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The Writings on the Stall

Wednesday, 2004-01-07

internet magazine cover feature

Kim Gilmour, Features Editor of Internet Magazine, is doing a cover feature on open source (and with that, Mozilla). She sent in a short questionnaire to Blogzilla (a Mozilla advocation weblog) to find out why authors there — myself being one — have chosen Mozilla over Internet Explorer.

Pinder forwarded the message on. Below are my responses to questions asked:

First of all, why does IE suck?

In a few words: security, or lack thereof; popups.

Few more: the last time any improvements were made by Microsoft to Internet Explorer was over two years ago (6.0 in October 2001). Needless to say, a lot has changed since then.

What are the best things about the Mozilla browser?

My favorite features, in no particular order. Tabbed browsing, which frees the taskbar. Extensibility/customizability: if you don't like something about Mozilla, someone else in the community has probably already addressed your particular issue. Keyword searching, my prime arsenal for converting skeptical friends (always gets a "wow").

What contributions have you made to the development of the Mozilla browser?

Bug reports, assistance in the MozillaZine forums to those I've had the capacity to help and news/tips via Blogzilla.

What happens when bugs are found and how are they reported and 'treated'?

When bugs are found, they are often first reported to the community through the MozillaZine forums. If others can replicate the bug (and if it hasn't already been reported) it will most likely then be reported. Developers then see what they can do to fix the bug and land changes onto the trunk soon after patches are created.

Have you compiled your own versions of the browser? What technical knowledge is required?

No. As I haven't before, I'm not entirely sure.

Mozilla vs IE - what do you predict the browser usage landscape look like in the future and why?

Call me optimistic, but I see Mozilla eventually gaining a competitive share of the browser market. Back before Google was mainstream, I remember recommending the search engine to friends and classmates, whenever I could. I'm positive that plenty of others, like me, did the same. I now find myself, and others, doing the same for Mozilla.

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