Last night, I was made fun of for using Internet Explorer at work. At home and on my own laptop, I use Galeon. But, when confronted with a Windows PC that would be my work computer for 15 weeks, I lazily figured that the effort of installing any of my favorite open source software would be pointless. You see, I'm so convinced of Micro$oft's sucktitude that I assumed my life on Windows had to suck.
So, today, I finally installed Mozilla Firebird with the Windows Installer. Mozilla Firebird is the latest version of Netscape/Mozilla minus the chat client, mail client, and all the other stuff they throw in the normal distribution. I definitely suggest this wonderful software as a good trial to EVERYONE who has ever wanted to try out open source software, but didn't know where to start.
Benefits (aka, why I'm celebrating and why you should try it):
- The Google/DMOZ search bar is ready to go by default (click the search icon in the right to select Google or DMOZ)
- It is noticeably faster than IE on the slow connection at work. NOTICEABLY FASTER. Probably 25% faster.
- Tabbed browsing (Ctrl+T). If you haven't tried it, you should. I have cursed IE for its lack of tabs more than any other feature (and I didn't install mozilla, why?). Tabbed browsing is easily the best thing to happen to the browser market in the last 4 years.
- A Pop-up killer that is on by default (Tools-->Options-->Web Features). The time it took to install Firebird has already been recaptured in avoiding the pop-ups I would have had to close today if I hadn't installed it.
- An installer that is fast and works. Firebird runs immediately, even pulling the proxy data from IE's settings.
- It's free, and fights the power.
Okay, that's enough Mea Culpa and proselytizing for waiting this long to bail on IE. You should all make the switch, or at least try. It's sublime.
Update:
Of course, the bulletlists in bitingtonge look horrible. But, I generally prefer function over form.
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