Firefox 1.0.3 and Adblock . . . thank you Mozilla!!!

Mozilla Firefox 1.0.3 was released not long ago . . . a security update.

That had me poking around on the Firefox Extensions page where I noticed a newish extension called Adblock . . . It’s now #2 on the most popular list. I can see why. Just get rid of the ads or advertisers you wish to never see again! What a concept. Real life should be this good! Zap! You're gone.

http://adblock.mozdev.org/

 

. . . And then you are back to being vulnerable to all kinds of netcrap because you opened IE!

Out of principal, if a website requires me to only use IE, I will not fire-up IE and revisit that site . . . . no matter how convenient a Firefox extension makes it to do so.

If these website admins don’t see a drop in their visitor numbers because of the rising popularity of Firefox and the other non-IE browsers, they will not feel motivated to change their websites to W3C compliance.

This holds especially true for commerce sites. If they don’t see a drop in their sales numbers, why bother changing?

The last website I ran into problems with in trying to place an order with Firefox was Costco. It wasn’t any exclusive item I could only get from Costco online . . . but I could not make it to the checkout. On the phone their tech support dude said, “Oh, that’s your problem . . . you are using Firefox and not IE.†I replied with, “No, I am using Firefox and not IE . . . that is YOUR problem.†He then said, “Just because a few people want to use a boutique browser doesn’t mean our programmers are going to rewrite all the software.†I asked, “Is that a directive from your Board of Directors or a mandate from the Stockholders? . . . Don’t bother trying to answer, just cancel my online account and remove my email address because I will look upon any email from Costco as spam if I can’t order from your site without the hazards of using IE.†He abruptly said, “hold on, I will transfer you to my manager.â€

I went through kind of the same exchange with the manager, but he said that he uses Firefox at home and wishes Costco would change too . . . but that they wouldn’t as long as customers are willing to start-up IE to place the order. Gerrrrrrr!!!! :x

I’m sure IEVIEW works wonderfully, after all it is Mozilla - but isn’t that just making it a little easier to help perpetuate the evil empire’s strangle hold? . . . which by the way stifles a lot of advancements, change and creativity on the net, thereby forcing these sites remain IE only compliant.

 

I beg to differ with those points of view you read saying that Firefox is safe for now because it has less users.

1) Firefox is open source. Anybody, including you and I, can download and look at the code from which Firefox is made. IE on the other hand is closed source . . . only Microsoft knows what is in there . . . and even they aren’t sure exactly what all the parts are, or why or what they are doing there. If there were anything untoward placed in the code of Firefox, thousands of programers around the world would scream bloody murder. Who knows what’s in IE??? Since black hat hackers also have access to the Firefox code, if there were lots of easy hacks to be had, we would see the exploits!

2) IE is an inseparable part of the Windows operating system. Hack into an IE vulnerability and you are in the OS itself. Firefox is a stand alone component.

3) The average Firefox user is a much more advanced user, and holds their browser to a much higher standard than the average Joe who uses IE . . .#1) because it was just there and are lazy . . . or #2) because they don’t know any better.

4) Firefox is built on much newer - and much less bloated - code work. If there is a vulnerability found in Firefox, it is much easier to fix. Micro$$$ must worry if the fix to an IE exploit is going to decompose the OS, Word, Office, Excel, PowerPoint, Bob, etc. Firefox 1.0 has only been out since November, and already they are up to FF1.0.3 mainly to take care of security issues. There are still problems with IE6, which was released in 2001, for which Microsoft can not fix . . . least they break the OS or kill required functionality.

Micro$$$ says they are going to release a beta version of IE7 this summer. I wonder if this means they changed their stance on only making the new IE versions available with purchase of a new OS? I think it’s vapor ware (it’s Micro$$$’s style) . . . “Just be patient there Joe Public, we are going to come out with something real sooooooon which is much better than that other yucky program . . . that other program is baaaaaaad.†Truth be told . . . I bet it’s final release will probably be with Longhorn . . . whenever that sliding scale finally stops.

2007? :roll: :lol:

 

Rick, As we all know -at least I hope we all know - the act of printing a statement never makes that statement true and correct.

If that were the case, I would never have bought a Prius. There seems to be more bad printed regarding the Prius than good.

One must also consider the source . . . and the source for a lot of Firefox bashing is Micro$$$$’s PR goons . . . much the same way many of the misconceptions regarding the Prius emanates from GM.

Glad to hear you are a FF convert. . Competition is good. Firefox is scaring M$$$ to the point that they have now re-maned their IE department to make improvement in the browser after eight long years of stagnation. Now it is their turn to try to play catch-up . . . but their browser people have already hinted that tabbed browsing won’t be a new feature for IE.