When the Internet boom began in the mid nineties Netscape Navigator was the undisputed King of the Browsers.
Then Microsoft got involved with its own Internet Explorer browser, which, in most respects, was virtually identical to Navigator, and thus a bitter battle ensued between the two companies. Microsoft, by bundling it free with subsequent versions of Windows, emerged the victor. Afterwards the Mozilla Foundation was founded by Netscape to be a non-profit organisation promoting a free, cross-platform browser which would carry torch, as it were, from Netscape's old Netscape Navigator browser. The new browser was named, not without a hint of irony, Mozilla Phoenix.
Over the years they developed and re-developed this browser standard. Phoenix was renamed as Firebird then Firebird, finally, became Mozilla Firefox. The features of Firefox, such as tabbed browsing, would later be copied by other browsers such as Opera and, later, by Microsoft, with the advent of Internet Explorer 7.
Firefox still retains its edge, however, which is why it has claimed such a large portion of the browser market. Here are just some of the reasons to choose Firefox:
It's Free!
It doesn't cost anything to download, install and use Firefox nor does it cost anything to update it or install add-ons.
Speed:
Browsing pages, even multiple ones, is not only easier with Firefox, it's also faster.
Security:
Unlike Internet Explorer, Firefox is a stand-alone program and not bound to Windows in any way. Its design also means that many of the malware used to exploit Explorer (such as Active X exploits) cannot be executed in a Firefox environment.
Compatibility:
Firefox is not only compatible with Windows but is also available for with Mac OS and Linux operating systems.
Looks:
Unlike Internet Explorer, Firefox does not attempt to flatter or deliberately try to fix bad code, it displays exactly what the web code was meant to display. Therefore, if a website looks poor in Firefox it's because the person didn't write the HTML and CSS code properly. It is for this reason, more than any other, that we are so insistent that more and more people use Firefox, because, as a web design company, we would much rather you view our product precisely as we intended it to be viewed.
Tabbed Browsing:
Anyone who has ever used Internet Explorer 6 or earlier knows all too well the annoyance of having various web pages open at the same time, taking up half the taskbar. With tabbed browsing, instead of having loads and loads of Explorer windows, you just have one Firefox window open, with all the pages neatly arranged therein, and you can therefore toggle from one to another by clicking on the desired tab. Tabbed browsing has proven so popular that Microsoft has now incorporated the idea into Internet Explorer 7.
Multiple Searches:
Whilst Firefox with Google Toolbar is perfect for most situations, Firefox allows you to automatically search through various other sites too, including Yahoo or Answers.com, as well as searching for items directly through Amazon or Ebay or look through movies on the IMDB, to name a few.
Customisable:
With Internet Explorer you have a single homepage, with Firefox you can have as many as you want, so say you get up in the morning and you want to launch your email and your work homepage at the same time, you can. Firefox is customisable in many other ways, you can select your own browsing and security parameters and also install third party extensions and toolbars which can further expand your productivity.
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