Firefox & Windows Vista, Will they live together?
In the field of internet technology, a web browser
is a most essential tool, which is used to navigate
through, download various pages contained in the websites.
There are many web browsers which makes their way into
the internet business. A very few of them are most popular
ones. Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator, Mozilla
Firefox are among them. The internet explorer is the
default web browser in Windows operating system. However,
one can change the default browser, after installing
new browser. Among computer users, some users prefer
Internet Explorer some may prefer Mozilla Firefox or
even Netscape Navigator.
Mozilla Firefox web browser
Mozilla Firefox is one of the open source, free, cross-platform
web browser, developed by Mozilla Corporation and also
by hundreds of volunteers.
Firefox was first released under its name being Phoenix
during 2002.
The name was then changed to Firebird, due to trade
mark issues with Phoenix Technologies, a BIOS manufacturer.
The Firebird was the name that short lived because of
some other software had adapted the name.
This name had to be changed from firebird to Firefox.
As the name registered in United Kingdom, Mozilla Foundation
had to get license to use the name “Firefox”.
Firefox became the one of the most popular downloaded
application with the number of downloads skyrocketed
at nearly 25 million in 99 days, especially by the home
users.
Firefox was developed with the aim to reach the casual
users. The main features in Firefox includes tabbed
browsing, incremental find, live book marking, and customizable
download manager, and also includes, built in search
toolbar.
Tabbed browsing
The tabbed browsing enables users to view pages pertaining
to the same website in the same window rather than different
multiple windows. Incremental find is a new feature
which is found in latest applications. Incremental search
uses a new method of finding, where the instance of
text is found before one types the entire text to be
found.
This means the application will not wait for entire
text to be typed before beginning the process of searching.
Opening a new window will cause some disturbances when
the matched text lies behind the Find Window. So, some
modern, latest browsers make use of non-modal incremental
method to find text required. In Mozilla, the incremental
method is termed to be "Find as you type"
method.
Download manager with “resume previously stopped
download” feature
The download manager has got a “resume previously
stopped download” feature. This feature enables
one to cancel the download if the file size is too big
and wants to download later. The downloaded portion
of the file is kept as a temporary file in the hard
disk and when the file download is completely finished,
the download manager will build the required downloaded
file by combining the contents of temporary file with
the remaining downloaded file contents.
This feature enables the user to start downloading
from where it was stopped previously, instead of starting
from the beginning, if the download is cancelled due
to any reasons. The user extensions and plug-ins can
be downloaded and installed such that, it the web browser
gets more number of great features. The user can also
make use of skins through downloaded extensions. Different
skins enable the user to make use of the hidden features
easily.
Firefox supports many standards
Firefox gives support for many standards which includes,
HTML, XML, HTML, XML, XHTML, CSS, ECMAScript (JavaScript),
DOM, MathML, DTD, XSL and XPath and also includes support
for PNG images that have variable transparency.
Platform independent browser
Firefox is one of the platform independent browser
applications that provides support for and can run on
Microsoft Windows, MAC OS X and Linux based operating
systems. The freely available source of browser works
with many other operating systems. Firefox provides
an easy to use environment for web developers through
the built in tools. This includes tools such as JavaScript
Console, DOM inspector, JavaScript Debugger, and an
Integrated Development Toolkit called web developer.
Regarding security, Firefox has got tighter security
than other browsers.
Strictly follows the rules of W3C standards
Like other softwares and any other products, Firefox
has got its own problems and limitations. Firefox releases
have not yet passed Acid2 Standard compliance test.
Some users of Firefox say that the startup time of Firefox
is more than other web browsers especially in Windows
operating system. There is one more complaint over Firefox,
that is, the browser makes use of lot of memory resources.
Firefox users often complain that, the contents will
get rendered differently when they compare it using
internet explorer. This is because the browser strictly
follows the rules of W3C standards.
Firefox, don’t directly support the use of ActiveX
controls and VBScript coding. The browser however provides
an extension know as IE Tab, which enables Firefox to
make of internet explorer rendering engine. This solves
the problems relating to rendering and other Microsoft
technologies, but, puts one in danger of security vulnerability
that are found in Internet Explorer.
