Free Republic

The next version of the popular open-source Firefox will likely show up in June of 2005, not March as earlier expected, the browser's lead engineer wrote this weekend in his blog. "In a move that I would hope should surprise exactly nobody, we're pushing back 1.1 by a little bit because of the realities of the work remaining to be done," wrote Ben Goodger. The updated road map for Firefox 1.1 noted that beta should ship in early April, with a final edition to follow in June. The next major revision, dubbed 2.0, is still on track for release sometime...

"We're thrilled to be the first broadband service provider to adopt Firefox," Speakeasy chairman and founder Mike Apgar said. "We plan to continually enhance the browser with features that will benefit Speakeasy's home, business and gaming subscribers." Speakeasy, a national broadband Internet service provider (ISP), said it will be the first to distribute a customized version of the Mozilla Foundation's Latest News about Mozilla Foundation Firefox browser to its customers. The development was immediately being called significant because it stands to open up an entirely new distribution channel to help get Firefox into the hands of users. To date, the...

EXPLORER STUMBLES AS GOOGLE EYES BROWSER MARKETJan 25, 2005 - FreeMarketNews.comby Chris MackAccording to the Xinhua News Agency, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (IE) browser is losing market share against open source Firefox browser. Two online market tracking companies OneStat and WebSideStory had studies in December and found that IE market share has fallen to 88.9%, while Firefox has jumped to 4.8%. Microsoft has disputed the results. Last summer there were a number of serious scares with IE security. Several bugs were found that enabled hackers to use JavaScript in order to install keystroke-logging software and Trojans horses. The programs were then...

(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...

Firefox breaks 20,000,000 downloads!

I noticed a few Firefox threads here have people complaining about how much memory Firefox takes up. This is a known memory leak, and the Mozilla guys haven't gotten around to fixing it for whatever reason. But there's no reason your Firefox should take up 70,000K in memory, so here's how to fix that memory leak and keep Firefox from bloating up. 1. Open a new tab. Type "about:config" without quotes into the address bar and hit enter/click Go. 2. Right-click anywhere, select New, then Integer. In the dialog prompt that appears, type: browser.cache.memory.capacity 3. Click OK. Another dialog prompt...

Full text of a letter from Microsoft, in response to coverage of companies moving from IE to Firefox and other alternative browsers. InformationWeek Editor's note: the following is the full text of Microsoft's response to an InformationWeek.com poll and related story regarding Internet Explorer, and whether companies are switching to the Mozilla browser. It came from Waggener Edstrom, Microsoft's public-relations agency. You mentioned that many or the respondents in the self-selecting survey recommended against IE and that many people have said Microsoft needs to address security issues more fully. Regarding the recommendation, we're aware that some people have recommended against...

It's hard to believe but to-date, Mozilla's Firefox browser has seen more than 18 million downloads. This appears to be a greater response than even Mozilla had hoped for. Many sources on the Internet are reporting that this is due to a great drive of Firefox user's missionary zeal in spreading the good word. Those people are credited with the unprecedented growth and success of Firefox 1.0. "We're going to hit 20 million downloads before the end of the month. It's a wild ride and shows no sign of slowing down. Keep spreading the word. You all are the ones...

A number of recent phishing sites blocked by the Netcraft Toolbar community have had a common technique of using JavaScript to create a narrow popup window, which is then placed on top of the Address bar. A fake URL is entered into the popup, using the same default font as the real address bar. The script continually checks the location of the browser window and moves the popup accordingly, ensuring that it is always placed on top of the Address bar, thus obscuring the real URL of the phishing site. The image above illustrates a live phishing site in action....

It could allow an attacker to download malicious content onto vulnerable PCs (IDG NEWS SERVICE) A computer security researcher and an antivirus company are warning Microsoft Corp. customers about an unpatched hole in the company's Internet Explorer Web browser that could allow a remote attacker to bypass security warnings and download malicious content onto vulnerable systems. The warnings came after the hole was identified on the Bugtraq Internet security discussion list by someone using the name "Rafel Ivgi." The hole affects Internet Explorer Version 6.0.0, including the version released with Windows XP Service Pack 2. The vulnerability allows malicious attackers...

By Gene J. Koprowski Published 1/12/2005 11:21 AM CHICAGO, Jan. 12 (UPI) -- The Web browser wars of the mid-1990s saw Microsoft devastate Netscape and the Internet Explorer emerge as the de facto standard for surfing the Web. That was not the end of it, however, experts told UPI's The Web. Like a rebel force hidden in the hills for years, remnants of Netscape have reorganized and now are moving forward with a new offensive, so to speak. They have debuted a new browser, called Firefox, which is intended to compete with Internet Explorer and win the hearts and minds...

