They mention that they are referring to the defalt install of Firefox, without any additions or extensions. This is why they say Firefox is more secure - AFTER you install the right extensions (if you know which ones) such as NoScript, etc. I think all browsers have their faults, and security risks. Firefox not excluded, as they have patched due to faults too. I like Firefox because of the functions I get from some of the extensions that I don't get in IE, and because of Tabbed browsing. I tried IE 7 beta. I'm hopeful on that one as well. But again, some features I like in Firefox aren't in IE (even 7 Beta).
System Requirements:
I hadn't known this. I think Firefox sometimes does start up slower though, especially after all those extensions you add in. But I've heard that how much resources is recommended vs. how much the program actually uses (of any system's given available resources) can be drastically different. It can take MUCH MORE than recommended, if it's available. I'd be interested in seeing how much each actually takes. Because IE is integrated I think into Explorer (isn't it?) then I think it may take more resources, or maybe even less due to integration. Like I say, it'd be interesting to find out the actual resources it takes on say, a 512MB system.
Faster web browser
Opera? I'm amazed. I never liked Opera or it's 'features'. At least not in Linux. As for fast, I do think IE is faster than Firefox in loading pages.
Market Share
They should look at server logs of visitor's brower specs. In all my domains, I'm seeing that IE is majorly THE browser people use. But Firefox isn't too far behind, to be fair.
Security
Actually, Firefox has been good about updating the security vulnerabilities. And I think it has had fewer known ones that IE.
As for security in the integration of the OS, one that is NOT integrated in windows will not have the ADDITIONAL security vulnerabilites that Windows itself may introduce into any program fully integrated with it. At least that is how I understood it. Sounds logical. Windows is patched a lot. But, many programs running under windows don't have to be patched every time the OS is patched. So I agree that it doesn't seem logical that a program is more secure because of it's integration with an OS.
Active X
I would be just as cautious with Active X as I would with Java. And Firefox runs Java as well. So I agree that Active X isn't the main culpret. In fact, I wish that Firefox had Active X capability as some trusted sites use it.
Spyware
I agree that one must be careful of what one downloads in the first place, whether or not they use a web browser. And a browser can not take the place of anti-virus and spyware-sniffing software.
Bug free? Memory leaks, etc.
yeah right.
Actually, I had to install an extension to reload sessions and pages because Firefox would crash and loose all the pages in the tabs. Sometimes frequently!
Extensions
I never yet seen any add-ons or extensions for IE that I could use. Tabbed browsing? Turn on/off JavaScript on the fly? Look at the functions that Firefox extensions can provide. I can't find those same functions in IE. Not the ones I use.
Popups
I've found the Firefox DOES block more popups than IE does, which is another reason I like Firefox. I seem to get some popups in IE even after setting it up to block. Plus, it doesn't seem possible to allow popups for some sites but not others in IE, like you can in Firefox.
W3C Standards
I agree that Firefox does *not* support W3C standards very well. In fact, that is why stuff looks different in one browser and not another. The CSS is not fully supported either. You can get colored scroll bars only in IE, for example.
Page Rendering
Now they have a Firefox extension that lets you view a page as it would appear in IE - inside of firefox itself! It changes the web page rendering engine for that page in that one tab. However, my tests show it does not work that well. There are still some sites that require genuine IE.
While this page has some truths to it, it does give the notion of trying to dissuade people from Firefox (look at the bottom of the page - button for "Firefox Myths"). One has to take any of these pages with a grain of salt, no matter what they profess.
So why do I like and use Firefox more?
1. Tabbed browsing without M$'s integrating more gunk into my computer.
2. Ability to turn off flash media on the fly or only turn on for certain sites (extension)
3. See a count of Yahoo Mail in toolbar at bottom (extension)
4. Turn off JavaScript by default, and turn on only for specific sites (extension)
5. Select text on the page, and copy it to the clipboard along with the page's URL (extensions)
6. Nice rounded address and search bar fields (extension)
7. Tiny URL Creator (extension)
8. Check validity of links on a page (extension)
9. Remove an image or object from a page on the fly (extension)
10. Popup blocker control (what sites to allow and what not) (default)
11. move Firefox icon from taskbar to system tray (extension)
12. Works in Linux and Windows, so I can transport/share my bookmarks
13. "Add bookmark here" (extension)
14. Duplicate bookmark locator (extension)
15. Restore lost sessions after crash (extension)
16. Reload closed pages/tabs (extension)
17. Check negative feedbacks for any eBay member (extension)
While maybe IE might have SOME of these functions, it doesn't have ALL of them. There's also other useful extensions for Firefox.
So, unless I can get these features in IE, I will need to use Firefox as well for the majority of my browsing.
But it does pose some problems for web design stuff.
