I quite enjoyed the last week in Vancouver / Seattle. People should now be fully aware of the fact that I have a slightly off-kilter sense of humour. I can sometimes say odd things at odd times. Generally it gets a laugh, but sometimes it doesn’t.
Then there are times when I quite enjoy intentionally killing a conversation.
This week, a fantastic way to do this was with “I refuse to use FireFox.”
This statement was often made in a room-full of FireFox users. In fact, I only found one other IE-only user at the whole conference.
Now, obviously I toss that out there for a reaction. Because there are far too many people who take these things too seriously. I don’t, for the record, refuse to switch to FireFox for any religious reasons.
I won’t switch to FireFox because I have no reason to do the switch. Let me repeat that: there is absolutely no reason for me to switch from Internet Explorer. And there is absolutely no reason for me to switch to FireFox.
I can hear people running to the comment forms and to Thunderbird to send me nasty emails already. So, no I won’t end this post right there.
FireFox has some distinct advantages over IE. Among them, from my perspective, are:
- Tabs
- Gestures
- Developer toolkit
- Download manager
- Better standards support
- Better security
I’m sure there are others. These are simply the ones I’ve found. You see, every 3 months for the last 2+ years, I’ve given the “latest, greatest OS browser” a full week of my time as my default browser. Obviously, for the last year, this has been FireFox. So, I’ve given FireFox a fair amount of time, and everytime I switch back to IE.
I switch back, because while I see the value in each of the above features, I have no use for them personally.
I don’t use tabs. I don’t use gestures. I do so little web development, I don’t need the toolkit. The download manager’s nice, but I don’t miss it. The standards support doesn’t matter either, as the number of sites which show up wrong in IE is minuscule compared to FireFox. And security doesn’t matter, because I have 10 years experience locking down IE.
Now, that said, I’d never try and convince anyone to stay on IE. Most people love at least 2 of these things. And I could see myself using them in the future. But, basically, at the end of each week of FireFox usage, I ask myself if anything is costing me more time to do than on IE. If it is, I switch back.
I say this, knowing that in about 2 weeks, I am going to give FireFox another week of my time. Maybe this time will be different.
But, the reality is that until there is actually something I am either missing in IE, or hating about my experience, I (as an untypical user) won’t switch.
Feel free to convince me otherwise. Lots of folk at the conference tried and ultimately gave up, because if you don’t need the features, don’t need the standards, and don’t need the security then there aren’t many reasons left.
But, yes, feel free to try. As I said, I have another period coming up, so I’m happy to try anything 
#1 by Timothy Dick - February 22nd, 2005 at 12:41
I’ve done the same thing… Always end up going back to IE just because it meets my needs and exactly as you said, there’s no reason for me to switch.
#2 by Clete R. Blackwell 2 - February 22nd, 2005 at 13:02
So you’re saying that if you were to need more than two of these, you would switch to FireFox?
- Tabs
- Gestures
- Developer toolkit
- Download manager
- Better standards support
- Better security
I love the extension and theme support, as well as tabs, the standards, and security. The download manager is great, but I would rather use an extension to add in the download toolbar.
99% of the pages that load incorrectly in FireFox, for me, are terribly coded ones, where the pages are so bad that they are not even worth reading. You know, the kind where they have a bright blue background, some music playing, and some green size 25 font. 1% of them are well-traveled pages and it’s a very minor problem.
When you try it out again, mind noting pages that load incorrectly? (just for reference, I won’t try and and argue on anything)
#3 by Ianiv Schweber - February 22nd, 2005 at 13:02
I respect your choice. Stick with the tools that work for you. IE didn’t work for me, I liked Firefox better so I switched.
I just wished it didn’t take so much effort to get a design to display properly on both browsers. One of the problems in my website that you pointed out yesterday wasn’t really a problem with the HTML but I still had to work around it to get it working on IE6.
Maybe IE7 will make this easier…
#4 by Vinnie Garcia - February 22nd, 2005 at 13:24
Is there some word filter on that replaces “Firefox” with “FireFox”? The mispronunciation drives me crazy from my grew-up-with-anal-retentive-teachers perspective
#5 by Vinnie Garcia - February 22nd, 2005 at 13:24
And I guess that should be mispunctuation, not mispronunciation.
#6 by Tris - February 22nd, 2005 at 13:55
Resistance is futile! Join the collective!
:-).
Jeremy I think if you downloaded Tabbrowser preference (extension) and the extension that punches up Firefox’s download speed you’d stay with the Fox. Personally I set up a friend’s computer recently (very newbie users) and put them on Firefox and Thunderbird. Why? I don’t want to have to be over there fixing the dern thing all the time!