64-bit version of Firefox browser
Present version of Firefox is 1.5.0.6, which was released
during August 2006. The major version 1.5 was released
earlier on November 2005. Deer Park 1.6a1 is the 64-bit
version of Firefox browser, which was released during
March 2005. This version is said to quite buggy and
is still in its alpha. The features of Firefox 1.5 includes,
support for WHATWG’s canvas HTML element, rearranged
options for changing settings of the web browser. It
also includes a new option to clear only private data
which contains privacy related information. It also
has Gecko 1.8, which is the latest among Firefox’s
rendering engine. According to Mozilla plans, the future
of Firefox will see version 2.0 and 3.0. These versions
will have many different features, includes latest rendering
engine version 1.9. As we all know, that Microsoft,
the system software giant, is releasing its newer version
of Windows Family of operating system, Windows Vista
during late 2006 or early 2007. With Windows Vista nearing
the launch of first release candidate, application compatibility
is the main issue that is being discussed today. Application
compatibility is the study of testing whether the developed
application is compatible to run in the latest systems.
The problem arises, when the application is destined
to run on new system that is just released. The developer
should make sure that their developed application has
all required set of components to run on a system, and
also make sure that the given components runs fine in
all newer systems. If any problems at this stage, many
users may hold off upgrading. So, Microsoft has begun
to take measures, to make sure that a popular application
runs properly in Windows Vista.
Windows Vista Readiness ISV Lab
Microsoft is hosting a Windows Vista Readiness ISV
Lab. Here, softwares that are critical to the success
of the Windows Vista will be tested. "In the past
the company has only invited commercial software developers
to these labs. I'm committed to evolving our thinking
beyond commercial companies to include open source projects,
so I went to the non-trivial effort of getting slots
for non-commercial open source projects," writes
Sam Ramji, Director of the Open Source Software Lab
at the Microsoft. Ramji told that the company will be
providing "secure office space for 4 people, hardware,
VPN access, and 1:1 access to product team developers
and support staff."
Firefox safe alternative to Internet Explorer
However, Mozilla, till today, did not publicly respond
to the invitation, but said it is in contact with Microsoft
regarding the opportunity. Microsoft has taken decision
of not giving Internet Explorer 7.0 as a update to the
existing version in Windows XP. This has ignited criticisms
among various experts and users of Windows XP, Internet
Explorer together with Firefox. They say Firefox will
be the safer alternative in the future, in Windows XP,
in case, if Microsoft stops even providing security
updates to the existing Internet Explorer 6.0. Thus,
people will look for browsers other than Internet Explorer.
As a result of this, Internet Explorer may loose popularity
among XP users, who don’t want to upgrade to Windows
Vista, only for the sake of browser.
More than 200 million mozilla firefox downloads
Firefox will be having more global market share of
15 to 20%, with the download mark has crossed 200 million.
The Real Player media software will be offering Google
toolbar and Firefox browser. This will enhance marketing
for Firefox and the number of users will surely increase.
Along with its own market share, Firefox will be more
popular among the Real Player users. Real network distributes
two million copies of the multimedia software daily.
IE’s loss will be the Firefox’s gain
Firefox will be emerging as the top one among various
users. If Microsoft wants its user to keep browsing
things using Internet Explorer, then it must give out
Internet Explorer 7.0 at least to the users of Windows
XP. Otherwise, it will be the IE’s loss will be
the Firefox’s gain. Microsoft should think in
this direction. Another thing, Windows Vista is not
a free operating system. So, people go for free of cost,
more secure, robust operating systems like Linux. Since,
Firefox is platform independent browser; people will
be using Linux along with Firefox as their operating
system and browser tool. But, due to a number of attractive
features, people will go for MS-Products rather than
Linux. As long as two different browsers exists Browser
war will continue. The browser that survives the competition
will be the more secured, and feature rich one. Time
will decide which browser will survive the competition.
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