Mastertech Posted December 23, 2005 Share Posted December 23, 2005 Firefox Myths Myth (Definition) - A fiction or half-truth, especially one that forms part of an ideology. While Firefox is a decent Web Browser, there are numerous Myths floating around the Internet regarding it. Hopefully this site will debunk some of these. You will surprised at what you thought was true. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
herme3 Posted December 23, 2005 Share Posted December 23, 2005 That is a good web site. There are too many web sites that just talk about how bad Internet Explorer is, and they act like Firefox is perfect. It is good to see a web site that tells the truth, all web browsers have advantages and disadvantages. I was a little interested in the fact that they said Firefox requiring more system resources was a bad thing. Normally the best programs required the most system resources. If people like programs that use few system resources, they should go back to using DOS for their operating system. If a program uses more system resources, it normally means that it does more. I would be very concerned if I bought an expensive program and saw that it was only a few kilobytes in size. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phi for All Posted December 23, 2005 Share Posted December 23, 2005 Regardless of what is the truth, I find it very shady that Mastertech joined SFN 10 months ago and has posted only twice, both times to post links to anti-Firefox web articles. I make no arguments based on this ad hom reasoning, but it seems suspect to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klaynos Posted December 23, 2005 Share Posted December 23, 2005 Just to point out none of those "myths" have ever really been stated on this forum, and if they where they'd probably be argued with. It's all a comparative thing... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattC Posted December 23, 2005 Share Posted December 23, 2005 And two of them appear to be poorly thought out - it says that IE has lower system requirements, then goes on to list the requirements. IE has a significantly higher CPU requirement (For what little these minimum number requirements actually mean), and a significantly lower memory requirement. However, IE requires more memory than is listed - it is probably due to it being partially loaded at start up. Also, saying that it's wrong to say that Firefox is more secure, simply because it is not 100% secure, is idiotic logic (and transparantly motivated, in my appraisal, by more than a desire to spread the simple truth). Firefox would be as often and heavily exploited as IE, presumably, if as many people were using it (and if as many were trying to hack it), which just isn't happening as of yet. When it does, you can say they are equally unsecure. Until then, Firefox is more secure, and that's just all there is too it. Until then ... hmmm .. you'd need more than more users to bring security levels to par. You'd have to also increase dramatically the number of people who hate Firefox and want to see it ruined by bugs. That said, both browsers work great for me, though I prefer Firefox for a number of situations. IE is not as buggy as some make it out to be, but this guy seems to have a motive for bashing firefox ... otherwise, he wouldn't mislead (as in the case of the two "myths" I pointed out above) and use straw-person tactics (by saying that Firefox isn't the first with tabbed browsing - who ever said it was? All I've ever heard is that IE *doesn't* have it yet, which will still be true for a while yet). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daecon Posted December 23, 2005 Share Posted December 23, 2005 Why on earth would anybody care if Firefox was the "first" to use tabbed browsing or not? Who gives a darn? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ecoli Posted December 23, 2005 Share Posted December 23, 2005 Why on earth would anybody care if Firefox was the "first" to use tabbed browsing or not? Who gives a darn? I know... it's like a competition. And they claimed that just because IE has more security holes then FF, it doesn't mean that FF is secure. While this maybe true, why wouldn't you go with the browser with les security holes? Sense it makes not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
herme3 Posted December 23, 2005 Share Posted December 23, 2005 Why on earth would anybody care if Firefox was the "first" to use tabbed browsing or not? Who gives a darn? Well, everyone is acting like IE is way behind Firefox because they don't have tabbed browsing yet and Firefox does. Firefox was released in 2004, and IE plans to have tabbed browsing in 2006. That means IE is 3 years behind Firefox. However, if tabbed browsing was invented in 1997, that means that Firefox was 8 years behind Netcaptor! I'm not saying that it really matters which browser used tabbed browsing first. I'm just wondering how people can criticize IE for taking so long to catch up with Firefox when it took Firefox 8 years to catch up with Netcaptor! