Mozilla and You

By Tom Ogg

Depending on how long you have been surfing the Web, you may remember the revolutionary browser named Mosaic. It was created by a non-profit organization known as the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) in 1993.
Many of the creators of Mosaic immediately saw the commercial value of the browser and left the non-profit organization to create Netscape and the commercially viable Netscape Navigator browser. Netscape Navigator was the browser of choice of every serious geek on the Internet. It had features that enabled users to personalize its use and subsequent releases just got better and better.
When Microsoft first bundled its Internet Explorer browser with its popular Windows operating system, it immediately garnered a good share of the browser market and put Netscape in the unenviable position of having to market a superior browser against a competitor that owned the operating system that included a competitive product.
While Netscape sued and the federal government intervened, by the time Microsoft had to change its ways, Netscape was all but lost. AOL took it over, but right before they announced its demise, an open source version of the Netscape code was given to the Mozilla Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to the open source movement on the Internet. “Open source” means “free software” to users — and the open source movement is doing quite well, thank you.
Since winning the lion’s share of the browser market, Microsoft has done virtually nothing to improve Internet Explorer and folks have simply accepted that using Internet Explorer was the only way to surf the Web. That is, until now.
Enter Firefox (www.Firefox.com), a new graphical browser that works 1,000 times better than Internet Explorer. It was developed by the Mozilla Foundation, and is 100% absolutely free of charge. You simply visit its Web site (www.getfirefox.com) and download it. There is nothing to register for and nothing to buy. It is the essence of the open source movement. So far, over 50 million users have made the switch from IE to Firefox and there are a substantial number of reasons for you to do the same.
First and foremost, Firefox is fast and stable. It is much faster than IE and does not have the same supporting capacity for ActiveX controls as IE does (ActiveX is critical for those trying to install spyware without your knowledge). Firefox has a built-in pop up blocker and enhanced security over IE. But that is not the real reason to switch (even though it certainly is enough). Firefox also offers tons of extras that are free for the download. Here is an idea of what you will find.

Firefox Extensions
Extensions are available (more every day) so that you can fine-tune your browsing experience. If you don’t like waiting while banner ad after banner ad loads you can use the AdBlock extension to block them. Don’t want to wait for Flash graphics? There is an extension that will replace the Flash with a button you can click if you do want to see it. Extensions come in all kinds of categories such as humor, news reading, Google tools, languages, and on and on. There are currently almost 500 different extensions that do just about everything under the sun you would want to do in a browser and they are all free of charge for the download. By using extensions, you can customize your Firefox browser into your personal Internet experience. Here are some examples of extensions you might want to add to Firefox.
ForecastFox: Get international weather forecasts from AccuWeather.com, and display them in any toolbar or status bar with this highly customizable and unobtrusive extension.
PDF Download: Allows you to choose whether you want to view a PDF file inside the browser (as PDF or HTML) or if you want to download it.
Foxy Tunes: Do you listen to music while surfing the Web? Now you can control your favorite media player without ever leaving the browser — and more.
Cute Menus: A simply breathtaking essential that enhances your menus with beautiful icons and also has an amazing XP skin (the geek term for themes/templates). Currently English (en-US), Italian (it-IT) and Russian (ru-RU) locales supported. Recommended: a clean install of this extension.
Session Saver: This restores your browser exactly as you left it, every startup, every time. Not even a crash will phase it. Windows, tabs, even things you were typing — they’re all saved.
Define Word: Look up definition of selected text using any of several search engines. The list of engines is configurable.

Other Firefox Features
Themes: Want to personalize the way your browser looks? Simply download and apply a theme to Firefox from the theme download center. They are free of charge, too. There are currently over 85 different themes to choose from with categories such as animals, sports, retro, nature, modern and so on. By using themes and extensions, you can build your own unique browser.
Plug-ins: Acrobat Reader, Real Player, Flash Player, Quick Time, Java, Shockwave and Windows Media Player are all plug-ins available for Firefox.
Make the move to Firefox and start enjoying your Web surfing experiences. You will be amazed at how much better it is than IE.

Tom Ogg is editor and publisher of www.CruiseReviews.com and www.PortReviews.com