Ten years later and it seems the Browsers War is about to get better as Mozzila announces it will release its latest version of Firefox tomorrow.
This will be Mozilla's third major release since coming on the scene a little over 10 years ago in an effort to chip away at the lion share of the pie held by Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) and Apple's Safari.
According to a report by
Newsfactor.com Mozilla already has about 18 percent of the market and is expecting to boost that figure. With Microsoft not expected to release their next version of Internet Explorer until later this year, Firefox has a head start. There are a lot of neat tools coming with this software which will be unveiled Tuesday, June 17, 2008 but it still has its work cut out as it competes with these two giants.
Newsfactor.com:
"Firefox 3 is a very nice browser. It's still going to have to go up against Internet Explorer {Windows] and Safari [Mac], which have the home court advantage on their operating systems," said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst at JupiterResearch. "It shows that the browser market is anything but stagnant."
Security is a major focus for this Browser.
Users can click a Web site's favicon [icon] in the location bar to see who owns the site and to check if the connection is secure. Identity verification is prominently displayed and easier to understand, Mozilla said. When a site uses Extended Validation (EV) SSL certificates, the site's favicon will turn green and show the name of the company.
It has malware protection that warns users when they've accessed a site that is known for giving viruses, spyware, trojans, etc. Also new a Web Forgery Protection feature which blocks pages that are suspect.
New SSL error pages, Mozilla said, are clearer and stricter, and Firefox automatically disables old and insecure add-on and plug-in versions.
Mozilla also paid attention to making Firefox more user friendly. This is where the new tools and gadgets come in really handy.
In terms of password management, that means an information bar replaces the old password dialog so users can save passwords after a successful login. The add-on whitelist has been removed, making it possible to install extensions from third-party sites in fewer clicks. And a new download manager aims to makes it much easier to locate downloaded files. Users can also see and search the Web site where a file came from.
Firefox 3 allows users to add bookmarks from the location bar with a single click and associate keywords with bookmarks to sort them. Web applications, such as a favorite Webmail provider, can now be used instead of desktop applications to handle Web-site mail links. The Add-ons Manager can be used to download and install a Firefox customization from the thousands of add-ons available from Mozilla's Web site.
Michael Gartemberg believes that the Browsers War will continue to be waged as Microsoft is working on IE 8 while Apple is not far behind with Safari 8 still in its germination stage. "Clearly, Web browsers are still very important, as important as they were 10 years ago, but just in a different way," he said. "The bottom line is no one is actually paying for a browser any more. A browser is free. It's something you give away in order to make money elsewhere."
