I went to the Mozilla web site to download their latest browser, Firebird. It simply doesn't run on this system, and attempting to do so has made the rest of my apps behave strangely. The icons on my Internet Explorer toolbar, for example, are all black now as a result of this little experiment. (No, I haven't rebooted yet, but I intend to do so -- that will most likely solve the problem.) I guess I'll try using Mozilla instead. After using Mozilla at home for a while, I've come to like it quite a bit. Especially when compared to Internet Explorer, although that's not much of a comparison. Saying that Mozilla is a better browser than Internet Explorer is kind of like saying that I'm better in bed than Don Knotts. *snicker*
Posted by Zathras at August 20, 2003 03:32 PMMozil who? Netscape seems to be going the way of the lightpen
Posted by: Shaw at August 20, 2003 05:07 PMOdd that Firebird doesn't run for you... I've been using it exclusively for about a month and a half on fairly clunky systems with minimal problems. If it doesn't run after a reboot, you should send a bug report to the project team and let them know what's up. They can't fix it if they don't know that nothing is wrong! :-)
As for what browser is best, the Mozilla line has so many more features that I can't understand why anybody uses IE aside from sheer laziness. In terms of usage, yeah, it doesn't have *as many* users, but that's in the same sense that Trillian has fewer users than AIM and Linux has fewer users than Windows -- they're all cases of software being good enough to slowly overcome the serious advantage of not being bundled with an OS/ISP package.
Posted by: Moggy at August 20, 2003 05:53 PMI'll probably file a bug report tomorrow -- the symptoms of the problem are really weird, and I didn't feel like taking the time and trouble of getting into it today. Besides which, considering that I'm running Windows ME, it's like as not a problem with my OS, not with the browser.
As for which browser to use, most people use IE, as you say, simply because it's bundled with Windows. Most people just aren't computer literate enough to even understand how another browser can enhance their 'Net experience, let alone be bothered to download and install it. Most people's attitude, if they even *know* about other browsers (and most people don't), is that IE works, so there's no reason to mess with alternatives.
Posted by: Zathras at August 20, 2003 06:37 PM