And pine to read the mail.
Again, using alternative software is great, but that’s not a solution to the problem, it’s just avoiding the problem. I prefer the head-on approach to battling spyware/viruses, and then I don’t ever have to worry about a website/program not being compatible because I’m not using IE5.
IE is impossible to uninstall, if you do happen to find a page that doesn’t work in Firefox (I never have) you can always boot up the garbage and use it.
It’s like… getting a dishwasher, as opposed to washing them by hand. It does everything you need it to do, with less hassle. (Plus it gets the dishes cleaner ^_^)
Firefox saved me from getting viruses a number of times that IE wouldn’t have even noticed, you know? And it blocks ads by itself without having to install toolbar after toolbar.
I’ll quote it again:
Also: Microsoft tells users to cripple IE to protect themselves. Why don’t they just say to stop using IE?
lol this was a jokepost right? :3 nice.
No, it wasn’t a joke post. I’m sick of people acting like Firefox is some great salvation that’s come down upon us. In your dishwasher analogy above, you seem to have it all wrong. Downloading Firefox to avoid a spyware infestation is more like having a broken dishwasher, and instead of replacing it, simply putting another one on top of it and hoping that it will never break. It does nothing to help the old one, it takes up extra room, and it opens the possibility of the new one breaking.
Firefox doesn’t save you from getting viruses, and Firefox doesn’t have an ad blocker. It has a Popup Blocker, and so does Internet Explorer, with no additional toolbars to install.
As for Microsoft suggesting you cripple your software, in that incredibly old article, they said that you’d need to cripple your software <B>if you aren’t using the current version of Internet Explorer</B>. If you’re not running Windows Updates and keeping yourself protected against viruses and spyware, you’re simply asking for an infection.
Firefox is a cute little browser, it’s not 100% compatible with every website or piece of software though. It may be W3C compliant, but that’s not what marketers sell toward. They sell toward the mainstream. For example, McAfee software wont install unless you have IE5.0+ on your system.
This is a losing battle, because someone already convinced everyone that Firefox is “cool,” and that’s all people are really after, anyway.
I use Firefox cause I prefer the layout and it really has little to no spyware.
I dunno bout viruses though.
So sat, i’m missing the point here. Are you for IE or against FireFox? You’re so fervently lambasting (lolz dictionary) firefox, that it almost seems like you have a grudge against it.
Can you honestly say there is anything wrong with someone downloading a copy of FireFox onto their home machine? What is so bad about that? It blocks popups, blocks ActiveX, stops most external protocols, and is more stable, right out of the box.
It also adds convince features like tabbed browsing, and bookmarks-bar, and rss, and all those other new technologies that IE fails to embrace. By doing so it pushes forward the web, rather than stagnanting it like IE would. As said in shinryu’s quote, IE hasn’t been changed for years, while the web has continued to evolve. FireFox lets the johnny-come-lately user access these new features.
If you’re against it because it gives people a false sense of security, ok. I can agree with you there (to a point, i think it also helps people learn about what vulnerabilities do exist, whereas they might not have known of any before). But the way you’ve been acting towards seems to suggest that you dislike it on a whole.
And why on earth, might i ask, would you DISCOURAGE someone from getting it?
And shinryu, you’re cool, we’re friends. But don’t get so pissy 
Its hard for people to take you seriously.
This is a losing battle, because someone already convinced everyone that Firefox is “cool,” and that’s all people are really after, anyway.
Then ignore them, intelligent discussion is cooler.
I was getting pissy?
Anyway, it’s a losing battle for both our sides. Sat probably won’t change his mind (who does from a conversation online?) and I know I won’t. I was stuck with IE for 2 1/2 weeks while I was in Toronto and I missed Firefox a bit. I got back and was impressed all over again by how much better it worked.
Ok, Sat, like this, then. A new dishwasher, which works better, quieter, faster, and cleans your dishes better, while sitting neatly in a corner taking up very little space. As opposed to an old, leaky one that takes a long time and is noisy, and leaves gunk and scum on your dishes. Seriously? I think that’s pretty accurate, even if it seems a little biased.
Honestly I’ve hated IE since it was the better browser. But I’m trying to look at it objectively.
That’s exactly what my problem is. Other than that, I have it installed on my machine (along with Netscape 4, Netscape 7, Netscape 8 [which is built on the Firefox engine], Opera, and Mozilla [not Firefox]), and I have nothing against it. I just wish that more people would clean up the stuff they have rather than just ignore it and jump to Firefox. Since my primary job is to clean viruses and spyware from people’s computers, it simply makes my life easier.
I actually had a customer come in and refuse to pay for a spyware cleaning, despite that that was the problem with their computer. They said they couldn’t have spyware because they had Firefox. That’s when I started having a problem with the mass Firefox word-of-mouth marketing blitz. It especially upset me because most of the reasons that people switched to Firefox (popup blocking, ActiveX blocking, higher js security) had already been implimented in IE6sp2 by the time that Firefox really started to get big.
If you’re saying that Firefox is better because it’s more W3C complaint, I fully agree with you. But people need to clean up the mess they have before getting something new. (and, despite all of this, I’m still looking forward to IE7. IE may not be the best browser anymore, but there’s something convenient about being able to type a web address into any open folder window)
You guys have made this thread into something I cannot follow stares in awe
Alright, i can agree with that.
I use Slimbrowser and be happy. I know it’s not all secure and shit and run 2 or 3 proggies a week, but I must say it’s nicer than either IE or FF. >.>
But yea, I’ve been getting those messages a lot. Annoying buggers.
Sat, people like that will be around no matter what line of work you’re in. A friend of mine works at EB games, and he had a kid refuse to return a game simply because he would only have gotten $10 store credit instead of $12. I’ve served customers who refuse to save themselves money. (Ie, will buy $3 of mojos instead of the family pack because they “can’t eat that much” despite the fact that the family pack is $1 cheaper)
And nobody seems to realize that nothing is perfect. Which is why it’s all the more crushing (and angering) when they get let down. You should have seen that one customer I served who wanted a chicken when we’d been shorted and had none left. shudders
The fact is, that’s the fault of people, not the browser. People fail to take proper precautions and blame others when it blows up in their faces. I, for one, have been careful to make my computer as safe as it can be, but I know it’s not perfect. I have Adaware, but I know that just because it gets rid of a LOT of spyware doesn;t mean it gets it all. I could use better virus protection. And of course Firefox isn’t perfect. But it’s far superior to IE, and that’s why I use it. Pages load faster in FF than on IE for me, I’ve had less spyware since getting it, and certainly it’s nice to have a browser with a nifty name, too. 
Lastly, that convenience, is actually useless to me. I’ve made it so difficult to even access IE on my computer, involving hiding the folder, passwording it, and removing it from all menus, that that’s actually the only way I can use it, and only with a lot of trouble. Anyway I don’t mind opening my start menu to open it up.
EDIT: ZOMFG the tabbed browsing! So useful on forums! opens 36 threads in one window, no startbar clog
And yes, I realize it’s on almost every browser these days. EXCEPT IE.
Actually, I was a manager of an EB for a while, so I totally understand.
Yeah, people suck. They make you wish you can just slap them, but of course you can’t. Oh well. I’m not going to rant about them now.