I've been a long-standing user of Mozilla's Firefox application as an alternative to Internet Explorer. Being an advocate for open-source technologies, I (of course) frequently take the opportunity to extoll the advantages of open-source alternatives to non-technologically-inclined friends of mine.
Recently, I asked a friend why she was still using Internet Explorer, and why she didn't download Firefox. She asked me why she should. I found that I could best answer her question by demonstrating it...but on further reflection, being able to formulate these differences in writing is important if more people are going to consider making the switch.
So, why use Firefox over Internet Explorer? I abandoned Internet Explorer for another browser, Opera, years ago...and then switched again, to Firefox. I initially moved away from Internet Explorer because I was worried about its security glitches...and, right at that moment, someone posted a thread on Sharky Forums asking users to take the Opera challenge. It was something along the lines of a friendly bet that anyone who used Opera for a week wouldn't go back to Internet Explorer afterwards.
He was right...I didn't.
For the sake of making a comparison, I fired up my Internet Explorer installation again, just to reassure myself that it hadn't undergone some transformation into being a real browser while my back was turned. It hadn't.
This is an interesting comparison, incidentally, because Internet Explorer is also a free product...and to most end-users, there is little different between "free" and "open-source" ...I find it interesting that Firefox appears to offer far more flexibility, a much greater collection of customizations and add-ins (Mozilla calls them "extensions") and is widely regarded to offer more stability, security and speed than Internet Explorer. Perhaps this isn't so surprising when you remember that being an open-source product, Firefox has hundreds of developers working to add functionality to it, contributing possibilities in all directions.
Without further ado, I'll summarize my main reasons for advocating a switch to Firefox:
- Firefox is more secure.
This may be a moot point once Firefox becomes more popular, since many people have pointed out that Internet Explorer's monopoly position makes them the prime target for attacks, but the fact remains that, right now, Firefox is more secure than Internet Explorer. Though to be fair, Firefox has had its occasional security flaw.
- Firefox is more stable.
I can't comment on this directly, since it's been a long time since I've used Internet Explorer, and it's entirely possible that it's become more stable since then. On the other hand, it's also entirely possible that it's gotten worse. However, my memories of Internet Explorer are of an unstable application that would frequently crash, sometimes requiring a complete reboot of my computer. Under Windows XP, I expect this not to be the case.
Firefox, though it does occasionally crash (like everything in the Windows world), gives me the gut feeling that it's more stable.
- Firefox prepares you for Linux.
Yes, this is a reason. Firefox works the same way across all platforms...meaning that if you learn Firefox, or if you teach others to use Firefox, you are teaching them how to use a program that is ubiquitous across all operating systems. This means they'll be equally comfortable using a Mac, a Linux machine, or a Windows machine...and it opens the door to an eventual switch to the Linux operating system, both for your personal desktop use and for community technology centers.
- Firefox is flexible.
Firefox lets me customize and change it as much as I like. I can add extensions to add different functions to my browser, or leave it as-is. To do the same in Internet Explorer, you have to rely on unsupported third-party applications, many of which are by commercial developers who have their own motives in mind, which may not coincide with yours. The multitude of Internet Explorer "toolbars" which come with spyware or malware built-in is an argument, all by itself, in favor of Internet Explorer.
I personally would have switched just for the ability to use mouse gestures and for the built-in Google search (a la Safari) ...which I now have set up so it translates languages for me, searches on the engine of my choice (including Amazon book searches or Pricewatch price comparison searches for products) and can even find me a recipe based on ingredients I type in. Oh, and my browser also controls my music player in the background (Itunes for me, but it can work with anything), FTP's, and shows me current weather information and a 5-day forecast, all without getting in the way of my browsing. But the true reason to switch is not the specific features that Firefox offers that IE doesn't...it's the flexibility that Firefox offers, which IE doesn't. This means that I can customize Firefox to do what I want it to do, and how I want it to do it. I can do this without worrying about security issues or bugs, and I can do it directly from within the browser...I look at my extensions, click on the link to find more extensions, and browse for the ones that look interesting, all in a nicely organized central repository. Internet Explorer, on the other hand, can be tweaked to provide more functionality only if you hunt around on the internet for add-ins...most (possibly none) of which aren't supported by Microsoft, and no one's responsible if it makes your computer cry afterwards.
I will say one thing in favor of Internet Explorer, though...for people in the search engine optimization world, the all-important Google toolbar doesn't yet have a fully-functional Mozilla counterpart, as far as I know. However, this is a very, very tiny minority of the brower-using population.
Community Technology Centers need to become more aware of the options that open-source technologies have to offer. The benefits of greater security and flexibility on a private machine are only multiplied when we're talking about a public-use facility. The flexibility and power of Firefox, when compared to Internet Explorer, makes me wonder why public computing labs are still using Internet Explorer at all.
