Bump!
Posted on 01/24/2005 4:31:29 PM PST by holymoly
(COMPUTERWORLD) - There has been a lot of buzz in the past few months over the arrival of Firefox, the open-source browser published by The Mozilla Foundation, and how Microsoft's Internet Explorer is starting to lose some of its share of the browser market to this new competitor. Out of the ashes of Netscape, Mozilla has built a solid browser that supports features such as tabbed views, Google for native searches and direct support for RSS feeds. But business users need to think twice about making the switch from Internet Explorer, since Firefox lacks the ability to run Microsoft ActiveX code.
When Microsoft integrated Internet Explorer tightly with its operating systems and allowed the browser to execute Windows code, it created a double-edged sword. On one hand, a new class of richer Web-based applications could be created, allowing for a far more interactive Web experience. Unfortunately, opportunities for hackers to exploit this feature and execute malicious code on users' machines have been abundant. The result has been a security nightmare for IT organizations, which must deal with an endless series of patches and fixes from Microsoft to preserve their online safety.
Firefox was released into a browser market that hadn't been very active or innovative since Netscape's decline. Lacking strong competition, Internet Explorer was no longer a strategic product for Microsoft, and few resources were devoted to it, other than those needed to fix bugs and security holes. This left the market open for the Mozilla team to create its user-friendly and secure browser.
The reception that Firefox has received from consumers and the press might tempt business users to switch browsers, but there are some good reasons not to. Many mission-critical applications have been built on Internet Explorer, and most organizations don't have the budget or resources to recode them. In addition, PCs' application loads need to be properly tested to ensure that nothing breaks with the addition of a different browser. In the near term, many business users will be better served by keeping Internet Explorer and installing security updates as they're released. If they aren't dependent on Internet Explorer technology, however, some end users could use Firefox for their daily Web surfing while reserving Internet Explorer use for sites that require it.
Despite the factors that should keep many business users from adopting Firefox at the expense of Internet Explorer, I believe this new browser is going to be a force for positive change in the industry. There's no doubt that Firefox resonates with end users. Microsoft's lack of ambition in driving browser development forward, combined with the multitude of security issues associated with Internet Explorer, fostered an environment where Firefox could flourish.
Although the 21st century browser wars don't have nearly as much at stake as the Netscape/IE skirmish -- that sort of intensity is reserved today for things like desktop search, where there's money to be made -- a more competitive browser market could be developing.
If Microsoft is spurred by Firefox's success to put more resources into Internet Explorer, it would help create a better experience for both businesses and consumers. That might even happen before Longhorn ships.
Silly silly silly. Adopting Firefox does NOT mean IE goes away. It is built in, and not really removable.
And the inability to run ActiveX is in most cases a virtue, not a vice.
Did the mark this "Special Advertisment Section" like they do in PC World?
Bump!
Fixed bugs only after a certain number of people reported one.
And people still don't understand why a monopoly is bad for the market?
I downloaded Firefox a month ago and never looked back.
The tabbed browser feature is fantastic, and the nifty bandwidth tester plugin is great.
I also love the automatic popup blocker.
All in all, a worthwhile investment-
Oh wait, it's FREE!
In the last year, since switching to FF, I have only had to use IE once for AXC.
If I was into conspiracies, I would think that Microcrap developed the problems with IE just to keep the computer market active and growing.
Running Opera for literally years now, and ATGuard as the firewall. Wish I could figure out a way to implement the ATGuard functions in Linux -I would switch this machine over in a heartbeat. Need to run some CAD programs on the other machines and they only work in a 'Doze environment, otherwise I would work totally in Linux.
There are many who believe that MS and Norton and McAfee, et al, have a major hand in all the spyware and viruses. It's kind of like all those outfits such as Easter Seals and the Cancer Society. Do you really believe they want to "eradicate" what they're in business for?
MS finally puts it's name to a piece of anti-spyware, and what's the first thing it does? It strips away protection for the untold millions upon millions of 9x users, which the program had before MS took over. I'm not one to believe in global warming or little green men who favor strawberry ice cream, yet what kind of message did MS send?
I use Firefox and Thunderbird and I'm not all that pleased with them. I used to use Netscape, so I'm familiar with how they work.
The problem I have is that they won't stay out of my prefetch windows directory and when I close them, they remain active(sometimes in multiples!). I have to open the task manager and stop the process to get them to close completely.
I've spent a lot of time on Mozilla support forums and no one has a definitive answer as to why this keeps happening.
I DO like the addition of spoofstick, though. Tells you a lot of info but takes up very little space.
I don't see how since IE is built in to windoze. You can't rewite IE without rewriting the OS.
It was a stupid idea to integrate IE and the OS. When I first heard about MS' proposal on ActiveX as their answer to Java, I knew it was a bad idea and MS didn't let my intuition down.
Ain't dat da troot!
Evidently Microsoft believes in 'planned obsolescence' because it keeps their market moving.
I haven't switched to Firefox from Mozilla because I'm not certain if I want a separate email program. Is Firefox plus Thunderbird all that much better than the Mozilla Suite?
I still have my MSN email address (kept it active when I went to another provider), but I just use it as a throw-down when I need to send an email address and am afraid I might be spammed.
Wow, I'm scared now. I'll bet MS doesn't take out big ads in this magazine, or anything.
I'm sorry.. if you have mission-critical applications that depend on IE.. then you didn't plan very well. Almost all major web based business applications are designed to be platform independent. That means Linux.. and that also means browsers other than IE.
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