To be honest a new release of a web browser (FireFox) and email program (Thunderbird) is not really that exciting. In fact it can be more of a headache to make sure all your add-ons/plugins work and website-wise we have to double-check they won’t now break.
So why care about Firefox and Thunderbird?
Are they vital? No. They are however encouraging not because of the number (a marketing ploy at best and subject of intense geek discussion) but because of the improvements being made – speed and simplicity.
For the longest time lots of software wanted to add features, the more features the better. This hasn’t stopped entirely, FireFox 8 touts the ability to search Twitter directly from the little search bar at the top – but that is broadly pointless as in our experience most people don’t alter the default Search Engine (often Google) or even know they can.
What they didn’t shout about is that both these releases run faster and don’t allow as many add-ons to automatically launch themselves. This is mostly a good thing as we can’t count how many times we’ve met clients with large numbers of add-ons that they simply weren’t aware of; slowing down their computers and browsing experience.
Even more important, FireFox and Thunderbird are created by the Open Source community. Open Source means that similar to the way WordPress is built, a central hub coordinates input from all kinds of developers around the world, all without charge. Previously Open Source was a by-word for ‘a little unprofessional and buggy’ but it is catching up and in the case of WordPress market-leading. If the Open Source community is winning market-share with performance and usability tweaks then the future certainly is bright.
How about Chrome, Safari and Internet Explorer?
At the time of writing Google Chrome is on version 15, Internet Explorer version 9, and Safari 5.1.1. Again this doesn’t matter. Chrome has been leading the way with version numbers despite being the youngest browser by aiming to release and update every 6 weeks.
More and more of these updates are becoming automatic and with the fierce competition for eye-balls they are all focussing on the user experience. Safari is becoming less of a PC resource-hog, Internet Explorer is finally standards-compliant (within reason) and Microsoft themselves are now leading the push to knock off Internet Explorer 6.
Chrome is still a little buggy, not always going to web addresses and oddly has some trouble running some of Google’s own services (notably Google Docs) but as part of the core of the Chrome OS program (making Internet-dependent laptops) that should shortly resolve itself.
Should we all use FireFox and Thunderbird?
Thankfully it’s becoming more and more a question of personal taste than anything. For web, we often use a mix of Chrome and FireFox simply for debugging tools, Search Engine Optimisation and -crucially- speed. Certainly we have to check things in all browsers for compatibility but most people are happy with just the one. Thunderbird is great for normal email accounts, though less so for Exchange where Outlook still rules or MacMail if you’re going down the iCloud me.com route.
Of course you don’t always get a choice, Safari on the iPhone, iPad etc is by far the most integrated experience and seems to work well. (Yes, you can get browsers like Opera as an app if you really want to). We could get up in arms about this, but why bother – we want a quick browser that works well and doesn’t crash, does a number and name really matter?
Probably the biggest thing that is happening is ‘under the hood’, namely support for HTML5. Few websites would dare switch completely simply due to the fact not all users have HTML5-capable browsers; hopefully though this won’t be the case for much longer with the auto-updating that is part and parcel of both browsers and email clients which run mini web browsers to display email.
Related Links
- Ars Technica – http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2011/11/firefox-8-released-with-integrated-twitter-search-other-improvements.ars
- Tech Crunch - http://techcrunch.com/2011/11/08/firefox-8-now-officially-available-includes-built-in-twitter-search/
- The Register – http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/11/08/mozilla_updates_firefox8/
- FireFox 8 Desktop official page - http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/features/
