There is a Better Way to Browse -- At Last!

As I noted below, something like 88% to 90% of you are using some version of Internet Explorer to websurf, according to this page's webstats. Now, while IE does a very good job of rendering pages -- the PC version is particularly snappy, and the Mac version offers features and standards-compatibility far superior to the Windows version -- there is a big problem with IE that many of you are probably not aware of.

Actually, it's two problems. The first is that, of course, this very fine browser is made available by Microsoft. Many of us in nerd-land have "issues" with MS's business practices and corporate morality (wow, there's a phrase you never hear anymore -- it's damn near a mutually-exclusive term, like "military intelligence"). See below or the archive for more of my thoughts on that.

The second problem is that MS has leveraged IE's near-total dominance of the web browser market to introduce it's own "standards" and "extend" the agreed-on code interfaces that make up the Internet in ways that have proven to be generally bad. This ranges from features that only work on IE browsers -- leaving people with not-up-to-date machines (or non-MS platforms) merely inconvenienced -- to serious breaches of security and privacy that have basically engineered the whole identity-theft industry and cost the US economy billions -- actually, more than $1.5 trillion -- in lost revenue.

IE is part of a whole string of MS privacy/security failures that have had serious ramifications that for reasons I cannot fathom never result in the company getting sued. There is more than enough evidence to show that MS's deliberate negligence led to the widespread virus/hacking problems, and that MS could have foreseen -- and in some cases had significant advance warning of -- the dire consequences. This stuff isn't abstract -- it causes real problems that can result in life-threatening situations.

So, do we blame IE for this? Is that fair? And if we do, what alternative do we have? MS usually does a good job of killing competitors stone dead, leaving users with little choice -- and in the case of Windows XP, actually forcing them to have no choice -- so what else is there?

Luckily, Netscape isn't quite dead, doesn't want to go on the cart, and thinks it will go for a walk. (Monty Python reference, for the unenlightened.)

It's kind of sad that our main refuge from the evil perpetrated by a huge souless omni-glomerate like MS is to run to yet another huge souless omni-glomerate, but through a series of deals too complicated to get into, Netscape -- the company that basically made the World Wide Web what it is today (warts and all) -- is now owned by AOL TimeWarner. In a dying move before this happened, the company released the source code for it's browser to the nerd community in a desperate bid for a comeback. It took too long to save Netscape (the browser, not the firm) from oblivion, but after four years, the Mozilla browser rises from Netscape Navigator's ashes to breathe once more and -- first order of business -- wreck the downtown Tokyo of MS's internet-dominance dreams.

I've been using the Mozilla browser throughout its beta period, a period that is almost over now. A second release candidate (ie a not-quite-final version) of the free program has just been put out there, and finally I can say without reservation that people should make the switch. It's painless, the browser works great, and apart from one or two minor nitpicky issues (no way to make it use your preferred email program rather than it's own very nice one -- yet), it's near-flawless. The ability to completely stamp out pop-up ads alone should be enough to convince you to at least check it out.

Mozilla is not to be confused with the disasterous Netscape 6.0, which when released was the last nail in Netscape's browser coffin. Even the current version of Netscape Navigator (6.2, a vast improvement) is nowhere near as far along as the current Mozilla.

There are other alternatives -- the very nice but ad-laden Opera, the incredible OS X-only Omniweb and Chimera (the latter actually a cousin of Mozilla), the Mac-only iCab and so on ... but nothing with the features, standards-compatibility and comprehensiveness of Mozilla (or Moz as it's usually known).

Moz runs on every platform under the sun, is completely free of charge and runs great. It's a large program, true, but it handles browsing, mail and newsgroups with fabulous aplomb, fast as lightning and with a feature called "tabbed browsing" -- basically a way to open many windows/sites at once -- that you will be immediately and permanently hooked on the moment you see it in action. It has all the features you like in Internet Explorer (and more) with none of the evil. In short, it's a nearly-guiltless pleasure, and proof that open-source can work and is good for the community as a whole (which is, of course, blasphemy as far as MS is concerned).

As Webb Wilder would say, "pick up on it." Oh, and a tip: download and use the GrayModern "skin." The others are, well, kinda ugly.