of adding their mail program to the browser as a marketing gimmick, and so now everyone expects those functions on a "browser".

Maybe its because I'm outside that universe, that I can't get excited by "Yet Another Browser". To me its much more important that all the browsers finally start to display the data (the task they were originally intended to do) in a consistent and proper manner.

I've downloaded Firefox also. Question - I have to log onto the Internet by using AOL software, once I'm connected I can use the AOL browser or any browser I choose. Will the Firefox security features work the same way even if I'm connected via AOL?

Mr. Ortega;

By "Evil Software Empire" I presume that you mean Netscape? They, after all, were the ones how originally pushed the "browser as desktop" idea. Microsoft, as is its wont, simply copied them later after they'd been crushed.

I understand that Mozilla takes security seriously, but its not that MS doesn't either. One problem that MS has, is that because of its dominance in the marketplace, many many many more people gang up on it trying to find and exploit flaws.

No matter how good you are, you haven't thought of everything.

If MS is guilty of anything its that they don't roll out security fixes more quickly.

And MS isnt good.

Thanks to a recent post here I recently downloaded Mozilla, and found it a slightly better version of Safari, the Apple browser.

Now if I could only find a way to export my bookmarks from Safari to Mozilla...

Whenever this subject comes up, I download Firefox and give it a whirl. I don't hate it, but it's no IE.

Robert:

I don't think it will make any difference.

Robert, if you can use any browser, it won't change the way Firefox works. A lot of Firefox's security comes from what it doesn't do, things that let the website you're visiting control your computer (ActiveX in particular).

Firefox has some minor problems, but it beats IE hands down. (And there's an extension to open links in IE, if worse comes to worse.) I haven't even thought about pop-ups/redirected home pages in years. And I will never do without tabbed browsing again, I don't know how I surfed blogs without it.

AML: Firefox and Mozilla have some distinct interface improvements over IE.

1. Built in pop-up blocking that works. I have used versions of the browser for a couple of years and have not seen a pop-up in that time.

2. Tabbed Browsing. learn to use it. set the preferences to open tabs in the backround. You can right click links while you are reading a page. The linked page will open as a tab in the backround. when you finish reading the page you can click on the tab and see the linked page without losing the original page or your place in it.

3. Find as you type. If this option is active. typing a few letters will cause them to be highlighted in the active browser window. you can repeat the search by pressing control-G. Confronted with a page of junk like yahoo and need to find the search link. just type s e a r c h. the word is highlighted and all you need to do is hit enter.

Security -- its not just obscurity. Firefox does not use Micro$oft "ActiveX" controls whcich are powerful because they can accsess any part of the computer without limit and which are insecure because they can accsess any part of the computer without limit

Bret: I am not a Linux wizard, but you might want to try the Mozilla sutie 1.7.3 instead of Fire fox. Moz is a more mature product. It might not have all the bells and whistels that FF does, but it has 95% of them.

Even if the browser was never meant to be the interface, it is. A lot of stuff is moving that way. You carry the interface around and plug it in. Firefox, Safari, IE, PalmOS; all brands with special features. Just like well, cars. I love it! I got IE for work, Firefox for recreation and Safari for when I'm too cool.

Yeah, I haven't figured out the tabbed browser stuff yet, but I really am a fan of Firefox thus far.