firefox is growing like wildfire, so to speak...
 

i made the permanent migration a few months ago after trying other options... i've found that firefox, with all of its extensions and other nifty options, is simply the best browsing experience... and as you can see from the story above, it's quickly growing in the mainstream. this begs one question... if you haven't switched yet, why not?

The bad news, due to firefoxes popularity I've seen more and more spyware that seems to work with it.

Yeah, but there's still a heck of a lot less than there is for IE. Until Firefox becomes worse than IE, I'm not switching back.

I was just getting ready to post this article here....

/me loves Firefox

I just switched to Firefox about a week ago. So far I haven't noticed much differences, besides the fact that my webpages are bigger because there is less clutter up top.

What are some of the features of Firefox that really put it above IE?

My IE has some crazy problem, every time I open it it goes to some website. No matter how many pop-up blockers and how many virus scans I've done, it always comes back. Firefox is consistently better, faster, and easier to use. The only downfall I have is some websites aren't all that compatible with Firefox if they were made for IE. However, forums and places like this are way better in Firefox.

Join the Revolution!

elwoodblues: it's all about the extensions. i'd suggest adblock first and foremost. using it, i've filtered about 95% of all ads and banners from my computer... it takes a bit of training when you first get started, but if you're smart about your syntax, you can effectively block most unwanted rubbish from websites

As far as I've seen in using it, most pages load quicker and the tabbed browsing is kind of nice too. Unfortunately, Microsoft will probably try to steal that idea in its next version of IE.

I've been using it for several months and have no plans to go back to IE.

Moved to mozilla about 2 and a half years ago, i remember because it was such a wonderful liberation, moved to firefox about a year ago.

It's just better all round.

I switched a few months ago, and as phredgreen said "It's all about the extensions". that and the lack of active x seems to really help make firefox more secure than IE.

Firefox = sex

It's more secure, offers tabbed browsing, has all the downloadable content, and is overall a better browser. It took me about 2-3 weeks of switching from Firefox back to IE to finally realize that Fox is better. I only use IE now in a rare occurance when a web page is not compatible with Firefox.

Yeah. I use firefox all the time, its great that its getting more publicity!

I tried Firefox, but it was slow for me..

I've been using, and continue to use, MyIE2 (now Maxthon).

Firefox seems nice, but after trying it out, I still prefer Maxthon.

Anything is better than plain old Internet Explorer though, that's for sure.

Swiched about a year ago to mozilla then to firefox. I wish that all websites were compatible then I would never have to use IE again :)

Yeah I was checking one of my weblogs for one of my sites and 90% of my visitors use firefox. I was like damn..

Jiggidatabbedbrowsing? I haven't noticed this feature yet. Do I have to turn it on? Color me confused

I love firefox, i've been using it for about a month or so now.
The only thing i have against it is the lack of 'save target as' function (though i'm probably not looking hard enough), makes saving 'files' so much damned harder :P

Seriously though, i think it's great, it's so much easier to use, and the multiple search thingy in the corner is my new best friend.

elwood, tabbed browsing is the best part of Firefox!
Hit ctrl-t and a new tab pops up. You can browse in that tab as well. The basic idea is you can have 10 websites open at once, all in one window. Middle click a link to open it in a new tab, middle click a tab to close it, or focus on it and hit the red x on the side.

I have switched all of my computers to firefox and a lot of friends have as well. many with older computers say that surfing is faster with firefox and i guess i would say the same. pages do load a bit quicker. all around i will not go back to IE anytime soon.

I love firefox since i switched it's made surfing fun again. I just hope that firefox doesn't become a victim of it's own success.

i switched to mozilla year or so back, havnt tried firfox. i resist change

The equivalent to 'save target as' in Firefox is 'save link as'. Does the exact same thing, just different wording.

And to stay on topic, I really like the download manager as well, helps me keep track of what I've downloaded and haven't downloaded. My only gripe is that sometimes it doesn't close when after it finished downloading a file even though I have it set to.

Got any examples?

I had to switch when some spyware got downloaded on my IE and i couldnt get it off using almost everything. IE sucked so bad. Firefox is what im using now and it's better in all aspects. Faster, cleaner just a better experience. I dont know why anybody would be using IE

I'm also going to have to call you out for examples. I'm on the Mozillazine boards a lot, and subscribe to many Firefox blogs, and I am not aware of any spyware that targets the Firefox 1.0 release. There were a couple around 1.0PR, but those security holes were fixed, and the end result of the spyware was to change things in IE, not Firefox, which was weird.

And let me take a step back, and assume you are correct in your statement. You are saying "I'd rather use Browser A, which looks like Swiss cheese, rather than Browser B, which has two holes in it"?

I haven't switched yet but I'm leaning more toward doing so now. My brother in law was one of the early adopters of Firefox and he raves about it every time I see him. I think he's a bit nutty but perhaps in this case he's got something. :D

Nice post Phred...

what do people use on mac osx ? i'm just using the standard safari that comes with it, but on my old pc i used opera which i really liked...

in firefox, if you want to move between tabs is there a keyboard short cut? eg: in opera ctrl + tab lets you flick between tabs, but this doesn't work in safari which i am finding tres anyoying! woudl appreciate it if someone could let me know.

Ctrl+Tab does cycle tween tabs. I'm on day two and this Firefox is most excellent, I can see why it is beating out Microsoft.

Ahhhhhh, thank you for that :thumbsup:

Yippie.......................................................

I just got firefox and it is SO MUCH worth it. Not having a pop up from whatever by MS or pop unders from the Gain Network makes this so much better. It is like Netscape without the spyware.

A question: What is some of the add-ons one can get with Firefox?

I just downloaded Firefox yesterday for my Mac (trying to see if I like it better than Safari). So far, I think it's pretty neat - and a lot faster than Safari or IE on loading certain pages. I had also tried Camino and OmniWeb before this, but I like this one better thus far. Just wish I could use it at work...XP blocks any application downloads. :(

I just got firefox a few days back and it is definetely the best browsers I have ever used. I gave up on Microsoft IE and switched to Opera. But recently that browser has been giving me problems as well .. it's slowing down and it's got too much fluff.. plus gmail doesnt work on it. The firefox seems to be working excellent so far .. i was so impressed that i got firebird.. the mail application which is equally good

I, too, am resitant to change. Being somewhat...older, I get set in my ways. However, I also get tired of having to have more security, on my home pc, than the CIA. I was drug, kicking and screaming, into the world of Firefox. I've picked up not so much as a single bug, or anything else, since. So, from my point of view, Microsoft has blown it. IE, in my estimation, could've been made more secure, but Microsoft didn't see the profit in that...I guess. Their loss...as I said, I tend to get set in my ways. It's going to take one hell of a lot for Billy boy to woo me back to IE. On the other hand, I remain loyal to MS Office, so perhaps he neither notices, nor cares.

there's a free cure for that, too. openoffice.org is an incredible application that does everything that ms office does, for free. i'm not a heavy office user, but it has met every one of my ms-office related tasks and handles all of the ms office filetypes without issue. another open-source goodie to consider.

is openoffice compatible with MS office? ie giving a presentation on a normal PC with MS office?

yep. openoffice has an application that allows you to view/manipulate .ppt presentations, as well as applications that allow you to use word files and excel files.

Saweet! Of course I find this out after everything's done for the semester, but will keep in mind. Thanks!

Is OpenOffice completely compatible with MSOffice yet? Last time I tried it, there were some nagging problems in it that caused me to switch back to MSOffice.

No, I don't remember what those were....excepting that they were problems with Word compatibility.