Web developers have enough problems trying to make their websites render and operate in different browsers. Or worse yet… some do not try at all. Only testing and making it work in Microsoft Internet Explorer! This annoys us all who “choose” not to use Windows or IE. Web standards should always be followed so websites work for all in the perfect world.

It always amazes me that a website will work fine with Safari, Opera, Firefox, Netscape, on different platforms. And then you realize that it does not display correctly in Microsoft Internet Explorer. Just because there is a lot of something, does NOT make it a standard. It’s no secret – web developers are unhappy with IE. That no innovation has happened to IE in years. That IE of offers little in advanced features to users.

Having IE render sites differently and not strictly supporting web standards is not an accident with MS IE. It is a business decision in my opinion. Microsoft already dropped further development of IE for Macintosh and never supported Linux users. Microsoft has been using their desktop monopoly to control the way websites are built and users suffer for this. This is a lot like what they did with Office. Remember the Word Perfect/MS Office wars? Keeping their desktop monopoly has always been priority one!

Microsoft first announced that they would not provide a new stand-alone browser. Telling users they would need to buy a new version of Windows, just to get a new browser. This strategy only works when you totally dominate with market-share. Well that is changing. Firefox, the open source solution developed by Mozilla, started making real moves in market-share against IE. Firefox, doubled users between January and April 2005 hitting the number two spot with a 10.28 percent share of the market.

Much of this is due to IE’s terrible track record for security. Firefox has no support for VBScript and ActiveX, two technologies which are the reasons for many IE security holes. Microsoft has not had any advancements in IE, depending mostly on their desktop dominance. Not innovation. Users shift in browsers are also due to tabbed browsing being cool and useful. Also hip websites are telling them that sites will look better in Firefox. Like this one!

Microsoft changed its mind and announced a new coming stand-alone browser, IE7. Microsoft doesn’t make money directly off IE. But, public perception of IE is very important to Microsoft’s bottom line. IE is one of the first applications users get familiar with. They form opinions of Microsoft’s quality which may influence future software purchases.

It is not that Mac and Linux users have not had choices for modern browsers. I think you would find that Microsoft Internet Explorer is the one “waving from the sidelines” in advanced features that many users want after experiencing them.

Firefox, Safari, Opera, and others have offered better security, tabbed browsing, built-in search, pop-up blocking, “live bookmarks” using RSS, PNG transparency, CSS support, SVG support, and better bookmark management. Safari offers bookmark syncing between Macs (using .Mac) and the ability to open PDFs directly in the browser. Firefox offers support for QuickTags useful to many working on blogs or adding content to websites like comments. IE6 has none of this.

Recently, Microsoft has apparently upped the ante for users who want to upgrade to Internet Explorer 7. IE7 to be Windows XP only. This is due to a business decision more than a technical reason. IE6 has been compatible with every version of Windows from Windows 98. While this may not be a big deal to some, if they bought a new Windows PC since 2001.

Many large corporations, where Windows 2000 is still the mainstay could limit IE7′s acceptance. Where I work, at a large corporation, we still have Windows 95 and 98 also running. Of course, Microsoft recently announced it would stop supporting Windows 2000. Looks like Windows 2000 users will just have to stick with IE6 or give in to Microsoft and upgrade. Which of course is the goal Microsoft has for its users. They assume that users will not download a free, better product to replace IE. Opting to upgrade Windows, or at least they hope so.

One of Microsoft’s biggest problems has been trying to get users to upgrade to yet another expensive version of Windows that has few new real features. Promising better security that has hardly been realized. In many cases users have had to buy new hardware. Windows has always been years later, and not as good on new features as compared to MacOS.

Mac users seem to like to upgrade. Apple has offered many new features with each and every upgrade. OS X upgrades have been available more often with five in the last four years. I am running Tiger 10.4.2 on an almost seven year old machine without problems. This is why OS X is way ahead of Windows in innovations.

My advice for Windows users is switch to Firefox. Do it now. It is a far better browser than IE is now. It is fast and secure. According to the Microsoft IE7 white paper, and betas that where just released. There seems to be nothing in IE7 that adds any new value or features. IE7 will be only be “playing” catch up to modern browsers like Firefox anyway. Why wait?

Installing Firefox is FREE and easy, offers better security, and better features. Firefox imports your existing settings from Internet Explorer. It imports your favorites, options, cookies, stored passwords, and a variety of other data. This saves you time customizing Firefox to fit your needs. Try it and I bet you will like it. Choice is a good thing for consumers.

“If Firefox market-share continues to grow. Web developers will need to take this into consideration and test and develop for it. This will also push Microsoft to finally innovate. Or get out of the browser market.”

Firefox is available to Mac, Linux and Windows users. You will find that Firefox will render and work well with almost all websites without problems. No spyware/adware software can automatically be installed with Firefox just by visiting a web site. Firefox doesn’t use Microsoft’s Java VM, which has a history of more flaws than other Java VMs. With Firefox, you have complete control over cookies.

All that is needed is a free download and install. It only takes a few minutes. It is easy to use. Get it here. Or can pay Microsoft for something less. Plus risk security. Again why wait for whatever is promised?

    | Tags: browser, Firefox, mozilla, rss, web