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I switched and I have yet to go to a site that it does not work perfectly, exept Windows Update. Funny Huh?

# posted by Scott 5:07 PM

Nah, that's an MS proprietary site so it stands to reason. Try something like a free virus scan at McAfee.

# posted by Bill 5:39 PM

I'm all in favor of Firefox!

I've had it installed on my personal machine for a while now, Based on my experience (and the CERT advisory to avoid IE), I convinced my compay to switch the default desktop browser for every user in my division from IE to Firefox. Firefox makes the support team happy, because cleaning adware and spyware off of workstations was getting to be a noticable drain on the technical staff's time.

Firefox works very well, and the technical support group has gotten amazingly few complaints. It is fast to load and render, and offers tabbed browsing which is great. Many of our staff like Firefox just for those two things. There are a number of developer plugins to make web designers and programmers happy. It works well with just about every site we've tried including the corporate intranet and all of our major clients. The main exception is out corporate timekeeping application, which depends on IE-specific scripting and document model. We solved this one by putting a shortcut link on each desktop that calls IE with the timecard application's URL.

We also avoided a lot of backlash by leaving IE available through the Start menu; we didn't attempt to remove IE from the workstation, just make Firefox the default browser. The next task will be to reduce the number of email worm infections by getting the division to switch it's official email client to Thunderbird ...

# posted by D.J.Wildstar 7:43 PM

I am loving Firefox and have pretty much switched over. The one thing that held me back was Outlook Web Access to Exchange uses the not so slick looking "reach" client interface. But I only use that from home, and at least it's fast! Everything else works great.

Personal favorite feature: try resizing the font size (using ctrl-mouse wheel). http://news.google.com is a great site to try it on. Put's IE's font resize to shame.

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# posted by Anonymous 9:03 PM

Firefox is great. I've been using it as my primary browser since .7 (when I believe it was still FireBird). It's definitely made great strides since when it first came out as Phoenix. It has been better than IE for some time now. 1.0 just adds more speed and features in a small package. There's *no* reason why people shouldn't at least try it out.

# posted by David 9:22 PM

Disclaimers: Consultant, Microsoft Partner, Systems Engineer. That out of the way, you'd have to be crazy to not at least take Firefox out for a test spin. I've been using it since version 0.5. It's always been rock solid and as a (former) web developer, it has no problems with any *normal* site. Sites which use ActiveX (Windows Update, some corporate sites, some anti-virus sites, etc.) will always give a problem to *any* non-Microsoft browser since they don't have ActiveX.

One of my specialties is systems security and ActiveX is the single biggest source for security problems especially worms and virii so right off the bat you are more secure by putting MSIE (and related programes) into a dungeon somewhere and throwing away the key. MyDoom is back folks and it ain't pretty. If, for some strange reason Firefox ever turns up a security problem (happened once) the resolution time is measured in hours, not weeks/months. I've seen it before while it was being developed.

While I may develop/use MS products, partner with them, etc., I'm rational. Firefox, Gaim, Thunderbird (still spotty but getting better), and Forte Agent on the 'net here. Secure, safe, powerful.

Brian J. Bartlett, PearTree Associates

# posted by JackOfShadows 4:41 AM

I used firefox for a while and found its multiple windows clunky.

If you want to see a really good browser try IRider, found at www.irider.com. It is a skin for IE and handles multiple windows incredibly affectively. Sometimes I will have 25-30 windows open simultaneously with easy access to any of them. They can be close easily, or "thumbtacked" so that they open any time I fire up the browser. Give it a try - you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Will, from Lafayette, CO

# posted by Anonymous 7:58 AM

Firefox is a great browser, I've been using the Preview Release alongside IE for a while, and I've now downloaded the full 1.0 release. However their website seems to me struggling with such a large release and the flow of traffic that it generates. I've made 5 seperate attempts over the last two days to update my themes and the update.mozilla.org site keeps timing out.

For people who they are trying to entice to swap browsers, this may be a very bad first experience. Normally the process of changing themes is painless and there are a large number of themes to choose from. But if new users can't access these, or the extensions which are also hosted on the mozilla site, then they are missing a fundamental part of Firefox and may dismiss it.

This is a great chance for an alternative browser to make a break through, as Microsoft has been caught napping when it comes to updating Internet Explorer. But if the mozilla foundation can't put the resources into the bandwidth needed for such a release then they are going to lose some first-time users who may have otherwise been tempted.

-Perros-

# posted by Perros 8:07 AM

Todd writes, "I used firefox for a while and found its multiple windows clunky."

One of the big reasons to use Firefox is its tabbed browsing ability, meaning you don't have to deal with mutliple windows at all. I find the ability to have multiple tabs going -- each with its own context but all living in a single window -- a must-have feature. Firefox does this pretty well on its own, but it's even better with the tabbed browser extension.

- Todd

# posted by jallison 4:32 PM

OMG, IE! I remember that! Hey, while we're waxing nostalgic, remember Mosaic? That was awesome!

# posted by Terry 8:28 PM

Remember? It's still around....
http://archive.ncsa.uiuc.edu/SDG/Software/Mosaic/NCSAMosaicHome.html

# posted by Bill 4:43 PM

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