Mozilla? Firefox?

[Dogmudgeon]

I want to try a non-IE browser. Which of these should I download? Mozilla develops each of them and I'm not sure what the differences (other than file size) are.

Input? Input!

--bkl

[Gothic Sponge]

1. Don't know, but i love Firefox.

[MSgt213]

2. download fire fox 1.0. little over 8 gigs

[Gothic Sponge]

3. 8GB? It's only 4.7MB

[MSgt213]

6. Opps. I was thinking of another program entirely when I wrote that. Sorry

[DELUSIONAL]

4. The name at the top of my browser says "Mozilla Firefox"

their newest version is ready for downloading. I got my copy at http://www.cnet.com

go to the download section.

Mozilla Firefox -- two names for the browser. I need to upgrade.

This is far superior to IE -- NO pop ups and no data miners.

[Bark Bark Bark]

5. "Mozilla? Firefox?"

I use Mozilla. Firefox is Mozilla-Lite, smaller and supposedly faster, but lacking minor things that make Mozilla such a joy, like the Component Bar. Mozilla comes with its own mail program; I think Firefox doesn't. But ohhhhhh yeah, you DO want to try a non-IE browser.

Be sure to look for extensions, skins, and such as Mozilla.org and Mozdev.org, regardless of whether you pick Mozilla or Firefox. And KEEP YOUR ORIGINAL INSTALLER, because sometimes an upgrade won't be compatible with your various attached applications and you can fix that by reinstalling the old version.

[Dogmudgeon]

7. Skins I don't need ...

... but extensions and plug-ins, yes. It would also be nice if it had a COM/ActiveX interface or some way to program it. I'm an accomplished VB/VBA programmer but Microsoft doesn't make access to the browser's COM interface easy. I've heard that Mozilla offers Python as a plug-in.

I always keep the original installers, too. Us Microsoft developers are notorious for writing software that doesn't clean up after itself.

Thanks!

--bkl

[LSatyl]

16. XUL/Javascript is the way

It would also be nice if it had a COM/ActiveX interface or some way to program it.

A COM/ActiveX interface will not be implemented, it is a proprietary technique of Microsoft. Programming Firefox is done in XUL/Javascript.

Taka a look at the http://www.mozilla.org/projects/firefox/extensions/">Firefox Extension documentation, and at the XUL homepage. The documentation is excellent, and there are a great number of tutorials to be found.

And of course the MozillaZine forums.

[Dogmudgeon]

20. I've been looking at it

Actually, XUL includes a COM proxy.

COM, by the way, is not Microsoft-exclusive; ActiveX is a brand name of a particular implementation. COM is similar to CORBA but with different strengths and weaknesses. This is probably why so many platforms and products, like XUL, have COM implementation.

(I love ActiveX on the desktop and the intranet, but it's death for internet use -- it's completely insecure, open and undefendable.)

I'll have to spend a few hours getting familiar with the features and tutorials.

Javascript, I never much liked, but I haven't looked at it much since it was brand-spankin'-new, so I'll have to check it out again.

Thanks for the development advice ... I feel like I'm starting all over again. One of the Joys of Outsourcing :) .

--bkl

[donachiel]

8. I run am running the latest firefox beta.

It's much cleaner for most web pages. If you need a plugin, it gets it for you and installs it. No more having to go to their website and all that.

[LSatyl]

9. Get Firefox, 1.0 is just released

Mozilla is an internet suite, it consists of a browser, e-mail client, html editor, irc client and more. The main component of the Mozilla project is XUL, a platform independent rendering engine (a piece of software which converts text (html) to pictures (the image you see on the monitor)).

Since most people however do not need a suite, but only a browser or a mail client, a number of new projects were started. They all use the XUL engine, and that makes them part of the Mozilla project (as opposed to the Mozilla suite).

Since you want to try a non-IE browser, I advise Firefox. Firefox has a number of exciting new browser features not (yet) found in the Mozilla suite (I particularly like the search in status bar as opposed to a popup window).

In short:

complete internet suite: Mozilla
browser: Firefox
mail client: Thunderbird
calendar: Sunbird

[RogueTrooper]

11. I am a firefox convert

it is an excellent browser. I particularly like the tabbed notebook; I joy to use when you are cruising DU. I have just started using Thunderbird and, thus far, I am very pleased with this package.

[LSatyl]

13. I've switched everyone in my family

They've been using Firefox since the 0.8 release. The 0.9 release was somewhat of a bummer, but the 1.0 is back up to par. There are only a few sites which have rendering problems. I've also noticed a change in the support of e.g. banks. In the last few months more and more sites have officially started supporting Mozilla, and by extension Firefox.

Which is a Good Thing (tm) :evilgrin:

[Jon8503]

10. Definitily Firefox; way above the rest.

[BlueEyedSon]

12. Happy Firefox user here too. Also replaced my email client with

Thunderbird.

No, not the whisky, silly!

[seeker4ever]

14. FireFox

[Dogmudgeon]

15. Okay. I just installed Mozilla 1.7

Initial impressions:

1. It's extremely fast.

2. It can't save web pages in MHT format, which I prefer.

3. The caret (insertion point) is very thick and partially covers up the last character of text. Maybe it can be tweaked.

4. I think Mozilla does expose a COM interface so I can use VB to program it. I DLed the whole suite because it seems to have more development tools.

5. The old Netscape toolbar -- yecch. I never did like it.

6. The pop-up blocker seems to interrupt pop-ups before my old blocker intercepts them. Probably enhances the speed.

I'll look around and see what else there is to see.

--bkl

[ordinaryaveragegirl]

18. Mozilla

Not a huge fan of the toolbar either, but it sure beats IE hands down. I run into issues occasionally, but I'm also running on a 5 y/o system, so that probably has a lot to do with it. Basically, it does the job and I'm fairly happy with it. I may have to check into Firefox, though.

[Bark Bark Bark]

19. "Okay. I just installed Mozilla 1.7"

>5. The old Netscape toolbar -- yecch. I never did like it.

Aye, hence the skins. I'm using the Orbit 3+1 theme, nice big pretty colorful buttons for my poor straining eyeballs to focus on.

I'm pretty ignorant about development, just a surfin' slob--so you and I are looking for different things--but I love all the stuff I can tack onto Moz: clock, calendar, leech, spell check, auto-hide sidebar, etc., as well as the easy-access stuff like Password and Cookie Managers. And for the pages that refuse to be made compatible with IE, there's even IE View.

I switched to Moz before Firefox and Thunderbird were released, and frankly don't want to start all over again. Happy with Mo'.

[IronLionZion]

17. firefox all the way

I like small and simple. But if you want extra stuff, you can customize it with whatever extensions you want

[geekgrrl]

21. Firefox!! why do people still use IE when there are so many choices...

I used Mozilla for a while but I missed some of the bookmark/history features in Firefox. Mozilla also has an emial program I don't need.

I also use Safari a lot but it isn't up on all the cool features yet.

[flvegan]

22. Overwhelmingly Firefox. eom

[jimbo fett]

23. Safari rocks!

[jakpalmer]

24. Don't forget the extensions !

If you had to choose only one, get "Adblock". It's a must have:
Completely removes annoying ads from web pages (including flash ads).
Pages load faster and it's very easy to customize.

[lpbk2713]

25. I"ve been using Mozilla 1.7 for some time now

and have no complaints at all. Whichever browser you decide on you'll be better off than with MSIE. If for no other reason than the vast majority of viruses, trojans, etc are targeted at MSIE and they need that browser to make them work. If you are now having a problem with pop-ups you will be pleasantly surprised after you make the change.