So after reading a few of the IE7 related threads I finally decided to download Firefox and give it a whirl.

My first impression:

WTF? I'm so insulted!

I'm using Firefox 2.0, not the beta, and am curious how long has Firefox's GUI looked this way?

Why am I insulted? Well, I sometimes live in a hole and if it works there is no need to fix it. IE has never given me enough headache where I had to explore the other third party web browsers [I gave Netscape a try one time and realized how much it sucked and just figured why bother.]

With IE7 causing a few hiccups I said "what the hell why not now." I was suprised to see how similar no wait how exact IE7 looks to FF 2.0.

Now I don't know who came first, the chicken or the egg, but after finding some screen shots of FF 1.50 it seems FireFox had this GUI for a while.

Microsoft basically copied it. There is nothing in the FF GUI that IE7 doesn't have. The overall look is IDENTICAL.

Thats a total let down for MS in my eyes. I thought IE7 looked awesome over IE6 but it seems I could have had this clean GUI if I had actually tried FF a long time ago.

Well I'm going to play some more with FF and see if it will become the default browser on my home PC.

[So far they seem to both work the same minus the hiccups of IE7 but I haven't touched the config files yet.]

...Microsoft basically copied it. There is nothing in the FF GUI that IE7 doesn't have. The overall look is IDENTICAL.



Bingo!

Wow even the way you exit both programs is identical.

I understand there is probably not much room there to customize but its just a bit eerie.

IE7 isn't as awesome as I thought it was.

I installed IE7 and after a few days decided I didn't like it and uninstalled. Now every friggin day it tells be the IE7 update is available. Anyone know how to stop that?:banghead:

Install it and and set your preferred browser as default

or

Disable autoupdate notification.

Either way since its an MS product XP/Vista will hound you to install it. I'd just install it and leave it there festering.

I stopped using FireFox and went back to Internet Explorer 7. I don't know what happened but FireFox just stopped working properly and it wouldn't even fix with an installation. I'm sure I could clear-out the registry and start over (from scratch) but I've been very happy with IE7...

I don't like IE...plus I heard it's not as safe (virus-wise). I really like FF's tabbed browsing.

I don't like IE...plus I heard it's not as safe (virus-wise). I really like FF's tabbed browsing.

Hi, Lil'B. FYI, IE7 uses tabbed browsing and is much more secure than previous IE versions.

They both ripped off Opera. Tabbed browsing has been their standard for years.

If anyone hasn't given Opera a try, you really should. It comes stock with many of the things you need extensions to do in Firefox (meaning: more power straight out of the box), uses less system resources to run (meaning: faster), and is safer (meaning: under the radar for people who love messing up the internet).

I use a lot of IMG images in my posts. IE7 was blocking me every time. I had to kill the block each time to post the pic. A pain in the Butt!!

I have always tried to never use IE anything for anyting. Not convienent or effieient after using Netscape during my first computing years.

Opera did have most of these features first, but FF was the first major browser to go free with it.

I am still using FF 1.5. I do want to upgrade to 2.0 but I think some of my extensions will break. :(

Robert...I have two extensions that are forum perfect. One lets me bulk uploads images and lets me copy to the clipboard the img code for the image. the other is a set of commands for html, xhtml, and BBCode (vbulletin). Has img codes, colors, size, bold, underline, quote, etc... Makes being a post whore very easy. They are "Imagebot" and "BBcode Xtra"

I also have about 30 other extensions installed...some are really old that's why they might not work with FF 2.

IE is for communists and terrorists. Are you with us or against us?

Opera is a really neat piece of software, but the UI is terrible. If you can tolerate that, you get a super powerful, efficient browser.

I use IE for a couple of reasons.
I used to use the "rebel" browsers but I got tired of having some web applications not work because everyone writes everything to work with IE.
Like it or not most web design that I have seen was made to work in IE.
Also like it or not Microsoft is big and they have lots of software. The underdogs are out there and they make nice stuff but to me it seems more of a hassle to maintain that stuff than to click on a few updates every now and then and keep on moving.
I can count the problems I have had with IE7 on one hand. I think maybe some folks have applications running that interfere with IE7 that I don't have.
I have 6 computers at home running on Microsoft software and 2 more here that belong to me. They all seem to be doing just fine. (granted only 3 of them are using IE7)

And Jesda, you say one is for commies and terrorists and say "are you with us?". Does that mean you are a commie or a terrorist or.... ? :D

I don't really care if it's a copy or not.
Everyone knows that Bill Gates got his start in the computer business by allegedly stealing software... DUH!
As long as it works and I have to apply zero effort, I'll be happy.
(that way I can concentrate on answering car questions about Cadillacs)

You're right on the money. MS is working very hard to incorporate all the features that people like into their products.

