I’ve cottoned on to this a little late. You can download Firefox 3 on 17 June and help set a world record for the most downloaded software in a 24 hour period.
The reason that I’m so far behind the times is actually because I’m so far ahead of times.
You see, I upgraded my Ubuntu Gutsy to Ubuntu Hardy what, two months ago, and the new install came with Firefox 3, albeit a Beta.
However, at some point last week I got an update notice and one of them was Firefox 3, which I now believe is not a Beta anymore, but an actual stable release. So being all 3’ed up at home on Ubuntu, I didn’t really pay attention to my ailing Fx 2.0.0.14 on XP at work.
Be a Firefox Fan
I’ve been a Firefox fan for as long as Firefox has been a viable alternative to IE and I started using it full time when they were the first of the two to introduce tabbed browsing. By the time IE7 (I believe it was) caught up with this feature, I had moved so far away from IE that there was no turning back.
I have IE on my work computer to cross test my websites on different browsers, but it’s still IE6. I can’t be bother to spend the energy to upgrade to a bloated, slow and unsecured late model release.
The only complaint that I had with Firefox 2 was that it was a little tad on the slow side when I came to web page rendering, but that seems to have been sorted out in Firefox 3, which is quick to start up and loads pages in a flash. On Ubuntu it does and I’m sure it will do it equally well in Windows.
Ailing Internet Explorer
I maintain a handful of website, probably about 9 or so, and in all their server logs it’s clear to see that Internet Explorer no longer dominates absolutely. To be sure, the vast majority of web surfers still use Firefox, but none of my sites have more than 90% IE visitors.
1Earth, for instance, last month had 55% IE users and 37% Firefox users, the rest spread amongst Safari, Opera, Netscape, Konqueror & various PDAs/Mobile phones in that order. But my work websites have more IE users, between 75 – 85% depending on how corporate the website is. The more corporate, it seems, the more IE.
Firefox is your step in virus prevention
With various virus outbreaks on our network at work, my first step in virus protection for the afflicted, is to install Firefox. Chances are far less to get some sneaky, unauthorised piece of software installed using Firefox than it is Explorer. Especially if you’re on of those click-crazy-know-nothing-much users who surf and click on any random pop-up box (which Firefox blocks by default, btw).
And Windows Update sends out virtually daily security patches for Windows which often involves an Explorer plug (and Windows Media Player for that matter).
So for me, it’s just easier to avoid the entire threat, and surf safe with Firefox.
Firefox 3 is amped
With Firefox 3 comes a slew of new features and performance enhancements, most notably less RAM usage, which pains me endlessly at work where all my applications are RAM gluttons.
But I digress.
Help make the web a safer (and faster) place to be. Download Firefox 3 on 17 June and you could be part of a world record!