I am Now a Firefox Fan!

I believe in giving credit where credit is due. And having spent about 10 hours now working with Firefox and testing it, I'm a fan.

A few of you have known me long enough to know how I groused about some versions of Netscape's browser. And how I groused louder when Netscape was purchased by America Online which has a history - with notable exceptions - of buying something to kill it. Sure enough, AOL harvested what it wanted and shat out the rest.

I use and like Microsoft's products (and in the nature of full disclosure, I'm one of Microsoft's MVPs - Most Valuable Professionals). I like Internet Explorer and it's been my preference for several years. But IE's had some problems. Yet not all IE's problems are the product; many of them originate with the way we use and abuse our systems and it's very difficult for mere mortals to tell where their trouble ends and IE's begins.

But lately, I've had numerous IE issues, including the inability to load my own damned blog. None of the traditional fixes worked and none of the advanced ones either (and I'm knowledgeable enough that I know them all). After more than a week of trying to make IE behave, including a full format and reinstall, I decided on a whim last night to try Firefox.

I am thrilled so far. If Firefox continues to be this wonderful, I'm probably going to feel tempted to make it my default browser. We'll see.

Try it yourself, especially if you're having some IE issues or question whether your problems are browser- or connection-based. At under 5 MB for a download, it's reasonable even on a low-speed connection. I had it downloaded and running in minutes (and on a busy Friday with a non-speedy connection). And yes, Firefox and IE peacefully co-exist. I've got them both open right now, working.