Yes they actually listen and pay attention when the public says, bla bla bla well I can do this with a Mac or I can do this with a Mozilla browser.

Then as much as they suck, they build in all of what they think people like and take out what they feel is useless.

FireFox has come a long way since it's first release. However it's no more secure than IE is. The reason FireFox was secure in the beginning was do to the fact that it didn't allow ANYTHING to run. All it was able to do is render HTML or XHTML or whatever. Now that there are plug-ins and it plays video and audio and flash it's no more secure than IE is.

Follow the Bugtraq list and you'll see that IE actually had the least amount of exploits in 2006 and were addressed faster than others.

All the breaking and dis-functionality mentioned above is why we use IE.

EDITED: And it does seem that years ago when computers were for geeks, none of this mattered. Things have evolved so quickly that computers are now a tool that we rely on, in many cases, to earn a living. We no longer have time to use software because it's 'the in thing'. We need shit that works all the time and MS delivers that single complete package for most people.

We don't have time to worry about third party upgrades and patches. I ran Linux for years then I realized no matter how far superior to Windows it was I was, wasting time and beating myself on the head trying to get any actual work done.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that Microsoft software is the target of all kinds of spyware and virus stuff because it's the biggest also.
If OS2 had taken off years ago they probably would have found ways to bug that. It's just such a tiny market share really and people trying to sabotage it want attention so they can giggle about it. If it only affects 20 people, no one will care.

IE is for communists and terrorists. Are you with us or against us?

Opera is a really neat piece of software, but the UI is terrible. If you can tolerate that, you get a super powerful, efficient browser.

Jes, Opera's UI is SO customizable (from widgets to skins and every other possible visual gizmo under the sun) that you can make it look any way you want - hell, give me 10 minutes and I can make Opera 9 look like AOL's browser from 1994.

I'm with Gothica on this one - Opera IS free, if you don't mind ad banners, is FASTER by far than either IE or FF, is MORE SECURE by far than either IE or FF, is far less buggy than IE or FF..I could go on and on.

The only place Opera falls down is viewing jackass web pages with sixteen kinds of embedded video and audio streams, goof-ass moving background images, and that sort of garbage - It doesn't tolerate crappy HTML - so most MySpace pages barf all over the dining room table...

Not a biggie, AFAIC.

It doesn't tolerate crappy HTML - so most MySpace pages barf all over the dining room table...

Not a biggie, AFAIC.

Good. Thats less competition for all the 16 year old girls. :hide: :D

Good. Thats less competition for all the 16 year old girls. :hide: :D

Well, at least you think they're 16-year old girls...

:tisk:

Just for the record...Myspace can crash anything!

Opera used to be free with ads...but now aren't they 100% free and ad-free?

Hell I use all 3 when I think about it...

IE when I have to fix mom's or sister's laptops

FF on my pc

Opera (mini) on my phone---which is the best damn application ever built for any phone in the entire universe and all time, past, present, and future. Google Local is a close second.



Jim, :histeric: So true!

It was just disappointing to see just how similar IE7 was to FF. I thought MS did something "authentic" in the GUI. I know Opera had tabbing for ever but then XP released taskbar grouping, which rocks, and then cleaned up IE clutter by finally giving tabbing.

What I'm trying to say is MP11 doesn't look like any other media software I've used. It has a unique feel to it, before of course you apply skins because then it can look just like Winamp.

I was under the impressiong IE's overhaul was a unique feature until I saw FF and it just sunk that feeling I had for IE.

Sucks.

So far I haven't seen an strong advantages for FF in my short tests. Everything loaded roughly the same speed but at least FF didn't give me those stupid boxes making me click something to make it interactive. But I think that is an out-of-date plugin on my behalf for IE7.