By Jo Best, 25 November 2004 17:00
Firefox? Eh? That Clint Eastwood film about the fast jet fighter?
It's a new internet browser. The first full version, Firefox 1.0, was launched earlier this month.
OK. Like Internet Explorer then?
In the sense it's a browser, yes, but the differences are larger than the similarities.
You'd best tell me about them. Microsoft doesn't make it, then?
Most definitely not. It was created by the Mozilla Foundation, an open-source group. Remember Netscape?
Might do.
Netscape created and funded the Mozilla Foundation but later spun it off as an independent entity in its own right. The Mozilla Foundation doesn't have the same huge coffers as rival Microsoft, either. It relies on donations from developers and other fans to continue its work - it doesn't charge for its downloads either.
Hmmm. How generous are the techies? Isn't the collecting tin looking a bit empty?
Au contraire. The Firefox community is happy to dig deep in order to spread the word about the browser. Recently, the Mozilla Foundation called on open source's fans to help pay for a full-page ad in The New York Times to extol the virtues of the browser. After ten days, the Firefox folk had collected the $100,000 necessary to run the ad - as well as another $150,000 besides - and closed the campaign.
It seems like the Mozilla Foundation are keen to get developers involved...
In more ways than one. The Mozilla Foundation is taking advantage of the 'many eyes' idea and is asking developers to see if they can spot security flaws in the Firefox code. While Firefox has experienced security holes, the strategy seems to be working for the open-source browser, with recent holes quickly sewn up. As well as making the browser safer for users, any eagle-eyed code crunchers will be rewarded with a $500 bounty for spotting a vulnerability.
Right - but is anyone actually using it?
Interesting question.
Thanks.
Microsoft is still very much the Goliath here. About 90 per cent of the browser market is still controlled by Microsoft's Internet Explorer.
So why is everyone making all the fuss?
Because it used to have an even bigger share. When the statistics for browser market share started making the news because IE's share was slipping, back in July, Redmond's share fell from 95.48 per cent of all web surfers in the US to 94.16 per cent. Now that number has fallen to below 90 per cent, according to another web analytics company. Currently, over six million people have downloaded the latest version of browser.
It's also won praise from users for its attractive interface, nifty features and dainty size - it's under 5MB compared to IE's 80MB. It's also gleaning more and more add-ons, as developers set to work creating new extensions and themes for the application.
What's next then?
Well, a couple of big names have been seen sniffing around the browser. Nokia, for one, has thrown a few quid Mozilla's way to help with a Firefox for mobiles and, if rumours are to be believed, Google might be chumming up with the Foundation with a view to create a Google-branded browser.
If you want to see what all the fuss is about, you can download Firefox from the Mozilla website.
Comments
There are 22 comments. Join the discussion
1. anonymous
When my techy son "cleaned up" my computer after a recent crash, he installed Foxfire as my Internet Browser. As far as I'm concerned, it's the best thing going on the Net. Thanks!
2. anonymous
being able to click and block an ad is great... I use it on slow ad servers to speed up my surfing, and ad's that "offend" in some way just go away. ( note to ad vendors - Don't bitch about it this should give you a real clue on how to improve your products )
being able to have links open in other tab's so you can move between them easily is near the top of my "why I like it list".
being able to redirect "mailto:" links to a webmail page ( i.e. gmail or similar) is fantastic.
my two copper pieces...
3. anonymous
have had firefox for about a week, works great. no problems
4. Atp Cfii
FireFox is really neat, especially the tabbed browsing and greater security.
One problem, it won't display our local TV station radar - it treats it as if it were an ad. The site is www.wftv.com
5. anonymous
I use Firefox and love it, I don't use IE anymore. With Firefox, you don't have the pop ups, you don't have the freezing, and you don't have to wait for a page to load if you clean your cookies....its great....its so much better than IE
6. anonymous
I've long since reached my limit with Adware/Spyware, pop-ups, and ActiveX. So today I downloaded and installed Firefox on one of my older WinME systems just to check it out. All I can say is "Wow"! It was a quick and clean install, simple to configure, and familiar enough that I was out cruising the net in less than two minutes.
