August 3rd, 2006 at 11:50 pm
I am partial to Firefox because of its functionality, ease of installing plugins/extensions and the available choice from thousands of plugins/ themes (for almost everything you want) available on Mozilla’s website. But is IE7 finally going to have the functionality and features that Firefox has to truly compete? … at first glance, it would look like IE7 has taken big steps towards that.
However looking at it deeper, many of the incorporated features are that of Firefox 1.5+ with plugins (i.e. what I am using now!) … so in essense IE7 gives me old technology, functionality in a new prepackaged and brand labelled browser. Ok, I must admit with the “new” tweaks here and there (RSS, Anti-Phishing, Popup blockers) and with IE7 incorporating “add-ons” to counter Firefox’s extensions feature… IE7 its looking very solid indeed. But hmmm, I see Microsoft is just “reinventing the wheel” and “copying” what Firefox already has in its “stable” previous/ current browsers. How secure it is may be a pretty good question to ask and can start lengthy debates.
I believe that who wins the browser war, with Opera steadily behind may come down to financing as one of its main factors … there is so much you can get out of an “open source” browser as eventually the one with more financing (and thus more research and development) is going to win. Firefox may have does have the backing of Google but no matter what everyone says, Microsoft has the deeper pockets and if they want to spent more on making a superior browser, they probably could. However, Firefox may actually edge IE7 and win the browser war (for a while and for now) due to its current 1000s of available extentions, customizable themes and Linux/Mac versions. Also the fact that, some of the minor features available on IE7 (but not on Firefox 2) can be remedied easily by downloadable Firefox plugins.
Comparing Nut and bolts, Firefox 2 Beta 1 has the functionality and useful vault of plugins that is second to none. Internet Explorer 7 Beta 3 seems like it is playing catchup with the features that has already been seen with past/ current Firefox browsers. A feature to feature comparison makes both browsers seem almost identical. Some may argue that IE7 may be nicer looking but Firefox may counter that with a choice from 1000s of free themes readily available (being easily installed within the built-in browser feature) - thus edging out IE7 in terms of flexibility in browser cosmetics/ aesthetics. Ironically, there are some themes that you can download to make Firefox “look” like IE7 if you want 
! Security wise, Firefox and IE7 is on par based on ZDNet’s article as well. Then there is the CSS/ WC3 compatibility feature that seems to always “haunt” IE.
So what else might it come down to besides Financing? … 1) The amount of Add on/ extension features 2) Stability 3) Security, as those were the three of the biggest selling points to make me a believer and migrate to Firefox. Security wise, it looks like it is on par with each other (so its not an issue) but I have to question IE7’s stability and extensions/add-on flexibility. If IE7 can prove its stability and not have the same stability problems of its predecessor, then it could probably give Firefox a run for its money. I will be very interested to see how Microsoft tackles the development of add-ons with its tight proprietary fist and secretive demeanor rather than the free flowing “open-source” development of Firefox. Will that hinder IE7’s “add-on/extensions” progress and development?
Interesting to see who wins this war! I can tell you for certain that “one” of the winners will be you and me … “the consumers” … as this browser war will drive up technology and WE will benefit from that. Either way, I’ll stick with Firefox due to my “loyalty” and being partial to Mozilla unless ofcourse Mr. Gates comes up with some that REALLY blows me away . Aside from that, [sigh] we are all going to eventually have the final version of IE7 whether we like it or not as it is getting pushed out with “Windows Automatic Updates”.
An article from Extremetech sums it up really well … Firefox has given Microsoft a wake up call and has “spurred Microsoft to leave off its complacency, and serious development of the formerly dominant browser”.
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