WICKED!

This my friend, is God’s gift to us all. Firefox. Could this be the sign of things to come? Will this change the web? As the tagline suggest Take Back The Web it might as well do so. I have been dabbling with it even during Mozilla and now eventually they have managed to release a 1.0 version of Firefox. I have to be honest, like any average ‘user’ a browser to me would be the E icon all along. Yup I have been using Internet Explorer like most of you (I assume). See my company has been an Open Source advocate since it first started in 1999. So when I joined the company about a year ago I learned a lot about OSS (Open Source Software). It’s here that I learned the value of an internet browser. Before this I could nt care less about the browser. As long as I can hook up to the net, and see the contents, pictures (ehem ehem…) it was fine. What’s the big deal with the browser I thought. Why are these US lawmakers making it such a big deal about Microsoft bundling in the IE for free with its Windows OS? Its just a browser after all. How knowledge can really change the way we see things. Its here at the company did I learned how browsers can affect the security of your system, speed and your browsing experience. With the vicious pop-ups, adds and Trojans, browsing the net was becoming more and more challenging. Off all the issues security was the biggest gist. IE is actually very prone to attacks, probably due to its vast usage it maybe the cause to the problem. For more techno centric verb, among the root of the problem for IE is its harmful Active X component which makes it easier to attack. Anyway previously we just didn’t really have much of an option, especially for someone like me who previously was ignorant to such issues really. So there we were continuing with using IE. Which shows having a check without balance is never good.

Fortunate for us Firefox is upon us today. This browser is so cool that I change my default browser to it. In a way I ve no longer use IE as my main browser. And you can tell the difference. Among the things that really impress me are (in order of preference):

1. Tab Browsing

This function is by far my most favorite Firefox function. With Tab Browsing you can open up multiple page in a single browser. No longer do you have to open multiple browsers and clutter your taskbar. All you need is a single Firefox browser to handle all your surfing. The reason I like this function the most is because with it you will know precisely the pages that you opened, as it is indicated on the tabs. You ll no longer need to open each browser to find a particular page. The best usage for this function is when you are doing research using Google. When you are searching something on the web using Google you usually open a couple of the search results to find the exact information you require. What I would normally do is right click on the link and choose ‘open link in new tab’. The page will be opened in the same browser but in a new tab. So if you want to compare information or pictures (ehem ehem …) on different pages, just use the tab browsing.

2. Google Integration

Firefox synergy with Google has created a nice vibe to the whole browsing experience. For starters the default page is a google search page. So its easy when you find something on the web. Have you ever forgotten the actual url of the website? You re not sure it’s a .com or a .org, well with Firefox just type the main text and it will try to match it to the closest result. Try and key in Slashdot and the browser will go straight to the page. Easy huh? Another cool feature that involves google is the dictionary like function. If there is a word that you don’t understand, just highlight it, right click it and choose ‘Search Web ’. The browser will do a google search based on the word.

3. Search Toolbar

On the right corner of the browser you will see a search toolbar. Ok this toolbar doesn’t just handle google searches but also ebay search, dictionary.com, amazon and even Yahoo searches. Not only that you can even add other search engines you want. How cool is that. It just makes thing easier.

4. Customize Craze

If you re a customize freak then this is the browser for you. You can change the browser’s appearance by downloading your preferred skin. So not only does it do great things but it can also do it in style.

5. Easy transition

Downloading and installing the browser is a breeze. Knowing the vast number of IE users Mozilla has made it easier for you to make the transition. Importing your favorites will be easy so you wont have any issues when changing to the browser.

6. Secure!

Last but not least Firefox is one secure browser. No longer do you have to worry about idiotic pop-ups. The browser will filter the pop-ups so you ll no longer be pissed off with the stupid adds. I don’t know if it’s a coincidence but since I used Firefox as my default browser, bugs or alerts were significantly lesser. This was evident every time I ran Addaware, Spybot or Antivir. So there’s less worry when your surfing the web.

Firefox has its issues e.g.: It does not support Flash, but those issues are addressed simply by downloading the plug-ins. Just do it once and you set to browse Flash sites.

Then again so far I have yet to find a good reason to go back to IE. So why don’t you give it a try. After all it is free ….

“Take back the web”

On a separate matter, Dang the song Lovers and Friends by Lil Jon is one smooth song. DL it man …Dude I got to tell you Usher, Jon and Luder had to do it again