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ecoli Posted December 23, 2005 Share Posted December 23, 2005 I just don't see why tabbed browsing is such a big deal...it's not like it's terrible convienent or revolutionized the way the Internet works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phi for All Posted December 23, 2005 Share Posted December 23, 2005 Why on earth would anybody care if Firefox was the "first" to use tabbed browsing or not? Who gives a darn? Marketers, that's who. The people who write the pitch don't want you to think too hard about what they're saying. Just listen to their sound bytes and consume. If you're halfway tempted to buy something a nicely phrased feature like "we pioneered tabbed browsing" can push you the rest of the way. I always laugh when I hear the marketing for automobiles. Most of the accessories they sell you as options and standards are stupid when you stop to think about them. Half of them, like electric mirrors and seats, you set once and then forget them if you're the only driver. But a long list of features is very alluring to the average consumer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1veedo Posted December 23, 2005 Share Posted December 23, 2005 I dont have the link right now but firefox is faster rendering. In other words you click a link and the page will be loaded faster. They're argumetn that IE is faster is that IE takes less time to load on startup. This is true but the claim that fiefox started faster has never been made.* IE is part of the Windows OS and taking up memory even when you're not using it. And I don't know where they got this from but firefox is definitely much better at web standards than IE. MS has done nothing but change and purposfully melign web standards. That myth shoudl be titled "Firefox displays IE standards better;" which it doesn't. The same goes for the next one, "web page rendering," because some websites are designed specifically for IE compatible standards and not W3C. Although what it points out is true what it concludes doesn't follow. Like saying "gravity makes you fall so buildings are unsafe." Firefox isn't perfect of course but that website is arguing the straw man The "myth" around tabbed browsing isn't that firefox was the first and thus "IE's behind firefox" (as herme3 said) but that IE simply doesn't have tabbed browsing. Nobody argues that firefox displays internet explorer coded websites better than IE. And nobody ever argued that firefox started faster than IE. Personally I like konqueror *A little history fact: MS was sued for shipping IE with Windows because other browsers, netscape, would't get buissness. MS sollution to this was to make IE vital to the Windows OS thus avoided the lawsuit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
herme3 Posted December 24, 2005 Share Posted December 24, 2005 IE is part of the Windows OS and taking up memory even when you're not using it. I never thought that IE was taking up memory unless it was running. The IE program is C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\IEXPLORE.EXE and that process isn't running unless you are using IE. I think people see C:\Windows\Explorer.exe and get confused. Explorer.exe is not IE, but it is the Windows browser that displays Windows components like My Computer, My Documents, and the Control Panel. *A little history fact: MS was sued for shipping IE with Windows because other browsers, netscape, would't get buissness. MS sollution to this was to make IE vital to the Windows OS thus avoided the lawsuit. I never did understand the purpose of that lawsuit. A lot of products are included with other products. It is the same thing as a toy company including batteries with their toys, computer companies including keyboards with their computers, radio companies including speakers with their radios, or a video game company including a controller with their consoles. Microsoft had every right to include Internet Explorer with Windows. The only reason they should have been sued is if they had Windows purposely delete other browsers. That certainly isn't the case because you can use all types of browsers with Windows. Microsoft included IE with Windows as an extra feature. They never forced anybody to use IE to access the Internet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klaynos Posted December 24, 2005 Share Posted December 24, 2005 There are other parts of IE other than the main exe which are running when the main exe is not running, explorer and IE are very deeply integrated within one another. I also feel the lawsuite was silly as shipping an os these days without a browser would just be dumb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daecon Posted December 24, 2005 Share Posted December 24, 2005 How would you be able to get onto the internet to download another browser if you didn't already have a browser on your computer to be able to access the internet to start with? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klaynos Posted December 24, 2005 Share Posted December 24, 2005 How would you be able to get onto the internet to download another browser if you didn't already have a browser on your computer to be able to access the internet to start with? (This is why I thought the lawcase was silly... but...) ssh and use lynz on a server use ftp to download one. use ssh to download one. use a messenger service. get one in an email attachment. get one on a cover cd from a magazeen. use a download manager. have FF on a pendrive. get one off of your networks file store. OK so a browser + download is ALOT easier for most people but.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
herme3 Posted December 24, 2005 Share Posted December 24, 2005 There are other parts of IE other than the main exe which are running when the main exe is not running, explorer and IE are very deeply integrated within one another. I also feel the lawsuite was silly as shipping an os these days without a browser would just be dumb. Where are the other IE files? Are you talking about the .dll files in the System32 folder? I know some of them contain the graphics for IE and Explorer, but I don't think they stay in the memory when they aren't being used. How would you be able to get onto the internet to download another browser if you didn't already have a browser on your computer to be able to access the internet to start with? I remember when you used to be able to buy Netscape on CD-ROM. I'm not sure if anyone still sells browsers on CD-ROMs anymore or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helix Posted December 24, 2005 Share Posted December 24, 2005 I just don't see why tabbed browsing is such a big deal...it's not like it's terrible convienent or revolutionized the way the Internet works. I have FF and I find the tabs pretty useful. I can manage a whole bunch of things at once, which is helpful when I'm doing research or whatnot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klaynos Posted December 24, 2005 Share Posted December 24, 2005 I have FF and I find the tabs pretty useful. I can manage a whole bunch of things at once, which is helpful when I'm doing research or whatnot. It changed the way I used my web browser, and tabed application such as text editors are alot nicer and easier too... