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.
Actually Netscape started the animated logo and MS just copied them - the reason for it is so you think it is actually doing something when you are waiting for content over your 28.8 modem (the good old days)
This is likely true but MS has never been able to define the game - they just learn to prosper under whatever rules are set (like any other good company)
The same way our golf courses are staffed by Hispanics (HA, I can say it! I'm Hispanic!). Hey, buddy, whatever brings the brains too us. And praise God, they DO come to us (U.S.) and I work with them as brother fellow human beings.
Don't get me started on this subject. It is not their brains the companies are into - it is that they will work for next to nothing (less than half of what an American worker makes). They are not better but they sure as heck are cheaper. I work in a suburb of Washington DC but to look at my office one would think I am in Bombay (make that Mumbai - I have learn a lot about India)
save it first then open it. After it's installed, all you do is double click on the icon and you're online. you can either accept the default homepage or select your favorite (mine is cnn.com) then use "Tools-Options-Current Page"
"The world revolves around Microsoft."
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Yes, but!!
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Not all love MS. There are many who don't! Including me. I'm not a tech type person, but was taught by them years ago. Some, like me, may still recall before Microsoft was around.
Thanks, Edward. I got brave and tried that. When I hit save it shut my computer down completely. Must be something the eeeevvviiill Bill Gates has slipped in. I'm disappointed because I want to try Firefox, but I guess it's not to be.
New OS ? try Linux!
Linux, Firefox and Thunderbird a great combination
marker
Actually Netscape started the animated logo and MS just copied them - the reason for it is so you think it is actually doing something when you are waiting for content over your 28.8 modem (the good old days)
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LOL!!! My dialup is at 56. something or other these days. Wow, what a whirlwhind, LOL. Whew. Wish I could get a faster connection. The area we live in doesn't offer anything than what I have, that I can find. Freepmail please, if you know of anything else. First three # - 557 zip code. I've looked at cpinternet and satellite and whatnot; but I won't pay more than $22 a month, beyond the $22 per month ISP.
Last Visible Dog - I sure don't mean to ask you to look into it for me. I've done that already.
But haven't found it available yet in the northern part of MN. The one tech person I asked nearby, said satellite was s.l.o.w. Sounds weird to me, but what do I know?
You still don't get it. MS is not challenged. Nobody makes a dime off the browser. If MS's share goes to 0% it will not effect their bottom line.
But Firefox has only been out a short time and it has 17.5% share.
Check the numbers - looks like all the growth came from Mozilla users. FireFox went from 0 to 17.5% this month yet IE only dropped .9% but Mozilla dropped by 17% So IE still remains dominent and FireFox seems to have taken 17% away from Mozilla and Opera is down to 2.1% form a high of 2.3% last year.
You still don't get it. Nobody makes a dime off the browser.
The(the good old days) are still alive,no high speed phone or cable internet access where I am.
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That's what I'm saying too. No high speed where we are.
IE doesn't have tabbed browsing (great) or pop-up blockers (even greater.)
Outlook superblows; it's as lame and virus-ridden as Internet Exploder. I've been using Eudora for many years; it's so damn good I'm not inclined to switch, but will probably take a look at Thunderbird anyway - simply because Firefox is so good.
You still don't get it and you are not getting any closer. The Content that is produced by MS products are produced by other people. Companies like the one I work for. We spend millions of dollars creating content (like tons of other companies). If a browser comes on to the market that does no support the existing standards - nobody will use it because they will not be able to get to the content they want. Browsers are a way to get content. If a new browser does not support MS standards (which include W3C standards and other things not controlled by MS) then all the MS created content and other content will not work and nobody will use the browser.
The content producers and the tool produces control the browser standards, not the browser creators. FireFox follows the standards created by MS and others - they do not create their own standards. The war is over. MS got what they wanted and have moved on to things of which they can actually make money.
Even if it didn't have all the other lovely extra fiddly bits, the Bookmark Manager would be worth a lot on its own.
I didn't either at first but it is something that is very configurable. Just takes a little effort to get everything set right.
Hey, you're just down the road! I use to live in NYC. There were Pakis, Indians, Bangledeshis all over the place in my neighborhood. Whenever a kid had a birthday party, the whole area smelled like curry for the afternoon. If you don't have a adiction, it's just another scent. I, on the other hand, would salivate all over myself.
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