MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Internet Explorer 7 will have tabs

hacker · 03-11-2005, 01:40 AM

I don't think users will switch back, for quite a few reasons:

The sheer number of secure extensions available for Firefox and Mozilla blows away anything Microsoft could even dream to provide for MSIE.
Firefox is significantly more secure with form data, cookies, passwords (Mozilla is even moreso), and offers a LOT more granular control over the overall browsing experience.
Themes, themes, themes. Windows users are used to eye-candy.
Bookmarks can be browsed like any other webpage, because, well, it is a webpage. Favorites with MSIE is just a mess, and it doesn't scale well at all.
With the new FF1.1 and Mozilla currently sitting in CVS, you can have per-site CSS overrides, which I've been asking for, for over 2 years now.
Websites look better in Firefox, because they render properly, including those which trigger quirks mode. MSIE still has some bass-ackwards interpretation of the standards, and as usual for Microsoft, gets them wrong anyway.
Migrating from Firefox on Windows, to Firefox on OSX or Linux or FreeBSD, is a 0-height learning curve. The same bookmarks exist and will continue to work. The interface, extensions, and other components are the same. You don't have to "relearn" how to use the browser, or configure it differently, when you move from platform to platform.
Firefox doesn't use ActiveX, so the number of possible entry points for inserting spyware and malware is significantly reduced (reducing support calls and costs, as well)
And last-but-not-least, you get the full source code, so you can see exactly what the browser is doing. No guesswork needed.

But, only the market will decide. Microsoft has lost the browser war, despite their dominance with it being the only icon-by-default on their OS.

03-11-2005, 01:40 AM	#3
hacker Technology Mercenary Posts: 617 Karma: 2561 Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: East Lyme, CT Device: Direct Neural Implant	I don't think users will switch back, for quite a few reasons: The sheer number of secure extensions available for Firefox and Mozilla blows away anything Microsoft could even dream to provide for MSIE. Firefox is significantly more secure with form data, cookies, passwords (Mozilla is even moreso), and offers a LOT more granular control over the overall browsing experience. Themes, themes, themes. Windows users are used to eye-candy. Bookmarks can be browsed like any other webpage, because, well, it is a webpage. Favorites with MSIE is just a mess, and it doesn't scale well at all. With the new FF1.1 and Mozilla currently sitting in CVS, you can have per-site CSS overrides, which I've been asking for, for over 2 years now. Websites look better in Firefox, because they render properly, including those which trigger quirks mode. MSIE still has some bass-ackwards interpretation of the standards, and as usual for Microsoft, gets them wrong anyway. Migrating from Firefox on Windows, to Firefox on OSX or Linux or FreeBSD, is a 0-height learning curve. The same bookmarks exist and will continue to work. The interface, extensions, and other components are the same. You don't have to "relearn" how to use the browser, or configure it differently, when you move from platform to platform. Firefox doesn't use ActiveX, so the number of possible entry points for inserting spyware and malware is significantly reduced (reducing support calls and costs, as well) And last-but-not-least, you get the full source code, so you can see exactly what the browser is doing. No guesswork needed. But, only the market will decide. Microsoft has lost the browser war, despite their dominance with it being the only icon-by-default on their OS.