Newsletter

The Boston Globe Upgrade column

Bray, Hiawatha

2004

Overview

In the past two weeks, Internet users have downloaded over 4.5 million copies of Firefox, the excellent browser available for free from the nonprofit Mozilla Foundation. Yes, there are hundreds of millions of IE users, but Firefox is gaining fast, and IE is losing market share for the first time in years. The switch to Firefox will happen even faster as more people realize the full power of this browser, much of it provided by computer hobbyists who are scrambling to create a cornucopia of useful add-ons. For instance, Firefox extensions can be created by amateurs with limited programming skills. \"With IE . . . you need to be a sort of hard-core Windows developer,\" [Ben Goodger] said. \"With Firefox, you just need to know the kinds of things a Web developer might know,\" relatively simple scripting languages like Javascript. Happily, the Firefox extenders are assembling worthy rivals to IE's offerings. PRGooglebar, for instance, does everything the original Google bar does, except for blocking pop-ups, which Firefox already does. As for Pluck, the company has received so many requests from Firefox users that it plans to offer a compatible version sometime next year.

• Publisher: Tribune Content Agency LLC
• Subject: Accuracy / Advertising / Alliances / Anti-virus software / Antitrust / Arrays / Automatic identification / Back up systems / Bankruptcy / Bans / Bar codes / Basketball / Biggins, Byron / Blogs / Blu-ray discs / Broadband / Broadcasting industry / Buildings / Bureaucrats / Cable TV / Cables / Candidates / Cellular telephones / Child support / Cigars / Clocks & watches / Competition / Computer industry / Computer viruses / Computers / Consumers / Cooling / Copyright / Court decisions / Credit card industry / Credit cards / Customer services / Customers / Cybercrime / Cybersecurity / Data compression / Data encryption / Defective products / Deutsch, Sarah / Digital audio players / Digital broadcasting / Digital music / Digital rights management / Digital signatures / Digital video / Digital video recorders / DVD recorders / Editing / Editorials / Educational software / Electric rates / Electricity distribution / Electronic commerce / Electronic mail systems / Electronics industry / Employment / Encyclopedias / Engineers / FDA approval / Federal court decisions / Federal regulation / File sharing / Filtering systems / Firewalls / Frumin, Michael / Games / Haberstroh, Brian / Hard disks / Hatch, Orrin G / HDTV / Headphones / Higginson, Timothy / High definition television / History education / Instant messaging / Intellectual property / Internet / Internet access / Internet Protocol / Internet service providers / Internet telephony / Inventors / Inventory / Inventory control / Journalists / Keyboards / Lasers / Law enforcement / Libraries / Library associations / Light / Linford, Steve / Linux / Marketing / Microprocessors / Monopolies / Motion picture directors & producers / Motion pictures / Music / Music industry / Musical recordings / Names / Network security / Online advertising / Operating systems / Passports & visas / Passwords / Peer to peer computing / Personal computers / Personal digital assistants / Personal information / Physics / Political conventions / Pornography & obscenity / Power / Power plants / Power supply / Privacy / Product reviews / Profits / Public interest / Pulver, Jeff / Puritanism / Radio broadcasting / Radio frequency identification / Radio stations / Radios / Raymond, Philip / Recording industry / Retail sales / Retail stores / Search engines / Security management / Security systems / Semiconductors / Servers / Service introduction / Sex offenders / Silicon wafers / Software / Software development / Software industry / Software quality / Software upgrading / Steinhardt, Barry / Stock prices / Students / Television programs / Text messaging / Textbooks / Tombros, Nicholas / Transistors / von Finckenstein, Konrad / Web browsers / Webcasting / Websites / Willner, Michael / Windows operating system / Wireless access points / Wireless networks / Work stations / World War II / Wrist / Writers / Zatko, Peiter Mudge