Firefox myths

[Aloone_Jonez]

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/SupportCD/FirefoxMyths.html

Doesn't bother me, I prefer Opera anyway.

[adiment]

Internet Explorer with Windows XP Service Pack 2 installed provide the same level of Spyware security as Firefox.

Bullshit! IE with SP2 isn't secure, I couldn't even get rid of the shit it had installed on my PC without a reformat.



Internet Explorer 6 supports Tabbed Browsing when used with the MSN Toolbar extension in Windows XP.

Which also adds the MSN bar, that takes up more space, aka bloat.



Myth - "Firefox supports Extensions and Internet Explorer does not" - Example

Reality - Internet Explorer has supported extensions since Internet Explorer 5. - Source

too bad IE's extensions are completely useless.



Only problem I have with Firefox is the memory leaking... I'd use Opera if it had adblock + auto updater for it and the stumble upon plugin, as well as a linux media player plugin. I've found Opera to be much faster than Firefox, but SwiftFox is faster.

[piratePenguin]

Opera (now 100% Ad free) is the fastest Graphical Web Browser in Windows.

In Windows? Yawn.

I don't like the layout of that page, or the way the writer has it like IE vs. FF in the titles of the myths and Opera + IE vs. FF in the reality and notes bit. WTF? We already KNOW Opera has some advantages over both FF and IE.

Myth - "Firefox is Faster than Internet Explorer 6" - Example

Reality - Internet Explorer 6.x is clearly faster than Firefox 1.x in 6 out of 7 measures of performance and is significantly faster from a cold start. - Source

Notes - The argument that components of Internet Explorer may load during Windows Startup is nullified by Opera's start times. Which means there is no excuse for this except poor coding on Firefox's part.

Other than that general shittyness of the page, it has potential.

Myth - "Firefox Achieved 150 million downloads (2-2006)" - Example

Reality - "Oops. We recently introduced a bug into the counter and it's being fixed. We're not quite there yet. Sorry for the confusion. We accidentally counted the 20 million people who updated from Firefox 1.5 to Firefox 1.5.0.1 this week." - Source - Source 2

lol, never heard about that before. Doesn't sound like that unplausible of a mistake. Compare that to when Opera put a logo up on their front page claiming they won that PCWorld award, when in actual fact they did not. lol.
source

opera lies about being named pc world best browser

Opera Software seems to have decided that it's easier to lie than to win. Here's the chain of events as best as I can tell.

PC World announced their 100 Best Products of 2005.

Firefox not only won the coveted Product of the Year award, sweeping all 99 other products in the list, but it beat out two other browsers, Maxthon at number 12 and Opera way down at number 88.

Opera puts out a press release claiming "A Winning Streak: Opera once again wins PC World's World Class Award for best Web browser". Opera.com then places this same thing on their front page (see the third checkbox with the claim that they've won best browser in '05.)

Conclusion: Opera is simply lying. They were one of 100 products to be labeled as "World Class" but they did not win any "best Web browser" anything. They were last in the ranking of three web browsers. They got beat by both Maxthon and Firefox.

update: without apology or any public comment at all, Opera has changed their homepage to remove the claim. You can see the old home page here. They have not corrected their press release.

update 2: While they still haven't fixed the press release that states they won the PC World Best Browser of 2005, or done anything make a correction available for those who reprinted that press release, one of their employees, Haavard, has commented at his blog/journal saying "it appears that Opera might not have won the best browser of 2005 award from PC World after all". It looks like he's also locked the discussion in their community forums here and here.

update 3: OK, the press release is corrected and Opera's saying it was all just an innocent mistake.

And on the security thing, DUH if you don't use the latest FF version you'll be insecure. The page should've noted Mozilla's not-bad record of getting security fixes out to people who are free to take them (and free to not take them). FF 1.5 will automatically download the updates (you can disable that ofcourse) and tell you when they're ready to be installed (because you'd needa restart it). I know of no better solution to getting updates out to the willing millions. Kinda sounds like this page is trying to flee users from FF, the standards-compliant, free web-browser.

And re: Opera being more secure than FF. How does Opera get their patches out? I know they have major releases out every 6 months or whatever, between them do they have minor releases and/or do they have an update system like FF 1.5's?

