If you want the absolute best in browsing experience, I urge you to download Mozilla’s Firefox.
I was an early adopter at a time when my PC became infested with spyware and popups. The software was called Mozilla Firebird at the time and I recommended it to users of the local LUG. It has since changed to Firefox but its popularity has increased tremendously. Read on to know why.
The culprits were of course the spyware creators, but more fundamentally Microsoft.
Microsoft Guilty!
Microsoft has several annoying habits which make me think that the least of their concerns is the user. By now you know they were slapped with an anti-trust case and were found to have abused their status as a monopoly. You will have heard about the tailored videos shown in court – that’s also known as lying under oath. They maintained that it was impossible to remove Internet Explorer from Windows without breaking the latter. At the same time, some people were showing exactly how to do just that.
During and after these brushes with Justice, Microsoft officials have repeatedly been heard chanting the mantra “Innovation, Innovation. If Microsoft is broken into smaller pieces, we won’t be able to do our Innovation.”
But see, before all this, by bundling their inferior Internet Explorer with Windows, they still managed to make IE the most used browser on the planet since they also force Windows down the throat of the PC-buying customer.
But once they achieved this, what do you think they did with IE? Do you think they kept on innovating, adding features to it, sorting out the kinks, supporting Internet Standards?
No, they sat on it for 3 years. And since IE is a security hazard, the flaws were rapidly exploited. Last year, there were countless storied of PCs being hijacked by spyware, popups everywhere, people tearing their hair off, going mad.
All of this because Microsoft in intent on dominating a segment but does not really care about the customer, nor about innovation. And once they do, and every time a finger points at them, they will strive to cover everything up in marketing or P.R.
A welcome alternative
So when I had understood that my PC was being taken over because people were exploiting the flaws that Microsoft had created and shipped and that they weren’t intent on fixing, I decided to find an alternative.
And that alternative at the time was named Firebird. One of the mottos of the Mozilla Firebird team was “Take Back the Web”. I tried it and found that it immediately transferred my bookmarks over from IE, making the transition a seemless experience.
I spent days using and it soon became second nature. Browsing the net had become a pleasure again instead of a war. I could browse safely and annoying popups were automatically blocked. With tabbed browsing, I could read a first page, tell Firebird to open selected links in tabs to load in the background while still browsing the main page. Its extension mechanism meant that the initial download was a small one, about 5 Mb. And then, if I needed some additional functionality, I could just download more small extensions and customize my browsing experience.
Not only that, but the Mozilla team, true to Open Source spirit, regularly updated the browser. More specifically, they patched any flaw very rapidly.
Typically, Microsoft will take weeks before even acknowledging a flaw, and if they patch it, the user is left with a vulnerable system for months.
So what browser do you think
Yep, Firefox.
It has REAL innovations. And it keeps getting better and better.
The advantages are:
Some more information to help you make the transition
Check the first step in “How to Uncripple Your Spy/Adware Soaked Computer”
Read Why use Firefox?
Read the Quick guide to switching to Firefox.
Laziness. Stop being Microsoft fodder
I just chatted to a friend yesterday and I asked him if he knew about Firefox. he said he had tried but he was ‘too used to IE’ and he switched back. What he doesn’t know is that all his data and his very computer (if not his sanity but I have a clue some of it is already gone 
) is at risk.
So don’t be lazy, download Firefox, install it and use it for a good while. Get used to its tabbed browsing and excellent extensions. Then you’ll be safe in the knowledge that you are having the best, fastest and safest possible browsing experience. The source is open and is here to stay. It supports all the Internet Standards and is free. Get the stable 1.07 version. Then you can also download and install a small utility called FireTune for Firefox which works very well.
Interesting extensions, themes and search engines
Once you have Firefox up and running, try these extensions and others from the Mozilla site:
1. Google suggest
2. GreaseMonkey
3. Linky
4. Launchy
One theme which I liked is Noia Extreme. It makes Firefox’s interface into a sleek and beautiful presentation. Your browser remains totally stable and intuitive. Note: This theme doesn’t seem to work correctly with v 1.07.
You can also expand on the search engines already supported by integrating new ones easily from the Mozilla site. I like the Google-Wikipedia one among many others.
Internet Explorer 7 will still be flawed. The problem is Microsoft.
MS’s IE7 will still be flawed. Microsoft still hasn’t learned to support open standards and they still haven’t learned to released a secure software. Instead they are still rushing bug-ridden software and covering it up with P.R. and marketing millions, the latest case being Visual Studio 2005.
Then they also want you to get their Windows Defender anti-spyware software. How come they cannot patch their faulty software first and foremost?
Microsoft hasn’t learned and won’t learn from its mistakes. It’s a monopoly and feels safe enough there. So it will rely on weird tactics for a long time. Like removing all trace of some Linux-bashing articles from the Internet. Like funding pseudo-neutral analysts to tout their software and bash alternatives. Like spreading Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt about alternate products. Like enabling only passport-registered people to post comments on their inane MS-marketing blogs. And who posts there? Well those who have MS passports, that is, MS employees primarily and who will do some mutual back-slapping hoping the community takes it up (astro-turfing – a fake grass root marketing approach). Like stubbornly not supporting Open Standards. Like pissing off customers, partners, and employees all at once. Like creating an artificial shortage of XBox 360.
The choice is yours. Make the best one.
You have the choice to try an alternative: the best browser in the world.
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