Mozilla 1.7 was released last week. It is just an incremental upgrade to the open source browser, which you can download from http://www.mozilla.org, but there are some improvements.
The changes include: a "Show Passwords" feature in the Passwords Manager, giving you access to both the user names and passwords if desired; an option that keeps websites from using Javascript to interfere with your context (right-click) menus; improvements to the pop-up ad blocker; improvements to the way the Mail program syncs with Palm devices; support for some advanced CSS (Cascading Style Sheet) features; plus the fixing of numerous small bugs. According to Mozilla.org, this version is seven percent faster at starting up and is five percent smaller in binary (file) size. It also loads pages nine percent faster.
If you use Windows, you need to seriously consider using Mozilla instead of IE as your browser. There are three main reasons for doing so.
First, it is better than IE. It has more and better features, such as the pop-up blocker, tabbed browsing, anti-spam controls in the email, and better support for Internet standards.
Second, it is both free and open source. You are not being locked in to any proprietary system. It is continually being improved by people working on it around the globe, with its source code available to all.
Third, it is safer than IE. There have always been bugs and security flaws in IE, and the model they use for add-ins and active content, ActiveX, has always been dubious. The past couple of weeks have been among the worst in the history of IE, but have certainly been good if you write about computer bugs.
It's not just the BugBlog saying you should use Mozilla instead of Microsoft Internet Explorer. A number of other computer writers and now, US-CERT suggests you may want to use a different web browser, too. (Altought they don't specify Mozilla.) As US-CERT says at http://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/323070, "There are a number of significant vulnerabilities in technologies relating to the IE domain/zone security model, the DHTML object model, MIME type determination, and ActiveX. It is possible to reduce exposure to these vulnerabilities by using a different web browser." Of course, it won't give you total security (IE is deeply embedded in Windows systems, and is next to impossible to turn off) and some sites function correctly only with IE.
Article comments
1 - Phillip Winn
I don't remember what Mozilla 1.7 offers that Firefox 0.91 doesn't, but I've found Firefox to be wonderful, and have been running it for months now (since 0.7). It's also very, very fast and a small download. It's available from the Mozilla page linked to above -- it's the first link.
2 - mike hollihan
I've been using Firefox for several years now and I can't imagine going elsewhere. Firefox is the browser-only version of the Mozilla Suite. You can keep on using IE and Outlook, and also download Firefox to run alongside, for comparison.
On my computer (AMD K-6 300Mhz) I've found .9 to be noticeably faster than .7. Loads quicker, renders quicker, everything.
And tabbed browsing is DA BOMB! If you haven't tried it, it's a bit hard to explain, but once you've used it, you can't imagine web surfing any other way. I love my Firefox.
3 - Bruce Kratofil
I've got both Firefox and Thunderbird (the mail client) loaded up too.
However, if Mozilla.org still officially thinks of these as beta releases, I'm not going to recommend them yet.
For those who don't know -- the next step in Mozilla's evolution is a separate browser (Firefox) and a separate email program (Thunderbird).
4 - Phillip Winn
Gotcha. Pre-release or not, Firefox is more stable (for me) than MSIE itself. I know of only one website that doesn't work with Firefox, and I can right-click and launch the page in MSIE if I need to.
5 - Bruce Kratofil
"Pre-release or not, Firefox is more stable (for me) than MSIE itself."
Maybe this is the open-source difference. A lot of Microsoft's 1.0 releases are poor quality, and probably no better than betas.
And Mozilla.org has a nice stand-alone browser, Firefox, sitting at .91, that probably would have been shoved out the door already by most companies.
6 - TDavid
Watch what ends up happening with browsers when Microsoft releases their next OS: Longhorn.
They are already saying that there will be far less dependence on traditional browsers to interact with the web. I think if Microsoft has its way Internet Explorer will be going away -- sooner rather than later.
In some ways, with RSS readers this process has already begun.
7 - Steven Lemon
Firefox is indeed a great browser, but how can ANY ONE say that Mozilla (1.?) offers nothing that firefox doesn't.
Ever hear of FILE EDITING? I use Mozilla (other than Firefox) to edit web pages and it's great. Firefox is just a better version of Explorer, but Mozilla has the same things as Firefox, with file editing included extra.
I will grant that Firefox is better than 1.7 if brwosing is all you do, but for us who need to do more, Firefox can't touch Mozilla 1.7