Firefox is an Open Source web browser, funded through the Mozilla Foundation setup by AOL and actively developed by engineers from IBM and Sun Microsystems. The volunteer community generally provides testing.
Is Firefox a bad web browser? No. Is it the next coming of the Almighty? According to some it would seem that way. It is one thing recommending a program, it is entirely another to preach about something as if you were part of a religious cult. Seriously how sad is it that a program needs a web page like this:
www.spreadfirefox.com
"Welcome to Spread Firefox. You are our marketing department, a diverse community of people tired of swatting popups, chasing spyware, combating identity theft and installing security updates you could set your watch to. You have a vision of the 21st century web and are ready to push it to the world, wresting control from a monopoly that has let it stagnate. We'll provide the tools, but you will drive campaigns that will be rolled out here over the coming months."
You can see clearly here this site is less about recommending a better browser and more about a crusade against Microsoft. But to have your crusade you must have a Religion and of course followers. To recruit followers you need beliefs.
Beliefs:
Beliefs through propaganda? Yes, Firefox is being marketed as if it is superior to Internet Explorer in regards to Pop-ups, Spyware and Security. How convenient of the Firefox followers to leave out the other side of the story:
The Dark Side:
Internet Explorer with Service Pack 2 installed for Windows XP is just as secure as Firefox in relation to Spyware and Pop-ups. Service Pack 2 includes the following security enhancements relating to Internet Explorer:
1. Built-in Pop-up Blocker
2. ActiveX Installation Warning System
3. Removal of MSJVM from Windows
These features eliminate the threat of auto install Spyware. However like anything, Spyware can still infect people via ignoring the warnings or installing applications with bundled Spyware. How many people do you think who are told to use Firefox are told this? How many people are told there is a solution to the Spyware problem even without SP2 (though SP2 makes it much easier) by using SpywareBlaster, the Google Toolbar and uninstalling MSJVM manually? I'm guessing zero.
15% of web pages aren't completely compatible with Firefox:
Firefox is not 100% Internet Explorer and ActiveX compatible. Web pages that depend on ActiveX or were only tested in Internet Explorer will only render and work properly in Internet Explorer based browsers. Web page features such as Menus, Web forms or other content may not function or behave differently then intended. This means that someone using Firefox may come across a website that does not look or work right. This is pretty significant information that is conveniently left out by the legions of Firefox followers.
The Security Myth:
"Firefox is 100% Secure", simply not true. While it is hard to call Internet Explorer secure with all the security patches, you cannot say Firefox is completely secure either. Firefox currently has five security vulnerabilities in its v1.x browser, Secunia vulnerability Report - Firefox. Keep in mind too Firefox has only been out for a year and Internet Explorer is up to version 6. Five vulnerabilities are significant especially when a product is touted as "Secure".
Firefox does not include a digital signature verifier like VeriSign for the web browser or it's plug-ins by default. This means that when you download Firefox or it's associated plug-ins you cannot be sure they are legitimate. Why is this a problem? Say you are recommended to download Firefox by a not so honest person who directs you to a link on their site but has recompiled the browser bundling it with Spyware. How would you know it is not the legitimate installation of Firefox? You wouldn't because there is no digital signature to verify it. Again for a program so hyped about Security they failed to include one of the most critical aspects that verify the program is what it claims to be, before you install it! Irony?
Innovations:
Firefox is being touted as having innovated features as if it invented them, such as tabbed browsing and Pop-up blocking. I'm sorry to be the historian and ruin everyone's party but Opera has had these "Innovations" for years. So have other web browser like Avant Browser, Maxthon (MyIE2) and these programs all implement the system better.
Followers:
Firefox followers can be anyone but obviously people with too much time on their hands. Let me clear something up, there are many respectable users of Firefox who use it and understand it for what is and do not preach it but recommend it. These are the same respectable people who have always done this with every program they have used. This new trend of the "Followers" does not include them. For to become a Follower you have to submit to the hype and preach the beliefs. At which point you become part of the religion, Spamming "Firefox Rules!" everywhere you go. As an example of how ridiculous it has become, I submit the following from a news article:
"All of this has been a pinch-yourself experience for Mozilla's Baker. A former Netscaper, she became accustomed to laboring in obscurity during the Mozilla project's early days. Now she's struggling with the group's recognition. She gets buttonholed by parents at her son's school and approached by strangers at exercise class.
Recently, after Baker handed a Mozilla T-shirt to a friend at Trapeze Arts, the circus-skills gym where she works out, a nearby woman burst out: "Are you from Mozilla? Firefox changed my life!" She then kneeled and bowed before a stunned Baker."
Need I say more?
The Religion:
I've never seen anything as crazy as the Firefox Followers who bombard everyone with "Use Firefox, Take Back the Web!" "Firefox Rules!" Slogans, signatures advertisements ect... Its not just in forums its now in magazines, newspaper ads, bumper stickers, it's everywhere and it's down right annoying. This is like the Jehovah Witness follower who keeps coming to your door even though you're not interested. Honestly I'm a little scared that there is a generation of kids out their who have been brain washed to spending a good portion of their life promoting a web browser as if it was their religion. If I had known this I could have utilized this army of zombies to promote "Use Antivirus Software! So you stop sending me infected E-mails!" Which is probably a more useful allocation of resources anyway but I will leave the Religion founding to the pros over at www.spreadfirefox.com
Now, you understand why i promote Deepnet.
Get Deepnet, the browser of 21st century, which is full of "innovations" and over 99% secure
