Once a year, the boredom my bundled blue browser provokes in me peaks. So I dump it and hunt for something sexier, then regret the decision. The last version of Netscape that I tested seemed to centre on shopping rather than research. I have also learned that Opera may run like lightning, but it crashes like thunder.
Enter Firefox, Mozilla's 'next generation' open-source (freely distributed) browser. Firefox is the nickname for China's red panda.
'It was such a cute animal that we couldn't resist calling the product Firefox. We even have stuffed animals available and they're quite popular,' said Mozilla Foundation spokesman Bart Decrem. He omitted this fact: the browser was originally called Firebird, but had to be renamed because of a trademark dispute. Still, the connection between browser and bearcat is reassuring since firefoxes are gentle, secretive creatures.
The connection is apt, too, because the browser is supposedly highly resistant to phishing, or scams to steal bank account details over the internet.
'Firefox is the browser users can trust for their day-to-day activity, when shopping online, when banking online, and making transactions,' Mr Decrem said. 'We're building a browser that users can trust that is fundamentally more secure, is more reliable, and [has] no hidden privacy concerns.'
Firefox blocks intrusions such as adware, spyware and pop-up windows. This capability helps make the browser Mozilla's fastest - it supposedly runs quicker than Internet Explorer. Better yet, Firefox offers the downtime-busting convenience of tabbed browsing. This is the ability to open links in the background so that they're ready for instant viewing.
Firefox was written in XUL (XML-based user interface language). Pronounced to rhyme with 'cool', XUL makes it possible to extend the Firefox's capabilities through the use of skins and extensions. But how popular is Mozilla's cute cub? Well, Firefox 0.9 has so far notched up 4.5 million downloads. Mozilla is targeting 10 million downloads in 90 days for the next version.