When I first tried Firefox about six months ago – out of frustration with IE’s lack of security, I was completely underwhelmed and could not understand why the developer/programmer community was so buzzed about it. I googled for other browers and found Maxthon, which is an overlay on IE that provides lots of nifty features, the most important of which is tabbed browsing. While that was supposed to be Firefox’s claim to fame, at that time Maxthon beat it hands down. Recently Maxthon stopped supporting the Google toolbar, which is the most essential feature for a browser for me (hmmm…wonder if that ever occurred to Google???). That prompted me to revisit Firefox and upon doing so, I found a much improved tabbed browser and a far wealthier palate of extensions for it. After a couple of weeks use, I’m hooked, however, I would only recommend it for those who don’t mind the hassles (and benefits) of beta-like software. Firefox will only get better, but it’s still a little unwieldy for those who lack the curiosity and patience to work with something that is both new and rapidly evolving. More on Firefox and the open-source software phenomenon later.
