"I refuse to use FireFox!" he cried

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Ollie Saunders
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"I refuse to use FireFox!" he cried

Post by Ollie Saunders »

I just had to drag my Father, kicking and screaming, to use FF instead of IE. When flash didn't work (needed to dl the ff version) and adobe download didn't seem to want to happen for over 20 minutes there was a rather unpleasant atmosphere. Care to share similar experiences?

My friend works at a local computer repair shop and regularly removes IE from peoples computers and replaces it with FireFox but uses his own home-grown patch so that most people won't even notice the switch happened.
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superdezign
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Post by superdezign »

People complain that FireFox takes too long to load. But after the load is what it's about. :-p
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Chris Corbyn
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Re: "I refuse to use FireFox!" he cried

Post by Chris Corbyn »

ole wrote:My friend works at a local computer repair shop and regularly removes IE from peoples computers and replaces it with FireFox but uses his own home-grown patch so that most people won't even notice the switch happened.
:x :x :x :x

Why is that even something boast about? I'd probably take your friend to court if he interfered with my computer in that way with the intention that I won't know about it. Sorry to rant, but that just annoyed me a bit.

FF uses too much memory, I don't run it anymore. I run Safari instead, but granted, on a windows machine I'd rather use FF over IE or Opera. Same with Linux.
alex.barylski
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Post by alex.barylski »

I'm with d11 on that replacing IE with FF...I'd be really <span style='color:blue' title='I'm naughty, are you naughty?'>smurf</span>, thankfully I can fix my own computer. :P

My parents refuse to use FF...their content with IE...it just works! People just don't care about security until they get stung. FF is awesome for developing JS (FireBug, etc) but I use IE for normal browsing. I've never had a virus, spyware, etc...so as long as you play safe, there is no harm in using IE. Besides I'd say 99% of sites are built to support IE as a minimum, so...

FF is nice, no dought, but I can't see it replacing IE as the dominent browser, especially for those who just "surf" the net. IE is already installed (monopoly or not) and people can't justify installing "yet another browser" except developers who need to test on multiple platforms.

I really think each browser has it's niche and it'll likely stay that way...

Just my two cents :)
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Kieran Huggins
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Post by Kieran Huggins »

I install FF on all the machines at the company I work for, and I insist people use it. Even then, there are always a few work-from-home employees that start using IE again once they take their machine home.

Ultimately, it's their loss. I had a panicking call the other day from one guy who is infected to the teeth with spyware - I asked him if he was using Firefox and he said "no - I prefer IE" and I told him that was likely the cause of his problems.

Now despite virus scanners and spyware programs, his computer won't fully clean and he has to bring it in for a wipe / re-install, which will take at least a day. So he complains "but I depend on my computer!" and I have to tell him: "then you should really learn to follow the security policy"

Just like backups, some people just won't learn until they're burned. Some people learn differently than others I guess.

As an aside, I'm now installing Windows FLP by default, which has the option of OMITTING IE during setup!

Score.
alex.barylski
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Post by alex.barylski »

Windows FLP?

Full license professional? :P
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Kieran Huggins
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Post by Kieran Huggins »

Fundamentals for Legacy PCs :-)

And it is professional corp SP2 - but without the bloat! A joy to install and use compared to full-blown XP, and it uses the same VLK.
Charles256
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Post by Charles256 »

All my friends ( yes the non-technical ones) use firefox. I plot on them constantly and at any available oppurtunity I sucker them into installing firefox. :-D
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dude81
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Post by dude81 »

Why not use both.

Firstly, using firefox really prevents lot of pop-ups ,spywares. As the usage gets on and on, One will really love Firefox.

As far as memory is concerned, memories upto 1GB are very easily supported today . I never think of it unless it is a code I write.

If you want to be really particular about everybody using Firefox, highlight the security reasons first to them. Tell them the following, most of the Hackers sit and write mal-scripts mostly for IE :wink: . Also install all the plugins well before so that your parents or colleagues can use it properly.

When an Java applet or something doesnt really work on firefox, ask them cut and paste the URL in IE. This is what I do. :D
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AKA Panama Jack
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Post by AKA Panama Jack »

I don't use Firefox unless I absolutely have to and never use IE (OK, only to see if something displays right in IE). :twisted:
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Ollie Saunders
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Post by Ollie Saunders »

Any standard compliant browser is good. Just don't use IE!
Hockey wrote:but I use IE for normal browsing
But it's the principle Hockey! Use FireFox so there's is some chance in future that I won't have to support IE in my client side code.
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RobertGonzalez
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Post by RobertGonzalez »

I use Firefox. I have instituted a standard at work that all web development needs to render properly in Firefox first, then Opera. Then afterward, hack the crap out of the code so IE can swallow it. I never use IE and ask everyone that asks me for help on their computers if they are willing to ditch it. If they are, I help them. If not, they can pay someone else (repeatedly) to fix their IE vulnerability exploits.

I like Opera... for standard compliant browsing and testing. I will not use it regularly until it can do what Firefox can do.
matthijs
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Post by matthijs »

Firefox. For many reasons. First for the developer extensions, but also for how it looks and works. The tabs, the bookmark/history functionality, the session history, etc. And IE is just ugly.

Talking about IE, IE7 is really a usability nightmare. What were these designers thinking when then moved the home,refresh and stop buttons, which have been on the top left side forever (and still are in all other browsers)? "Guys, I have a good idea, let's confuse our users a bit more, let's move these buttons!"

Of course, the fact that IE was "unsafe" for 284 days in 2006 compared to 9 days for FF is also a reason why I recommend FF to other people.

The only problem I have with FF is it's memory use. However, that's also because I have at least 20+ tabs opened at any time and I visit like 100 sites a day. The memory problem will be a lot less for "normal" people visiting a few sites.
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Chris Corbyn
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Post by Chris Corbyn »

matthijs wrote:The only problem I have with FF is it's memory use. However, that's also because I have at least 20+ tabs opened at any time and I visit like 100 sites a day. The memory problem will be a lot less for "normal" people visiting a few sites.
I don't think anyone can argue that FF isn't the only browser which doesn't let go of memory neither. Opera also grinds to a halt when it's been open for a while. It gets to a point where you click a link and it hangs while you wait for it to load. Usually it's like that after some JS in another window has gone nuts but even closing down the windows in question doesn't help. You have to close *all* the windows and start over. Opera takes a long time to shut itself down too. But generally, I think people are aware of a general memory leak in FF.

Safari on my mac also needs closing completely and re-opening every few days.
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Jenk
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Post by Jenk »

FireFox at work, Konqueror at home :)

I need tabs when browsing. :)
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