I suppose I’m talking on two different angles here, and allowed emotion to bundle them together.

On one hand, I completely agree with you that fierce competition is a must in order for consumers to benefit in a capitalist society (you will notice I did mention this in my article).

On the other hand, I am completely sick to death of the community of “fanboys” espoucing how great things like Google, Apple, and Mozilla are – and continually bashing on Microsoft just because it seems like its an “us against the big machine” type of mentality.

Do not mistake my intention here, I whole-heartedly agree in a persons right to feel that way, but these companies are just like any other – not some ‘holier-than-thou’ entity that is revolutionizing the world – at least not like Mother Teresa or Mahatma Gandhi.

So, to your points on Firefox and Mozilla, I would generally agree, but think the code does need some improvements. I do agree with your assertion that we need standards to write web-based (or any other) code to. I do not agree that FF3 is a superior browser, in general purpose – but to me it is much like the devil you know vs. the devil you don’t.

To my other point in my rant, I suppose my underlying fear is that the “tech” community is a bit myopic in their outlook and are continually gushing on firefox, twitter, friendfeed, apple, and google… as a general observation.

Thank you for bringing some clarity to the rant Great comments, and I most definitely welcome a challenge – or else I wouldn’t have posted this somewhat contrarian opinion

I suppose I’m talking on two different angles here, and allowed emotion to bundle them together.

On one hand, I completely agree with you that fierce competition is a must in order for consumers to benefit in a capitalist society (you will notice I did mention this in my article).

On the other hand, I am completely sick to death of the community of “fanboys” espoucing how great things like Google, Apple, and Mozilla are – and continually bashing on Microsoft just because it seems like its an “us against the big machine” type of mentality.

Do not mistake my intention here, I whole-heartedly agree in a persons right to feel that way, but these companies are just like any other – not some ‘holier-than-thou’ entity that is revolutionizing the world – at least not like Mother Teresa or Mahatma Gandhi.

So, to your points on Firefox and Mozilla, I would generally agree, but think the code does need some improvements. I do agree with your assertion that we need standards to write web-based (or any other) code to. I do not agree that FF3 is a superior browser, in general purpose – but to me it is much like the devil you know vs. the devil you don’t.

To my other point in my rant, I suppose my underlying fear is that the “tech” community is a bit myopic in their outlook and are continually gushing on firefox, twitter, friendfeed, apple, and google… as a general observation.

Thank you for bringing some clarity to the rant Great comments, and I most definitely welcome a challenge – or else I wouldn’t have posted this somewhat contrarian opinion

Firefox’s innovations continue to elevate browsing technology and promote web standards. Without Firefox I doubt IE7 would be offering tabbed browsing or that the IE7 team would have focused on creating a more standards compliant browser. An open source foundation is keeping a behemoth software company on their toes and that is a very good thing for the end user regardless of their browser preference. (Imagine what would happen if a Linux environment like Ubuntu continues to gain popularity and compatibility, Windows 7 might be very different. Doubtful to be sure, but it’s nice to dream)

Finally, the Mozilla team continues to find a way to make a “better browser.” Even a simple and intuitive addition like the Firefox 3 address bar has already drastically reduced the time it takes me to visit a URL. Mozilla seems to put real thought into what a web user needs, like adding tags to bookmarks, creating smart bookmark folders, or introducing a new iconography to SSL certificate validation. That type of thinking has not occurred or at least has not translated into software with IE. IE7 is still slow, has (IMHO) a terrible UI, and treats invalid certs with a terrible error page that a common user mistakes for a 404.

I’m grateful to Mozilla and the Open Source community for meeting my needs and making my browsing experience better. IE hasn’t done that since the Netscape days.

Good post my friend.

Firefox’s innovations continue to elevate browsing technology and promote web standards. Without Firefox I doubt IE7 would be offering tabbed browsing or that the IE7 team would have focused on creating a more standards compliant browser. An open source foundation is keeping a behemoth software company on their toes and that is a very good thing for the end user regardless of their browser preference. (Imagine what would happen if a Linux environment like Ubuntu continues to gain popularity and compatibility, Windows 7 might be very different. Doubtful to be sure, but it’s nice to dream)

Finally, the Mozilla team continues to find a way to make a “better browser.” Even a simple and intuitive addition like the Firefox 3 address bar has already drastically reduced the time it takes me to visit a URL. Mozilla seems to put real thought into what a web user needs, like adding tags to bookmarks, creating smart bookmark folders, or introducing a new iconography to SSL certificate validation. That type of thinking has not occurred or at least has not translated into software with IE. IE7 is still slow, has (IMHO) a terrible UI, and treats invalid certs with a terrible error page that a common user mistakes for a 404.

I’m grateful to Mozilla and the Open Source community for meeting my needs and making my browsing experience better. IE hasn’t done that since the Netscape days.

Good post my friend.