When AOL finaly threw in the towel on Netscape in 2003 and settled its antitrust suit against Microsoft for $750 million, many saw it as the end of a free Internet. Now it was open season on our beloved newfound information freedom and as Microsoft had done in the desktop market, it could start bullying web technologists into exclusively using software functionality - like ActiveX, the Java-like (dot) Net, and J++  in web site that can only be accessed by, or performed better using Microsoft products.

Surely there was much rejoicing among the IE devs and the legal team that pulled the IE v SpyGlass conflict out of the fires in ’97. And one can’t help but wonder how much self congratulatory celebration there was among Gates et al. High-fives and Mai Tais all around.

Thankfully, one of the smartest things AOL ever did was to turn Netscape over to an open source community it formed and call it Mozilla (which is either in tribute or a slap in the face for the Mosaic web browser that popularized surfing on the world wide web, a web browser which was licensed for a time by Microsoft - you decide).

In any event, the open source faithful began to tinker with Netscape. And soon learned how to extend the core technology of the web browser to become the product we now know as Firefox.

The latest Firefox is perhaps the best web-browser ever created for any platform. It’s more secure than anything from any other developer, including Microsoft and Apple. You can add plugins that extend web-browsing beyond simple surfing, such as embedding media players and tools for managing your favorite bookmaks. And open source enthusasts have even written Firefox add-ons that allow Windows users to enjoy Microsoft technology, including the aforementioned ActiveX and the all important Windows Genuine Advantage anti-piracy scheme.

Firefox is available for all flavors of Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X and has been localized in dozens of languages.

Be aware that some employers prevent Firefox from working properly through the use of Windows Server Policy Enforcement. So if you can’t use Firefox at work, Mozilla is probably not at fault. Also, XP users will likely have to use IE to get Windows or Office Updates

Take a tour of all the Firefox add-ons here.

PC Reb

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