There is a Internet browser war going on right now.
Actually it has been going on for just about as long as the Internet has been popular.
And this battle has very deep roots.
Anyone out there remember Netscape? Netscape was a very popular browser back in the mid to late ’90s.
The developers of Netscape launched the non-profit Mozilla project in 1998, to provide low cost and alternative choices for technology.
From that sprang Firefox, an “open source” web browser which is touted as better, more secure, and more easily personable than Internet Explorer.
The Internet Explorer browser sprang ouf the Microsoft behemouth, and is a “closed source” or proprietary product.
Before we get too far, let’s define “open source” and “closed source”.
“Open source” indicates that the computer programming source code necessary to make a piece of software work is available for anyone to see, use, and yes, modify.
“Closed source” indicates that the computer programming source code is not made available for anyone else to see.
A good example of “open source” would be the Firefox browser, or the Linux operating system.
A good example of “closed source” (or proprietary) software would be anything from Microsoft, such as Windows XP, Internet Explorer, Microsoft Office, etc.
As a computer professional on my full-time job, I use whatever software is made available to me on the job site.
That means Internet Explorer is the browser of choice, as it is in most of the corporate world.
But as a computer user at home, and with this website, I use and highly recommend the Mozilla Foundation’s Firefox browser.
Why? I’m glad you asked.
There’s several reasons….
- Security. Firefox is much more secure than Internet Explorer. I don’t have a percentage handy, but I’d guess that 99% of the spammers and hackers go after Internet Explorer instead of Firefox.
- Customization. Firefox can be customized with hundreds of enhancements, called plugins. On my home laptop, I am running a Google Mail notifier, a custom weather plugin which includes current forecast and weather maps/radar, and several webmaster-oriented plugins for blocking popups, scripts, and for copying text and links to the clipboard. These are invaluable time-savers. There are also hundreds of themes, to modify the look and feel of Firefox if a user so desires.
- Multiple tabs. Within one browser session, Firefox can have multiple tabs, each one positioned to a different web site. Microsoft’s just released latest edition of Internet Explorer also has this feature.
- Open source. As a programmer, I support the open source methodology. By the way, I have nothing against Microsoft in any way (I presently use XP as my operating system). I think Bill Gates has done a fabulous job of making money. Now, if he’d only make some decent software…. LOL
- Efficiency. Firefox appears to do what it needs to do much faster on the same computer than Internet Explorer does. I realize this is a subjective kind of opinion, but in my tests, Firefox loaded the same page quicker than IE.
This article is not intended as a deep, technical, all-encompassing sort of discussion, but more as an overview for someone who might be considering using Firefox as their web browser.
To download Firefox, click the following button:
To download Internet Explorer, click here.
If you have any more detailed questions, please send them to me, and I’ll do my best to try to answer them.
Way in the past, I used Netscape (on a Mac). Later when I move to a Windows based PC (only due to cost), I used IE. Once I discovered Firefox about 5 years ago, I made the switch to Firefox. I have never looked back.
glenn
I have been using firefox for quite a while now, I can hardly remember what IE is. The updates for firefox seem to go fast and smooth, so smooth that all of a sudden I get a notice up saying it was updated and it does not slow down my already dreadful dialup. IE updates take forever to get downloaded. I always tell all my friends to download firefox and use it for everything for 2 days, they never look back again.