Posted on 01/04/2005 4:26:26 PM PST by Coleus
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Is this internet prodigy about to knock Microsoft off its pedestal? A Miami teenager has created a free web browser that has been called Bill Gates's worst nightmare |
A MIAMI teenager is basking in the glory of helping to create a new internet browser at 17 that is now challenging the grip of Microsoft, which once held a virtual monopoly on web surfing.
Computer analysts say that Blake Ross’s browser, Firefox, is a faster, more versatile program that also offers better protection from viruses and unwanted advertising.
Industry experts have dubbed the new software “Microsoft’s worst nightmare”, according to the technology magazine Business 2.0. It hailed Mr Ross, now 19, as a software prodigy. He is also a talented pianist and “an unbelievable creative writer”, according to his mother, Ross. “Anything he does, he does well,” she said.
As a seven-year-old Mr Ross became hooked on the popular computer game SimCity, designing and budgeting his own virtual city. By 10, he had created his own website. He later created his own computer applications and online text games.Soon he was reporting computer software flaws to manufacturers online.
At 14 he was offered an internship at Netscape in Silicon Valley. His mother drove him out to California for three summers in succession.
At Netscape, Mr Ross was introduced to the Mozilla Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation that promotes “choice and innovation on the web”.
Mozilla was already trying to develop an open-source alternative browser to Microsoft’s Explorer, which many analysts felt had grown clumsy and outdated. Mr Ross and his friend David Hyatt began working on a small, user-focused browser. What began as an experimental side-project turned into Firefox.
Mr Ross is quick to point out that he was one of a large team at Mozilla who worked on the project for five years. “It’s a big volunteer effort,” he said. In fact, the pair left before the work was completed, but Mozilla credits them with making the breakthrough. After he left to go to university, Mr Ross continued to be a “significant contributor”, according to Mozilla.
The task involved throwing out all the old codes and rewriting the entire system so it would support all websites on the internet. While Firefox still has a long way to go to rival Microsoft, it seems to be catching on. Firefox has received dazzling reviews from industry analysts. Recently some 10,000 Firefox fans raised $250,000 (£131,000) to take out a two-page advertisement in The New York Times. It is not just in dividual users who are taking interest. In December, the information technology department at Pennsylvania State University sent a note to college deans recommending that the entire 100,000-strong staff, faculty and student body switch to Firefox.
Mr Ross, now a student at Stanford University studying computer science, is taking it all in his stride. As a volunteer on an open-source product, there was no financial reward.
Microsoft professes to be unfazed. Windows executive Gary Schare said: “We’re seeing the natural ebb and flow of a competitive marketplace with new products being introduced. It’s not surprising to see curious early adopters checking them out.”
Not content with making a huge dent in Microsoft’s browser share, Mozilla, the foundation behind Firefox, is also going after Microsoft’s Outlook and other e-mail packages.
Called Thunderbird 1.0, the package works on Windows, Macintosh and Linux and has been praised by the industry and press for finally offering a challenge to Microsoft’s dominance in the e-mail arena.
The software provides a number of features which other packages are struggling to offer. Key features include e-mail junk filters that analyse and sort incoming mail and greater security elements.
I just clicked the "Ask Me Every Time" option.
You missed my point, which is that even Microsoft, which alone has access to Office file formats, has trouble writing 100% accurate filters.
I use Firefox also. It's great for FR, really fast.And I don't get the popups like I used to, also.
..... but use Internet Explorer when working on Webpages, graphics, javascript, etc as Firefox doesn't seem to work with all of them.
I use NetCaptor or IE sometimes because Firefox has trouble with some Audio/Video stuff. Like my FR Pinger (audio) won't work on Firefox, but does on NetCaptor and IE. (I can SEE how many comment/FR mail I have on Firefox, but the pinger audio doesn't work).
IMHO, it still has fewer shortcomings, is faster, and easier to use than IE.
(If you do use IE for your primary browser (NetCaptor also since it uses the IE engine), you should keep IE updated to prevent security breeches from all the new trojans written for it.)
Yeah, I like the Firefox just fine. Thanks for prompting me to upload/use
it.(If you do use IE for your primary browser (NetCaptor also since it
uses the IE engine), you should keep IE updated to prevent security
breeches from all the new trojans written for it.)I think I am. I use XP and on occasion it prompts me to update MS
security downloads, etc. That's what you're talking about, right??
That's why they routinely update it with security patches. They are good to get, whether your primary browser is IE or not, for that reason.
Ah, thanks. For a while there, I was getting those security update notices
very often. They haven't been prompting as ofter as they were. Last time
was a week ago or so.
I downloaded Firefox today and have made it my default browser--wooohooo! Goodbye, IE!