I've been using it all day and have not encountered a single problem, and better still, I've not encountered a single pop-up. It's fantastic! Firefox is going onto all of my personal systems immediately.
7. anonymous
I have Starband broadband reception, I can browse, but appparently Starband isn't compatible with Thunderbird.
No tech advice forthcoming from Starband.
8. anonymous
I have been trying Firefox but although I am no Microsoft fan, I am NOT impressed by Firefox so far - it's frequently locking up (on an XP machine) particularly when asked to print or print preview) and often fails to display consistently. It also appears slower than IE.
Yet to be convinced it's any improvement
9. Andrew Robb
It's great! With Firefox as my main browser, I have put IE up to the highest security and privacy settings (customised with more restrictive cookie and cache handling). I added Microsoft update sites as trusted hosts. Now IE is just for Windows Update!
10. NeilL
Hi Atp Cfii
Not sure why you can't see www.wftv.com with firefox. I can browse that site no problem, with popups blocked? What's actually happening, maybe someone can help out?
Been using firefox for months now. THis release 1 is the best yet.
11. Mike Gailey
Firefox looks nice, but having used it for four weeks some big problems still remain. MSN messenger does not like it, outlook does not like it, and most crucially of all it is noticeably slower than IE6
12. Jim Cox
I've been useing Firefox for two weeks now, and nothing can make me go back to IE. I'm 100% happy with firefox.
Jim
13. Phil Blackburn
Firefox is very good. The only problem I've found so far is that it doesn't integrate with Windows Media Player, which some sites require. There is supposed to be a plug-in, but it wasn't available when I looked.
If they can just get Thunderbird (their email program, currently on release 0.9) sorted then I'll be recommending Mozilla to all my users.
14. Bubba Jones
I am not familiar with Star band I will assume it is a satellite based broadband. I use both T-bird and Firefox with a satellite product called Directway via EarthLink with stunning success.
Wild guess, your email parameters are not set up correctly for the Star band mail servers.
Does your Star band email work with outlook express? Does the email work through t-bird from a dial up connection?
Bubba
Virginia, USA
15. Peter Higgins
Firefox runs faster on a faster box than IE on the same hardware. As it keeps getting better it will become the browser of choice.
16. Ray Gavel
Mike, check your settings regarding MSN Messenger, as the program does not rely on Firefox to work. I'm running MSN Messenger on three Firefox systems and have not experienced any problems whatsoever. I'm not familiar with Outlook as I don't use it, but I'm guessing it may be a setting in Outlook as well.
As for being slower than IE6, yes, it initially loads slower, but that's because it's not integrated into your operating system like IE6 is. I'm willing to bet once it opens it renders pages faster than IE6, no?
17. anonymous
Firefox does everything slower than IE 6 - opening, rendering, all of it.
It's not a huge difference, but it IS noticable, it DOES happen on every page, and it IS irritating.
Other than that, it's a nice piece of kit, but it's not 'the messiah'.
Also irritating, it doesn't seem to want to open in full screen mode.
18. anonymous
I love it. I transfered all my bookmarks and settings from explorer and bid the hackers heaven goodbye!
19. Firefox fan
Fantastic browser software.
Tabbing makes sure my taskbar isn't cluttered. It never crashes when I check my e-mail, infact, never crashes.
Extensions and themes make it more feature filled and convenient.
If you are looking at this page through internet explorer, I command you to download Firefox, you will not regret it!
20. anonymous
I miss Ctrl+N and Shift-Click functionality - but I'm looking for a way to configure FF to work the same as IE in those respects. Any suggestions ?
21. Tim
Ctrl-n is available as an extension - I think I got it with the tab'd browser extension but have a look at the available extensions and you'll find it!
22. Malcolm Mellon
And there are Firefox hidden tweaks to improve performance even more, like multi-threading web page requests to enhance broadband speeds. The tabs are lovely, the only problem I have is Firefox interprets tables differently, causing overlapping blocks of stuff. I don't know who is interpreting the W3 specs correctly, though knowing Redmond's reputation....