IE extensions, LMAO. I noticed IE supported extensions when I couldn't get that (can't remember the name of it) toolbar off my brother's computer. Nevertheless, FF with XUL and that, I love the way extensions work. I doubt I would like the way extensions work in IE quite as much.

And as we come towards the end this guy shoots himself in the face:

Myth - "Firefox supports Tabbed Browsing and Internet Explorer does not" - Example

Reality - Internet Explorer 6 supports Tabbed Browsing when used with the MSN Toolbar extension in Windows XP. - Source

Uh, FF supports basically anything you can imagine (including pop-up blocking improvements etc.) if you install/make an extension for it. And it's pretty damn secure if you update it.

Warning - When viewing his websites in Internet Explorer you may receive deceptive warnings saying: "Warning: There is a problem with your web browser" which links to his "IE is Dangerous" propaganda page. This is an attempt to use scare tactics to try and get people to use an alternate web browser. Please do not fall for these. He is also well aware some of his web pages break in Internet Explorer but deliberately refuses to fix them out of clear bias: "Do I dislike Internet Explorer? Yes. Do I wish Internet Explorer would just go away? Yes." - David Hammond. It should be noted these guides here will always attempt to work with all web browsers and never resort to these dishonest tactics.

How ironic.

Notes - Internet Explorer has very good support (81-86%) for the most important web standard, HTML 4.01

Ugh, in a modern web-browser HTML 4.01 on it's own isn't all that great. Most websites use something called CSS to style pages.

Re: Acid2 test, Opera and FF. In my experience FF has excellent support for w3c and standards and ecmascript (aka javascript). I've often messed about with using JS to modify the DOM of e.g. a SVG page. I built them in a way I expected them to work with standard compliant browsers and they worked on FF. I don't have Opera installed (must install it, just to test this shit), but other people using Opera have told me (to my surprise, I thought Opera was good at this stuff) they just get blank pages on my documents (must get those pages up for ye to examine).

Opera doesn't support XSL(T), something I've also often messed about with (http://www.opera.com/docs/specs/).

[H_TeXMeX_H]

Reality - Internet Explorer 6.x has much lower minimum System Requirements than Firefox 1.x.

What BULLSHIT !!! What they dont realise is that your OS's minimum requirements are what really count not your browsers min req !!! Does IE on Vi$ta have lower system reqs than Firefox on DSL ??? FUCK NO !!!

Internet Explorer       - Source
     
     Minimum:
     486 66 MHz CPU      
     16 MB - 32 MB of RAM *
     8.7 MB - 12.7 MB of available hard disk space *
     
     Windows 98
     Windows 98 SE
     Windows ME
     Windows NT 4.0 with SP 6a
     Windows 2000
     Windows XP
     
     * Requirements vary based on the Operating System.

Will XP even run on those requirements ? I seriously doubt it

Myth - "Firefox is More Secure because it does not use ActiveX"      - Example
     
     Reality - "ActiveX gets a bad rap as the cause of all of Internet Explorer's security woes. But it's just not so....

BULLSHIT !!!

The site seems obviously biased against FF and for Opera and IE ... but Opera is not open-source, and you cannot distribute it without permission if I am not mistaken ... and remember back when Opera had ads embedded in the browser itself ... didn't that suck ass ? I don't forgive and forget that easily.

As for all the "firefox is not secure" bullshit ... FF has never been exploited ever since I've been using it, while IE has been exploited (like "gang raped") nearly every time I've used it (long ago, but it's still a valid point)

[Aloone_Jonez]

By the way FYI, this person doesn't hate Firefox.

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.

To be honest I support some of his views like IE being faster than Firefox, others I don't such as ActiveX controls being secure and similar bullshit.

[GenuineAdvantage]

I got rid of IE with XPlite even when I used windows for internet.

[piratePenguin]

By the way FYI, this person doesn't hate Firefox.

I saw that. I still think he does "hate" (as far as hating software goes) FF.

[H_TeXMeX_H]

http://www.microsuck.com/forums/showpost.php?p=113524&postcount=3

[Calum]

I got rid of IE with XPlite even when I used windows for internet.

it's difficult to be sure, considering how unstable all my windows installations have been anyway, but a lite install appears to be even less stable than normal, despite what you may read on the internet.

i suspect a linux distro would usually be a far better choice than a windows lite install for most people.

and of course that will sort out your IE/everything else conundrum once and for all.

