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This topic comprises 4 pages: 1 2 3 4
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Author
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Topic: Mozilla Firefox 0.9 - Opinions?
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Randy Stankey
Film God
Posts: 6539
From: Erie, Pennsylvania
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 06-19-2008 10:13 AM
Aside from the fact that FF is a better program, it's free and open source. You're not bound by the terms of a restrictive license just by using it. You can download it, use it, modify it and, if you see fit, you can simply throw it away and you'll be none the worse for the wear for having done it.
The second reason I like it is because, no matter what platform you use it on, the program looks and behaves virtually the same. You can use it on a Windows XP machine or with Vista. You can run it on a Mac or a Linux box and a few kinds of computers that most people have never even heard of. But, no matter what computer you use, it is the same. (Variations in operating system behavior notwithstanding.)
One of the most important things to remember, IMO, is that computers should bend to the will of the user, not the other way around. When a person sits down in front of a machine, it should behave the way he expects it to behave. He shouldn't have to learn a new way of doing things just because he's using a different machine than he did yesterday.
If I tell you to go to a certain website, I shouldn't have to worry about whether you are using Microsoft Windows Vista-Service Pack 2 and Explorer 7.1 or whether you are using Ubuntu Linux and Firefox 3. The website should just work.
When you go to a website and it says that it doesn't work with anything but Microsoft Internet Exploder it is like telling you that you can't drive your car on I-90 unless you have Michelin tires.
If you tried to drive your car on the freeway but somebody stopped you and tried to tell you that you can't use the road because you have the wrong tires, you'd be rip-shit! You'd be mad as hell! You should be able to drive your car on any road you want without worrying about what brand of tires you have. And, when you drive on that road, your car should behave just the way it did the last time you drove it on that road, or on any other road. You shouldn't have to learn to drive all over again because you choose to take a different route to your destination.
So, why do people happily accept that restriction because Microsoft shoves a new piece of software down their throats and tells them their computer won't work unless they use it?
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Chris Slycord
Film God
Posts: 2986
From: 청주시, 경북도, South Korea
Registered: Mar 2007
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posted 06-19-2008 10:20 AM
quote: Charles Greenlee
So whatcha got against us Windows users? Other than the fact that we're slaves to the microsoft machine?
Where did I say I had something against Windows users? When I need to, I use Windows too.
And no I'm not against MS; I just like linux. Heck, my dad works at Microsoft (on enterprise support for their project management tool).
I was simply pointing out that the spyware problem worked on windows only so anyone else (Macintosh, Linux, FreeBSD, etc) would not experience the problem. But someone willing to download the software from some random warez-like site is asking for trouble.
quote: Randy Stankey
the program looks and behaves virtually the same. You can use it on a Windows XP machine or with Vista. You can run it on a Mac or a Linux box and a few kinds of computers that most people have never even heard of. But, no matter what computer you use, it is the same. (Variations in operating system behavior notwithstanding.)
With the new version, the "look-and-feel" is a bit different between windows and linux. Some linux people complained for a long time that the software didn't blend well with gnome (and it's a gnome/gtk+ browser) so they changed it. But now the look is different from the windows client. Though that's a minor issue.
quote: Randy Stankey
If I tell you to go to a certain website, I shouldn't have to worry about whether you are using Microsoft Windows Vista-Service Pack 2 and Explorer 7.1 or whether you are using Ubuntu Linux and Firefox 3. The website should just work.
Reminds me that one of my old CS professors has his work and personal webpages with an icon stating "Best viewable in any browser.
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Randy Stankey
Film God
Posts: 6539
From: Erie, Pennsylvania
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 06-19-2008 03:00 PM
It is slightly different but still substantially the same so that one can go from one platform to another and use the program with a minimal learning curve. If one is familiar enough with Linux, the differences between the platforms should be next to nill.
When a company builds a website, they are trying to attract business or provide a service to their existing customers. To that end, it is in the company's best interest to be sure that their website works well with the widest possible audience.
To use the car analogy, telling customers that they can't use your website unless they use a certain browser would be like building a store and telling customers that they can't park in the parking lot unless they are driving a Chevrolet.
It doesn't make sense to advertise a product or provide a service then cut out part of your customer base.
The standard argument against it is to say that 80% of the people out there use "Platform X" so I'll standardize on that. That's a spurious argument because they are, in essence, saying that they willingly leave 20% of their potential customer base out in the cold. Computers are compatible enough, these days, and standards are established enough that it doesn't take a whole lot of work to make your product work with all (or most) platforms.
The bottom line is that they stand to open up their potential pool of customers by 10% or even 20% if they were only willing to spend a little bit more time and exercise a few more brain cells.
That's a no-brainer!
Back to Firefox...
I've been using it on all the platforms I am responsible for maintaining for a couple of years, now. I only find websites where it won't work, maybe once or twice per year. In those instances, I am usually able to switch to Safari or Opera and get the site to operate well enough to get what I want.
I really don't use Internet Exploder unless the computer I happen to be using doesn't have FF on it. If I have time and/or permission from the person who uses/owns the computer I will install it but there are a lot of times when I'm only using the machine for five minutes. I just let those machines go.
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Scott Jentsch
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1061
From: New Berlin, WI, USA
Registered: Apr 2003
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posted 06-23-2008 03:33 PM
I've been using FF3 since release day, and it's pretty much the same as FF2 from a compatibility and usability standpoint.
It does appear to be faster when rendering pages that contain lots of JavaScript and AJAX stuff, and Flash doesn't seem to drag it down like in FF2. The "awesome bar" kind of cool and the new bookmark functionality is nice.
For the most parts, it's just as good as FF2, and better. I've run into very few rendering differences, and those that I have noticed were easily modified and were probably more a result of my own implementation of CSS markup than of Firefox being "wrong."
IE7 is a very good browser. Leagues better than IE6, which should be banished from the Internet (you should not be allowed to connect to the Internet with a known accomplice of evil of the likes of IE6). For my purposes, FF3 is a better browser than IE7. Extensions are pretty cool, though, so anyone the slightest bit unhappy with the functionality of IE should really take a look at FF.
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