Hello,
I do not use firefox, but I have heard SO much about it. I am pretty close to downloading it to see what all the hype is about. Can anyone give me some info on it? Someone on my site has questions about it too and I don't have any answers to give them. Any help?
Thanks
Basically with the advent of IE7 Firefox is relegated to fanboyism and rebellion against the machine. It's main selling feature was that it lacked ActiveX, thus supposedly making it more secure, as that was IE6's weakest link.
It had it's pros and cons. It did make it more secure in some aspects, but it came at a price. A lot of multimedia and interactive content on the internet utilizes ActiveX. You don't have that, you miss out. Plus, IE7 cracked down on the rogue use of ActiveX by prick websites that automatically installed spyware and other shit on your computer without your permission, so now websites have developed a way to get around that. Unfortunately for the fanboys they are now equally affected.
Firefox doesn't even have the advantage of tabbed browsing anymore. IE7 incorporated that as well. The only advantage Firefox has left is plugins, but whoopdidoo. I surf just fine, and I don't have any.
Firefox doesn't even have a speed advantage. Both Opera and IE7 render faster than Firefox. Firefox also has performance issues on certain rigs (for what reason I'm not exactly sure).
Although there is a worldwide web standard which Firefox adheres to, like it or not with the massive lion's share of the market that IE has, IE IS the standard. With this in mind, many websites code for IE. As a webmaster I can tell you that it is a total pain in the ass trying to code for Firefox after you have the page looking great in IE. I have lost my temper with it more than once. It can be done, and I have certainly done it, but it's a serious pain.
Soooo... If you're looking for the best web browsing experience with the most suitable compromise, the latest version of the IE7 browser is definitely the best choice to make. Coupled with Microsoft Defender, Ewido and Avast! it's practically bulletproof. You have to run those programs whether you have Opera, Firefox or IE, so you might as well run IE.
Now, if you're just simply using it to surf for "pics" (no, I'm not suggesting anything), then Opera might be a viable option. It also has tabs and no ActiveX.