Browser bedlam!
The New Internet Explorer 7
Last week, to much anticipation, Microsoft finally released its new Internet Explorer version 7. Playing catch-up to its main competitor, Mozilla's Firefox browser, the new Explorer features:
- Improved security (protection against phishing sites, which try to obtain off your personal infomation, is built in).
- Tabbed browsing, allowing multiple Web pages to be open in the same Window. Think of Excel tabs in a Web browser.
- A pop-up window blocker.
- An integrated search engine bar.
- Better RSS functionality, which automatically pulls in news and blog stories from sites you subscribe to.
These are nice improvements. And IE7 appears to be more secure than its predecessor, making it a must-have program from every Windows user. And since it's free, there's no reason not to get it.
You can download it here now. (Within a month, Microsoft will begin "pushing" this browser onto your computer. This means you'll be automatically prompted to download it.)
Thing is, nearly all of these features have been available on Mozilla's Firefox for years.
The New Firefox 2
And, on the heels of Microsoft's long-awaited announcement, Mozilla today made its own lesser-hyped product release: Firefox version 2.
The new Firefox touts its security and speed improvements as well as:
- Improved on tabbed browsing functionality, letting you close each tab individually with [X] buttons.
- Also, built-in spell checking for blog posts like these make it harder to make mistakes.
- Finally, "live" bookmarks and page titles display important information from your Web pages (think eBay price, auction time left, etc.)
You can download the new Firefox here.
Mac Users, Who Loves Ya?
Firefox 2 does. Internet Explorer 7 does not. There's no Mac version available of IE7. So we Mac users are "limited" to the highly-secure Safari browser, made by Apple, or the highly secure Firefox browser. For what it's worth, I use Firefox.
What Should You Do?
Windows users should download both IE7 and Firefox 2. They're not mutually exclusive, and there's no reason to limit yourself to just one. Still, I suspect you'll find yourself using Firefox more than Explorer.
Mac users should not think twice about downloading Firefox 2. I think it's quite a lot better than Safari.
The best part about these "browser wars" is that all parties involved are free.
Enjoy!
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