Switch to Firefox now

I have been a Netscape user since 1997, when the war of the browsers had just begun and Internet explorer was to be downloaded and not part of Windows 95. I have used the initial releases of Netscape and the improvements made thereafter 4.73, 4.78, 4.7x... and then Microsoft decided to bundle IE with windows; that changed the browser landscape. Netscape was taken over by AOL and the browser engine, Gecko was open sourced to the Mozilla project resulting in versions 6.0, 6.1, 6.2..7.0, 7.1 and so on.. I have used the preview releases of 6.x in early 2000, provided feedback on features that didnt work and continued to use Netscape which today is in version 7.2.

Contrary to popular opinion, a mozilla based browser offers a richer internet experience. It renders web pages faster, has tabbed browsing, a mail client with junk mail controls - add POPfile and spam is history, a address book, AOL chat, IRC, composer, form manager, password manager, cookie manager, pop-up blocker etc. There are several extensions developed by fans of the mozilla project - Google bar, Spiderzilla (to download entire websites), bugzilla to report bugs , calendar etc. You can download the extensions from Mozilla Update :: Extensions - Add Features to Mozilla Software. All these goodies are accessible at an instant, no switching between various applications. This defnitely improves my productivity at work. No matter what others feel I am extremely comfortable with Mozilla.

There are a lot of unofficial Netscape sites on the internet offering Help on using Netscape. There are several user groups on Devedge, a site dedicated to Netscape development i.e. Sidebar Tabs, skins, XML, CSS, JavaScript etc. Lot of tools to aid development are hosted on the site. You can subscribe to the RSS feeds if you like. (Newsmonster is an RSS reader for any Mozilla based browser)

The mozilla project has also spawned off other browsers like Firefox. Its been reviewed in Forbes, Wall Street Journal and USA Today. So if a site is mozilla standards compliant (which I guess most websites would soon be), it would look the same whether viewed with Netscape or Firefox. Its time all of used a standards compliant browser.

Not convinced to switch? Read CNET's review of FireFox Security Watch: Why you should switch to Firefox now - CNET reviews. Not convinced as yet? visit United States-Computer Emergency Readiness Team for IE vulnerabilities.

Convinced? Want your friends to use a mozilla based browser add a button like the one you see below, in the signature for your personal mail account. Its available at Spread Firefox