thefutureissimple
Thursday, May 18, 2006
Microsoft forced me to use FireFox
That's right, for all intents and purposes, Microsoft has pretty much forced me to use FireFox.
So you ask yourselves, Why on earth would they (MS) want you to use a competing product?
Well, lets be clear in saying that this was not an intention on their part, but rather a result of their grand efforts. In short, my IE (Internet Explorer) simply is no longer up to the day to day activities, regularly freezing and refusing to work well with others.
Mind you, that despite being technically inclined, I have continued to use IE for probably longer than I should have, even while having FireFox, Maxthon and Opera as installed alternatives, and while IE has never been the best browser in my eyes, it did its work rather decently and was compatible with the vast majority of the sites out there - especially important in my line of work (online marketing).
What about all the great tools for IE?
HUMBUG - Having to terminate IE over and over again was a painful lesson that taught me the simply fact that the competition has the same, and in FireFox's case, better tools available. Not to mention that their tools actually update themselves regularly.
What about security? And all those updates to IE?
Please don't make me laugh. At first I imagined (or convinced myself) that all those updates where enhancements to the browser itself; I mean, why else would they be sending update after update after update? Then it became clear that IE was a sinking ship being continuously patched with bubble gum.
Oh yeah, then there is that little matter of MS using IE to do its dirty work, spy on me - or at least make sure that I was behaving properly. By this I mean that MS seems to be providing 'updates' to IE (and Windows) that basically are sending the following message:
Microsoft does not trust you, so we will invoke our right to make sure you are being a good little piggy and have only legit software on your PC.
Thanks but no thanks. I realize this is their right, and with nothing to hide it is not really that much of an issue as is the fact (or perhaps my opinion / observation) that this is done at the expense of my PC's speed and resources.
Did you not say in a previous post that you preferred Maxthon over FireFox? Why the sudden change?
Hmmm... you caught that did you. True, but here is the problem, with that - Maxthon uses the IE engine, making it as reliable as the sinking ship it is built on. Mind you, I truly liked it and know it will be better than IE7 (whenever that comes out), but for now, I will say that FireFox has done a decent job of winning me over.
While I may never be able to rid my dependence on IE completely, I am happy to know that my essential work can continue undisturbed as IE crashes yet again.
So long IE, its been fun, but I need a browser with which I can have a more stable relationship. ¶ 5/18/2006 05:18:00 PM 0 comments
So you ask yourselves, Why on earth would they (MS) want you to use a competing product?
Well, lets be clear in saying that this was not an intention on their part, but rather a result of their grand efforts. In short, my IE (Internet Explorer) simply is no longer up to the day to day activities, regularly freezing and refusing to work well with others.
Mind you, that despite being technically inclined, I have continued to use IE for probably longer than I should have, even while having FireFox, Maxthon and Opera as installed alternatives, and while IE has never been the best browser in my eyes, it did its work rather decently and was compatible with the vast majority of the sites out there - especially important in my line of work (online marketing).
What about all the great tools for IE?
HUMBUG - Having to terminate IE over and over again was a painful lesson that taught me the simply fact that the competition has the same, and in FireFox's case, better tools available. Not to mention that their tools actually update themselves regularly.
What about security? And all those updates to IE?
Please don't make me laugh. At first I imagined (or convinced myself) that all those updates where enhancements to the browser itself; I mean, why else would they be sending update after update after update? Then it became clear that IE was a sinking ship being continuously patched with bubble gum.
Oh yeah, then there is that little matter of MS using IE to do its dirty work, spy on me - or at least make sure that I was behaving properly. By this I mean that MS seems to be providing 'updates' to IE (and Windows) that basically are sending the following message:
Microsoft does not trust you, so we will invoke our right to make sure you are being a good little piggy and have only legit software on your PC.
Thanks but no thanks. I realize this is their right, and with nothing to hide it is not really that much of an issue as is the fact (or perhaps my opinion / observation) that this is done at the expense of my PC's speed and resources.
Did you not say in a previous post that you preferred Maxthon over FireFox? Why the sudden change?
Hmmm... you caught that did you. True, but here is the problem, with that - Maxthon uses the IE engine, making it as reliable as the sinking ship it is built on. Mind you, I truly liked it and know it will be better than IE7 (whenever that comes out), but for now, I will say that FireFox has done a decent job of winning me over.
While I may never be able to rid my dependence on IE completely, I am happy to know that my essential work can continue undisturbed as IE crashes yet again.
So long IE, its been fun, but I need a browser with which I can have a more stable relationship. ¶ 5/18/2006 05:18:00 PM 0 comments
