Firefox 1.0
Almost one week ago Firefox 1.0 was released by The Mozilla Organization. I ask that all readers of this Web site take a moment to download the latest version of this browser, and move away from Internet Explorer. I’m asking you to do this for some very good reasons. So if you’d like to take my word for it, go head and download it, otherwise read on.
Firefox is a program called a “browser”, much like Internet Explorer (that blue ‘E’ on your desktop) is. A browser allows for you to browse the Web and save favorites/bookmarks to Web sites you’d like to visit again. Conceptually, Firefox is no different than Internet Explorer. However, it’s what’s “under-the-hood” that matters most.
Firefox was derived from a version of Netscape. Netscape is also a browser, which most of you have probably heard of. Back in the 90’s there was a “Browser War” between Internet Explorer and Netscape which IE ended up the victor.
Firefox is now an Open Source project headed by The Mozilla Organization. Being Open Source means that Firefox is developed by a fairly large group of volunteers all who are working to provide updates to the programming code behind the program. Call it a labor of love.
Why not just improve upon Internet Explorer? Ask Microsoft that question, Web site developers have been for years. Firefox’s rendering engine, which is the core of a browser used to display Web pages to viewers, is far superior to Internet Explorer’s. Making it easier for Web site developers to create powerful, beautifully designed Web sites in a shorter period of time. It also helps guarantee, to the developer, that all users will see the Web site in the same way. Something that has plagued the Internet for far too long.
A bit beyond the core
As mentioned above, Internet Explorer and Firefox are very similar products when broken down into their core functions. However, Firefox leaves Internet Explorer in the proverbial dust with features that go above and beyond the average browser feature-set.
Today’s Internet is not the same one we used to browse in mid-to-late 1990’s. Pop-ups, embedded objects, advertisements, automatic installers, etc. run rampant on the Internet as we know it today. For this reason, Firefox has many built in features to protect it’s users from seeing unwanted materials, as well as keeping them safe from potentially damaging ill-constructed Web sites.
Firefox comes with a built-in pop-up blocker, a way to block banner ads from any particular server (which is great in blocking pornographic material), and will not allow Web sites to execute code on your computer with your expressed permission. All of these features Internet Explorer either does not do, or is only handled by some 3rd-party piece of software which is usually Spyware anyway.
Add more, if you want
Firefox also has the ability to add even more features by using Extensions, which can be developed by 3rd-party developers. Several extensions are available for Firefox already, and more are added all the time. Some of the extensions are useful, others are fun. Either way, it’s your choice to install them or not, unlike Internet Explorer - which forces you to use whatever is installed and doesn’t leave much room for growth.
If you don’t like the way Firefox looks, you can change it. That’s right, Firefox is skinnable - which means that it’s general appearance can be changed simply by downloading a “theme” for it. Firefox has a few really nice themes, and are worth playing with especially if you’re into that kind of thing. If you don’t think skinning is something that is worth your time and energy, I think you’ll find the default theme rather pleasing to the eye, in comparison to IE.
The ability to uninstall
If you find, for reasons passing comprehension, that you no longer would like to use Firefox as your default browser, you have choices. You can either set IE as your default browser again, or you can uninstall Firefox altogether.
Using IE right now? Go ahead and uninstall it. Go ahead, I’ll wait.
No? So sorry, Microsoft has you by the pants.
Anyways, needless reiteration to follow: You can uninstall Firefox whenever you’d like.
It’s free
You might be saying that Internet Explorer is free. Well really you’re wrong. Didn’t you pay a little bit over $129.99 for Windows/Mac OS X already? So, consider IE part of the bundle. Oh, and IE is no longer being updated for the Macintosh Operating System. Meanwhile Firefox is free to download for most Operating Systems.
You have absolutely nothing to lose if you should choose to move to Firefox. Your choice to switch will inevitably change the way the Internet is today. Web sites featuring malicious code, incredibly annoying pop-ups, and banner ads for Viagra will eventually go the way of the Dinosaur. The faster you choose to switch, the quicker the Internet will become, yet again, a safe place for our children to research the collective knowledge of mankind.
Download Firefox today, and save a developers life.
Note: This article was written purely to educate the readers of TUG.n on possible alternatives to Microsoft’s, now inferior, Web browser. More information can be derived by visiting the Mozilla Organziation’s Web site.
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