[Mastertech]

Bullshit! IE with SP2 isn't secure, I couldn't even get rid of the shit it had installed on my PC without a reformat.

Actually it is. The only way you can get infected with something is if you manually install it. I provide free advice on how to secure you system here: Secure XP. The only time you ever have to reformat a PC due to Malware infection is if it is a Rootkit. Otherwise it is always possible to remove the infection if you know what you are doing.

Which also adds the MSN bar, that takes up more space, aka bloat.

Extensions take up more space AKA bloat.

too bad IE's extensions are completely useless.

Are they really?

MSN Toolbar
Mouse Gestures
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[Mastertech]

By the way FYI, this person doesn't hate Firefox.

Correct! I don't, I merely hate misinformation.

others I don't such as ActiveX controls being secure and similar bullshit.

Actually ActiveX is secure by default. It will always prompt you to install the control. People who complain about "Auto-Installing Spyware" are running unpatched machines or have MSJVM installed.

[Mastertech]

Bullshit! IE with SP2 isn't secure, I couldn't even get rid of the shit it had installed on my PC without a reformat.

Actually it is. The only way you can get infected with something is if you manually install it. I provide free advice on how to secure you system here: Secure XP. The only time you ever have to reformat a PC due to Malware infection is if it is a Rootkit. Otherwise it is always possible to remove the infection if you know what you are doing.

Which also adds the MSN bar, that takes up more space, aka bloat.

Extensions take up more space AKA bloat.

too bad IE's extensions are completely useless.

Are they really?

MSN Toolbar
Mouse Gestures
Site Advisor
Leech Get
RSS Feeds

By the way FYI, this person doesn't hate Firefox.

Correct! I don't, I merely hate misinformation.

others I don't such as ActiveX controls being secure and similar bullshit.

Actually ActiveX is secure by default. It will always prompt you to install the control. People who complain about "Auto-Installing Spyware" are running unpatched machines or have MSJVM installed.

And on the security thing, DUH if you don't use the latest FF version you'll be insecure. The page should've noted Mozilla's not-bad record of getting security fixes out to people who are free to take them (and free to not take them). FF 1.5 will automatically download the updates (you can disable that ofcourse) and tell you when they're ready to be installed (because you'd needa restart it).

Technically you are still isecure since even the latest version of Firefox does not patch all the vulnerabilities.

I know of no better solution to getting updates out to the willing millions.

Windows Updates? Funny how Microsoft has had one of the best update systems for years now and gets no credit.

Kinda sounds like this page is trying to flee users from FF, the standards-compliant, free web-browser.

More like debunk Myths. Notice here you just state another Myth. Firefox is NOT standards compliant.

Mod edit: Posts merged. Please don't multipost... copy/paste exists to make replies to multiple quotes in one post easy. -- Annorax

[Lead Head]

CONGRADULATIONS! You have now officially made your first tripple post!...but that is frowned upon here...

[Mastertech]

What BULLSHIT !!! What they dont realise is that your OS's minimum requirements are what really count not your browsers min req !!! Does IE on Vi$ta have lower system reqs than Firefox on DSL ??? FUCK NO !!!

How does this change the fact that IE has lower system requirements than Firefox? It doesn't.

Will XP even run on those requirements ? I seriously doubt it

XP will run on its minimum requirements. IE is designed for more than one OS.

BULLSHIT !!!

ActiveX is the biggest Myth out there. The far majority of problems on IE is due to unpatched machines.

The site seems obviously biased against FF and for Opera and IE ... but Opera is not open-source, and you cannot distribute it without permission if I am not mistaken ... and remember back when Opera had ads embedded in the browser itself ... didn't that suck ass ? I don't forgive and forget that easily.

It is not biased. Many people do not care if something is open source or not, rather wether it is free. The reality is Opera does not have embedded ads anymore. They probably generate there money now how Firefox does through the search bar.

As for all the "firefox is not secure" bullshit ... FF has never been exploited ever since I've been using it, while IE has been exploited (like "gang raped") nearly every time I've used it (long ago, but it's still a valid point)

Wow than you really are doing something seriosly wrong, like using a pirated version of Windows that does not allow you to apply updates ect... Because a fully updated IE does not have these problems.

[Mastertech]

CONGRADULATIONS! You have now officially made your first tripple post!...but that is frowned upon here...

I was responding to separate people using the quote feature.