E Flaw Exploited Security firm identifies exploit technique for known browser hole. Matthew Broersma, Techworld.com Friday, January 07, 2005 Internet Explorer has become an even bigger security risk--even under Windows XP SP2--with the publication of a new and extensive exploit. Advertisement Security researchers have warned that the exploit, which takes advantage of known loopholes in SP2, could allow an attacker to run script code on a user's system via a specially crafted Web page. Known Hole The holes involved have been known publicly for more than two months, but previous exploit techniques required the user to take actions such as...

Disable Internet Explorer Active X support, turn off the "drag-and-drop" or "copy-and-paste files" option across a domain, or switch to another Web browser unless you want to face a Hack attack on your PC, warns the security firm Secunia. They have discovered three very critical flaws in the IE and have issued security notice on its website. The company has rated the flaw as of a very high risk nature and has said that this is their last warning for people to secure their data. “The flaw affects IE 6, and can enable hackers to run pornographic dialers to be...

For a market segment Microsoft was said to have won decisively in the mid-1990s, the company spent a lot of time in 2004 putting out fires on the browser front. Like the ghost of the Netscape browser rising to haunt its slayer, Firefox emerged with a vengeance from the Mozilla open-source group, which was founded by Netscape in 1998 and last year spun off by parent company Time Warner. Firefox started off the year a prerelease, name-challenged project by a group that had lost much of its credibility after chronic delays and significant setbacks. But Firefox ended 2004 as a...

Forty-five days and some 13 million downloads after its official release, Mozilla's Firefox browser is showing undeniable momentum--but does it signal the beginning of the end to Microsoft's monopoly over the basic software used to access the Web? Even as Firefox gathers steam, powerful brakes are poised to kick in that could limit its long-term growth: Interoperability has long dogged non-Microsoft browsers, which are often glitchy on some Web sites. Firefox claims some significant progress on this front, but a handful of sites, including Microsoft's Windows Update site, are still inaccessible. In addition, Microsoft's deep hooks in corporate IT departments...

Opera Software Thursday launched the beta of its next browser for Windows, temporarily dubbing the new software Opera 8. The final, which is scheduled for release in early 2005, has not yet been given an official name, said Opera executives. Sporting a simpler user interface -- perhaps in the hopes of competing with Mozilla's Firefox, which has blown by Opera to become the one major rival for Microsoft's Internet Explorer -- and a slew of new features, Opera 8 can be downloaded from the Oslo, Norway-based company's Web site. Currently, the beta is available only for Windows systems. "We were...

For the last 4 days I've had trouble loading the pages from the Washington Post. They never completely load. I don't have a problem with other websites or papers. I'm using IE6 have the latest patches, Java, etc. I've turned off pop-up blocking and a bunch of other things but nothing has worked. Any ideas?

Remember those days back in 1995, when Netscape Navigator was synonymous with internet? That was the time when Microsoft’s Internet Explorer entered the market for a head-on collision with the Netscape Navigator. That was Browser War –I. Now the battle was reignited by the fire of FireFox, internet browser of Mozilla. This is the beginning of the Browser War –II. And it appears that this time Microsoft is losing it. Internet Explorer is rapidly losing market share. OneStat.com a company in Amsterdam had conducted a worldwide survey in late November. The survey shows that Internet Explorer's share dropped to less...

Even SP2 versions of Microsoft's Internet Explorer are vulnerable to a spoofing exploit published yesterday. A vulnerability researcher posted details of a dangerous Internet Explorer (IE) flaw on Thursday that allows phishers to spoof Web sites more realistically than ever before. According to security company Secunia, Paul from Greyhats -- a research group -- has published details of a vulnerability that can be exploited to spoof the content of any Web site. Using the exploit, scammers are able to manipulate all versions of IE, including Windows XP SP2 -- the latest and most secure version of the browser -- and...

A European security vendor warned Wednesday that most browsers sport a bug that hackers can exploit to spoof a Web site and trick users into trusting bogus pop-up windows. The vulnerability, which Danish security firm Secunia rated as "moderately critical" is similar to previous bugs in browsers that was disclosed in July and September of 2004. Attackers could use it to add content into a trusted Web site's window by, for instance, inserting a fake form in a pop-up window seemingly opened by that site. Affected browsers, said Secunia, include the popular Internet Explorer and the up-and-coming Firefox, as well...