Firefox or IE7?

[Lucky Day]

MS finally gave us IE7 after saying it wouldn't be released until Vista.

This makes sense as Vista's release date will beyond Christmas and Bill fired his CEO over it. (Why they are putting out a second "Release Candidate" version of Vista right now is beyond me with such a late release date. Isn't "Release Candidate" supposed to mean "final beta"?)

Firefox and Opera et al. were making IE 6 way out of date and now IE has dropped to an esitimated 82% usage, down from 90%.

The most popular feature being the Tabbed Browsing and a multiple search box in the Navigate bar (rather than integrating it into the navigation bar and limiting it to one, or having it as a seperate toolbar).

IE 7 looks to have a quick tabs button which lists all the windows in one tab. I was told there is a plugin already for that for Firefox but I haven't seen it.

Since IE is integrated into the OS now does this mean tabbed folders? Didn't Apple do tabbed folders 20 years ago? What else does this do for the OS.

I expect IE doesn't have a plugin option as its not open source.

Also, pull down menus seem to be replaced by pull down icons. IE 7 seems to be a precursor for changes for change sake that we'll see in Vista.

[Arhu]

From a web designer's perspective, I'm happy that IE7 is finally released. I don't have it yet though, because I still have to check stuff in IE6 every now and then. That, however, will change in November when IE7 will stream to everyone's computer with Windows' auto update. Then I won't be able to see if something works in IE6 anymore. Yay! ^^

There was a fairly large article about the new browser in German computer magazine c't. Conclusion: IE7 finally catches up, but doesn't quite reach Opera and Firefox yet in terms of browser functionality and web standards support. Still, it's a big step forward.

From an end user's perspective, being a Firefox user myself, I couldn't care less about IE though. ;)

[Kawika]

IE will always be teh debil, no matter the version.
FF will always be teh uber, with each version making it more so.
'Nough said. :p

[pink-hippo]

IE 7 looks to have a quick tabs button which lists all the windows in one tab. I was told there is a plugin already for that for Firefox but I haven't seen it.

I'm not too sure, but Viamatic foXpose (https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/1457/) may be the plugin that he was referring.

I expect IE doesn't have a plugin option as its not open source.

Microsoft has an add-on site (http://www.ieaddons.com) for IE 7, where we can download a popup blocker for a modest charge of $29.99.

[Arma]

I'd say that I couldn't care less, as Opera does it for me, mouse gestures are a fantastic feature not present in neither FF or IE to the best of my knoledge

[txa1265]

I'm quite happy with FireFox, but I read something (wish I bookmarked it) that showed that memory and CPU usage under similar load (multiple tabs / windows) was 50% less than FireFox when using IE.

[Corwin]

I deleted IE from my PC!! I never 'auto-update' and I love FF!! Just couldn't get 'into' Opera!!

[Lucky Day]

I'd say that I couldn't care less, as Opera does it for me, mouse gestures are a fantastic feature not present in neither FF or IE to the best of my knoledge

I've found a few big Opera supporters. What is this "mouse gestures" thou speaks of?

I kind of think the Opera team should merge and work on Fire or Firefox developers should scrap it and work on Opera. Just pick one. Mind you, Opera is technically a comemrcial product if I remember right.

[Gorath]

I'd say that I couldn't care less, as Opera does it for me, mouse gestures are a fantastic feature not present in neither FF or IE to the best of my knoledge
Me too. I really miss the mouse gestures when I have to use another browser. The integrated zoom function, timed auto-reload and fit to width are also very nice.

[Gorath]

I've found a few big Opera supporters. What is this "mouse gestures" thou speaks of?

The normal navigation buttons are also linked to right-click in combination with a mouse movement. That´s very comfortable because RMB + move left is way faster than moving your mouse over half the screen to click on "back".

[Arhu]

Well, for Firefox there are three extensions I'd not go without:

All-in-One Gestures (https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/12/), Adblock Plus (https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/1865/) and Adblock Filterset.G Updater (https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/1136/).

The first offers well, mouse gestures, the second provides ad blocking functionality and the third keeps it updated with hand made blocking rules.

Although, admittedly, even being relatively lightweight, Firefox can't beat Opera in perceived speed.

[Corwin]

Most of my adblock was filled with Dot ads!! :)

[Kawika]

Dot ads ftw! w00t! :leer:

[Sei Daneic]

I use Firefox at home by choice, but I use IE at work because I am not allowed to use any other interent browser there. I feel that firefox is superior to IE, especially with carefully selected plugins installed (such as adblock and scriptblocker)

[Faby]

Most definatly Firefox. It's not as vulnerable to malware as IE.

[Myrthos]

I'm using Maxthon, which wraps around IE and brings it mouse gestures, tabs, ad-blocker, plugins and a lot of other stuff.
I use FireFox for debugging. It just rocks, with its plugins, when it comes to debugging the Ajax functionality on this site (which currently only editors see).
My personal drive to using IE over FF as the default browser is that most of the visitors to this site (and RPGDot) use IE.

[Bartacus]

I changed from IE to FF under impulse of a mysterious (for those who weren't in it) familiar (for thos who were in it) group called the NFG. I must say that FF is very easy to use and with a couple of plugins much faster then IE ever was.

[Lucky Day]

thanks for the adblock updater. I didn't know about that one.
I'll try the mouse gestures.

[txa1265]

Anyone using Firefox 2.0 yet?

[pink-hippo]

Anyone using Firefox 2.0 yet?

I do. What about it?

... and yes, I love that inline spell checking feature. <_<

[txa1265]

I do. What about it?

... and yes, I love that inline spell checking feature. <_<

I was just wondering how it compared with the others in terms of features, speed & memory usage.

[Lucky Day]

I was just wondering how it compared with the others in terms of features, speed & memory usage.

I haven't taken it thru its paces but the few things I've noticed about it are a more transparent feel to the fonts and tabs, and some of my plugins haven't been updated. I can't live without tab-mix plus. The idea of a new tab not starting at google is irritating.

Also, the downloads window can be reduced to a bar (optional). Its great if you find the window annoying but its not as easy to clear the garbage it collects.

[LordRac]

Using: Firefox 2.0
Forced to support: IE7 :(