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.
Try saving it somewhere else, to your my documents folder or create a new folder and save it in there. Can you save anything from the web? Or is it just this file?
Do you mean that when you installed it and first opened it up, it had these bookmarks ready to go for you? Or did they appear later?
Nothing sells browsers – they are free.
because content isn't actually provided by the browsers
A browser with no content has no value whatsoever. (browsers display content, servers deliver content)
at most it's rendered by the browser
The main purpose of the Internet is to access content (the stuff rendered by the browser). No content, no need for a browser. A browser is a means to an end – not an end in and of itself.
Yeah some content looks different from browser to browser, but most non-geeks would hardly notice.
Not true. I am guessing you do no use the Internet for business purposes – just casual browsing. Companies spend a lot of money getting business software to look right. Years ago we supported both IE and Netscape and that was a giant nightmare often forcing us to write two globs of code – one for IE and one for Netscape. Which browser was “right” – it didn’t mater.
I've got three websites I use for IE, one's MS and the other two are poorly designed and get all whacky not in IE (well I guess the MS website is poorly designed too when you get right down to it).
I guess that makes you a geek – you notice content looks different in different browsers.
For everything else I use Netscape or Firefox depending on which button I hit first (haven't really decided which one I like better, it's a browser mostly I don't care).
The current version of Netscape sucks. Ditch that dog and use FireFox.
Content doesn't sell browsers because content isn't actually provided by the browsers, at most it's rendered by the browser.
Don’t be silly. All the World Wide Web has to offer is content. (browsers don’t sell – they are free). Content is what is in your browser – your browser has no other value. To you and everybody else reading this – all I am is content – while you may not be willing to pay for my words – I am just content.
You have the model backassward. Content sells and content is all the World Wide Web has to offer. The browser in merely a tool to view the content.
Features are what sell products (or in this case encourage free downloading of products).
Browser don’t sell – they are free. Just a tool to view content. Features do sell. Content is full of features. People pay for content – nobody I know of pays for a browser.
The biggest two things pushing a decline in IE right now are security and tabbed browsing.
Security yes – tab browsing, no way. (IE still dramatically dominates the “market” because it is the standard for content rendering)
Daily security alerts are free advertising for anything but IE
Nonsense. There are not daily security alerts for IE – but a security alert for FireFox was published today (or was it yesterday) and there is still no fix. Don’t be foolish and think the problems with IE are caused because MS is evil or some other nonsense. If FireFox ever dominates, it will be attacked just like IE. All software is vulnerable once the hacker takes aim
Any criticism of Microsoft is considered hatred to the Kool-aid drinkers who have their head so far up they can smell Bill's breath. I've told you, I recommend the best. In the past it was IE, now it's Firefox (if you want free) or Opera (if you want to pay or don't mind ads).
I'll switch back to IE and sing its praises if Microsoft gets it act together and Firefox slips. Until then, Firefox is the best free browser out there.
HeY! Mine didn't do that! I want a refund! (no wait, it's free)
:-)
BTW: it does import your favorites from IE.
I haven't had any problem with anything else. How about if I try opening it and saving it to My Documents. Do you think that would work?
Standard n- Something, such as a practice or a product, that is widely recognized or employed, especially because of its excellence.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Well, you've got to download it before you can open it. I assume that's where the problem is, when you click on "save to disk" - which means download. If you open it before you save it you will only see code, so no, that's not good. I hope I'm understanding your probelm correctly.
What is the value of web content targeted at you and only you? You are the first person I have ever heard claim they developed web content just for their personal consumption.
If you call IE an "outdated, incompatible browser", I am all but certain you do not work in the computer industry. You certainly would never be hired at my company - we hire software engineers, not browser evangelicals. I am guessing you are a high school or college student who has never been in the real world of the computer industry (like I said, just a guess)
But they will never see your site because the majority of the people use IE and you say "screw them" - clearly you do not make a living doing this.
Hey, I appreciate your help. When I click on the get Firefox I get a grey box with "open" "save" etc. When I click on "save" I shut down, so maybe I should try "open" and then save it. Can I save it to My Documents and still have it work?
Actually you made up a quote and claimed Bill Gates said it. Haters are big into making stuff up.
I assume you've got enough free space on your hard drive to accomodate the 4.7 MB for Firefox. How 'bout try right click on the Free Download link, then go to "Save link as...". Have you tried that yet?
Which was my point. It is integral and without it, XP won't function.
If you hate Microsoft - by all means use Linux or buy a Mac.
See, that's where you misunderstand. I've been in the business since about 79. I was a teen in 79, but got a job feeding punch cards on weekends. See my FR profile if you wish to be nauseated. I personally support everything and I have a mandrake box here at the house.
I don't hate Microsoft. I do however have a userbase that I and my staff support. I'm moving them over to Firefox for general browsing and only IE when absolutely necessary. At some point in early/mid 2003, we were fighting spyware so much that it was taking 50% of the time of my staff to fix it. I got some of the heavy users(Researchers and fact finders) to switch to Firebird(beta .7 of what became Firefox). The problems evaporated. I now know how to clean just about everthing and how to lock down a machine. Back then, even trusted zones would get spyware sites added.
At this point in time, anyone in the business cannot possible suggest people use Internet Explorer unless absolutely required. IE has access to the local zone and many exploits found run in the local zone and completely hose the PC. No matter how hard they try, malware authors will never be able to cause the havoc to FF as they do to IE.
No. Here goes. If I never see you again, thanks. :)
It worked. Many, many thanks, Musket.
Fantastic. No problem.
I imported favorites from IE, and lo and behold a bookmark entitled PORN or adult or something was there, and in this bookmark were subcategories of all the different porn genres. There were no links to web sites, just the categories and subcategories all conveniently ready to use as bookmarks.
.
Errr, well, if those bookmarks exist in IE, then it will happily import them for you, regardless of what they are. Did you check to see if they existed in IE when you imported them?
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