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dak Posted December 24, 2005 Share Posted December 24, 2005 I just don't see why tabbed browsing is such a big deal...it's not like it's terrible convienent or revolutionized the way the Internet works. I dunno... now that I've gotten used to it, i really hate to be without it. Even before firefox I was using slimbrowser for its tabbed browsing... imo, virtually every program should have tabs. Well, everyone is acting like IE is way behind Firefox because they don't have tabbed browsing yet and Firefox does. Just with respect to this one feature, it is (soon to be rectified in IE7). I guess if you concider tabbed browsing to be that inportant, then the fact that FF has tabs and IE doesnt becomes quite relevant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klaynos Posted December 24, 2005 Share Posted December 24, 2005 IE7 wasn't originally going to have tabs but when they announced that everyone laughed so they're just tacked on top, from what I hear it's not a great implementation. Such a shame, I remember when IE was one of the best browsers around esspecially for windows, even when it came to standards support... shame... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helix Posted December 24, 2005 Share Posted December 24, 2005 It changed the way I used my web browser, and tabed application such as text editors are alot nicer and easier too... Tabbed text editors? I haven't heard of those... I guess it's useful to to tab anysoftware in which you'd need to have a lot of information open at a time. Txt Documents, web pages etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1veedo Posted December 24, 2005 Share Posted December 24, 2005 A lot of things in Linux use tabs. KEdit has tabs which come in pretty useful. I use bluefish (php / web editor) to work on my website (quanta hs tabs too). Konsol keeps you from having millions of terminal windows... Even Konqueror, kind of like the windows equivilent of my computer (except it does a lot more). Copy *tab* past. Pretty much anything with tabs makes life easier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klaynos Posted December 25, 2005 Share Posted December 25, 2005 Tabbed text editors? I haven't heard of those... I guess it's useful to to tab anysoftware in which you'd need to have a lot of information open at a time. Txt Documents' date=' web pages etc.[/quote'] ScItE is an amazingly usefull browser: http://www.scintilla.org/SciTE.html If you look at their FAQ you can see how to turn on tabs and lots of other fun features... On Linux I use Gedit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyanJ Posted December 25, 2005 Share Posted December 25, 2005 Half the stuff in that article is a load of crap. If your looking for a more ojbective view then have a look at the better one: http://nanobox.chipx86.com/blog/2005/12/re-firefox-myths.php ^ That site is a brilliant resource and the guy who writes its content is a devoted developer People should really make more notice - trusing sources like that one could cause people more problems than are nessisary. I want to pick at a few of these in any case: I love the Firefox is a Solution to Spyware one, since I have been suing Firefox not one infestation of adware, I use the same sites, smae software coincidence? Myth - "Firefox was the first Web Browser to offer Tabbed Browsing" No-one ever said it was :S Myth - "Firefox is faster than Internet Explorer" Again, I've never heared it was even though it almost is. There are 2 reasons for this, 1) Fx is NOT intergrated into Windows like IE is so its less susspetible too DoS attacks. 2) Fx uses a system that, althougha little slower than hopes, provides the ability too have a full extension system - well work the delay I think. Myth - "Firefox is a Secure Web Browser" No-one ever said Firefox was 100% secure as its obvious that nothing can be but its far, far better than IE for many reasons that have been brought up in previous topics. Thats the end of my rant but read the other article if you really are objective and don't want to belive all that crap in the posted article Cheers, Ryan Jones Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red_Ninja Posted December 26, 2005 Share Posted December 26, 2005 Personally, I geniunely can't be arsed checking out other browsers. I got to a point where IE was annoying me. I downloaded Firefox (fair enough I had Mozilla before that) and haven't looked back. I've noticed a fair few people don't think much of tabs - all I can say is that is must be a matter of opinion or taste, because I personally love tabs. I absoloutely hate IE because it makes me open a new window for every page I want open. Often when browsing I'll want at least six pages or more open, with perhaps one or two loading while I read another. IE opens too many windows and then the OS starts messin about with them, stacking them, etc. So, no expert, but I much, much prefer Firefox. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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