Congratulations. And to think it was only yesterday the Justice Department had nothing better to do than remove IE from all windows applications. Show ya' how smart a bunch of justice lawyers can be. Now send 'em all to SE Asia and let them be useful for a change.
I'm not a techie, but as someone who's been using Windows since its first incarnation in Aldus Pagemaker, I thought I'd never stray from MS.
After his past year of almost daily security warnings, holes, updates, etc., I've spent megabucks on security programs, and have spent countless wasted hours scanning for spyware, trojans, worms, et al, with the constant worry that the computers I use to run our business would be compromised.
I'm typing this from Firefox on a Xandros Linux (which was designed for the non-techie) -- and no, Linux won't run all those Windows programs I need to conduct business, but it will keep me saner and safer as my main internet interface.
Of course, it can be argued that MS has all those security holes because it is one hugely distributed target, whereas Linux and Apple aren't worth the trouble for hackers, but for now, I'd rather spend more time on keeping my business going than worrying about the next security picadillo, and the best way to insure that with minimal efforts is to keep the XP boxes offline.
My (rather longwinded) point is that if MS doesn't pay attention to the Firefox trend, they will miss the signs that the little guy is not only tired of IE's holes, they are also tired of fending off attacks on Windows itself. XP is awesome, but taking it on the internet is now like going into battle with a thousand pounds of armor that may or may not protect you.
Firefox has CSS problems? It is far more W3C standards compliant than IE.
Have you considered a Mac?
Since IE is part of Windows by Microsoft's claim, then the amount of money made off IE is some percentage of the billions of dollars of Windows income.
Not quite. When this "Internet thing" started taking off, Bill dismissed it as a sideshow for geeks and academic institutions. He staked his money in online services such as AOL, thus creating his MSN as competition.
After everyone else had jumped on board the Internet bandwagon, Bill said "oh crap, I'm late," bought a browser from someone, didn't gain marketshare, gave it away for free and got a bit more, then decided to include it in the next version of Windows as a way to get it on everyone's desktop (and restricted OEM's from even putting a link to Netscape).
Bill was quite late to the game since he had no vision. But he did very well at leveraging his OS power to make up for that lack of vision.
Firefox is loaded with features that IE doesn't have. Firefox also doesn't use system-level libraries as its engine and therefore any compromise of Firefox isn't automatically a system-level compromise.
This is really is not complicated:
IE is FREE
FireFox is FREE
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1315416/posts
Mozilla (Firefox & Thunderbird) Vulnerabilities Identified
Infoworld ^ | Jan. 6, 2005 | Matthew Broersma, Techworld
Mozilla vulnerabilities identified Most serious bug affects all versions of Mozilla prior to 1.7.5 and could result in system crash
By Matthew Broersma, Techworld January 06, 2005
Users of the Mozilla and Firefox browsers and the Thunderbird e-mail client may be vulnerable to flaws that could allow an attacker to spy on or take over a system, according to security researchers.
The most serious bug affects all versions of Mozilla earlier than 1.7.5, and could result in a system crash or the execution of malicious code, the Mozilla Project said. A boundary error in the way Mozilla handles "news://" addresses can be used to cause a heap-based buffer overflow, which crashes the application and may allow for code execution, according to an advisory from Maurycy Prodeus of iSEC Security Research, who discovered the flaw.
An attacker could exploit the bug by creating an overly-long "news://" link, distributed in an e-mail or on a Web page, and enticing a user to click on it. Such methods have been successfully used to spread worms. Mozilla Version 1.7.5 fixes the problem. Independent security research firm Secunia gave the bug a "highly critical" rating.
To exploit the flaw, the attacker must point to a real news server that is accessible. Prodeus created a proof-of-concept file that demonstrates the bug.
Firefox and Thunderbird are affected by less serious problems. The first is a vulnerability in the way they store temporary files -- the files are sometimes stored with predictable names and in a format that allows anyone to read them. This means a local attacker could easily read the contents of another user's attachments or downloads, according to researchers.
Finally, a Secunia researcher discovered a way of spoofing the names of file downloads in Firefox. A malicious site could use the bug to disguise the true nature of files the user is downloading, or to get information on the presence of specific files on the local system.
These bugs are all fixed in Firefox 1.0 and newer, and Thunderbird 0.9 and newer.
In recent months many users have begun switching to browsers such as Firefox and Mozilla because of increasingly serious security risks affecting Microsoft's (Profile, Products, Articles) dominant Internet Explorer. However, the newfound popularity of the Mozilla-based browsers has been accompanied by greater scrutiny by security researchers, and the regular discovery of new flaws.
Actually, Microsoft's fear back then was the prospect of Netscape becoming an application delivery platform in itself that could become competition to Windows. It wasn't about the browser or content, it was about protecting the Windows monopoly.
You're used to bloated MS programs. Firefox is only a 4.7 MB download.
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