#7 by Mike - February 22nd, 2005 at 14:03
Just admit that you kiss Microsoft’s ass because you really want a job there. Only a severely retarded person would prefer IE over Firefox (and possibly want to work for M$).
#8 by David - February 22nd, 2005 at 14:05
Chris Pederick’s Web Developer Toolbar really helped FireFox win me over.
The Bloglines extensions and ForecastFox (being the first weather plugin I’ve ever liked) haven’t hurt either.
#9 by Stephan Segraves - February 22nd, 2005 at 14:40
You don’t use tabs? Any reason? I love only having one window open with multiple pages in that window… I don’t know who wouldn’t. I have turned on multiple non-computer savvy people to Firefox with that one feature.
#10 by Devin Reams - February 22nd, 2005 at 14:54
I really have the same feeling as you. I’ve tried and switched back… twice.
#11 by DAvid Krug - February 22nd, 2005 at 16:39
You have to use what works for you. Good choice.
#12 by Michael Griffiths - February 22nd, 2005 at 17:54
I’m the same way
Well, not really. I love tabs, but IE has some neat Toolbars, as well as good integration with the rest of Windows, so I use it instead.
Makes the things I do often easier, and so I don’t get frustrated.
Besides - I’ve never gotten an virus, spyware, or anything else from using IE for years. So the security really isn’t an issue for me.
#13 by Patrick - February 22nd, 2005 at 20:33
Someone exactly the same as me! Excellent.
I have nothing against FF, but can’t think of any reason for me to switch. Nothing that says “I must use this!”
#14 by Marc James - February 22nd, 2005 at 22:13
How can you not use tabs? They change the way you browse the web. There are so many advantages to having all your pages integrated into one window vs. scattered all over. To me, this sounds close-minded. As for IE’s toolbars, Firefox already has search for Google, Yahoo!, Dictionary.com, eBay, etc. built-in (unlike IE) and you can easily get a PR meter for Firefox like IE, so there goes that. I can’t see any advantages IE has over Firefox (not FireFox, btw).
#15 by Duncan - February 22nd, 2005 at 23:14
Jeremy
Give it a try again, I’m the first to admit after using Firefox 0.8 I went back to IE, but Firefox 1.0 is something better again, and I’d never go back.
#16 by Michael Moncur - February 23rd, 2005 at 00:48
How can you not use tabs?
I’m a Firefox fanatic, haven’t used IE for more than an hour in the last month, and I’m even using Firefox on a Mac right now, but I’m not fond of tabs. I do end up using them, but they’re just a substitute for a decent OS-based window manager most of the time.
Jeremy should use whatever works for him, I said the same thing for years. (What finally got me to switch was the Web Developer toolbar.)
#17 by Elliott Back - February 23rd, 2005 at 01:27
Heh. Someone “big” has finally said what I’ve been trying to say for long enough–IE 6 is “good enough” for me, that Firefox offers me no positive incentive to switch:
http://elliottback.com/wp/archives/2004/10/04/spread-firefox-how-about -spread-ie-60-service-pack-2/
I’m quite excited about IE 7–all the features of Firefox (I hope) plus the same old IE. Plus, I find that IE is significantly fast than FF on my system. Why switch? It’s just not worth it!
#18 by Nicole Simon - February 23rd, 2005 at 07:11
I hated tabs when I used Kmeleon. I hated Firefox. And one day it made poof and I used Firefox. Because then it had some things which appealed to me. But I doubt this will happen to using IE because there are some usability issues where I personally dislike the way IE works.
But, when IE 7 comes out, this might change immediatly - and if it feels like it, I will change then. But till then: There are things I need, and things I don’t need.
#19 by Jeremy C. Wright - February 23rd, 2005 at 09:18
In response to “how can you not use tabs”…
I visit, maybe, 2 sites a day. Bloglines and Technorati. When I need to visit one of these, I’m Alt+Tab’ing into it from Outlook or Word. That’s my world, really. Outlook, Word, Bloglines, MSN, Skype and Notepad.
I don’t have dozens of sites I visit, and even if I did, I’m a hardcore Alt+Tab’er. As I’ve always said, anything which forces me to change my behaviour is always going to be slower in being adopted than something that doesn’t.
#20 by Paolo - February 23rd, 2005 at 10:06
I smell a trap.
Typically, when someone challenges a group of people to convince them of anything, they’re wasting your time. I believe you’ve already made up your mind and as you’ve admitted you’re also prone to saying things to get a rise out of people.
I’m not offended, nor bothered but I’m more than willing to address the fact that this post, IMHO, isn’t what it appears to be. I think it’s trolling. But, hey, it’s your blog.
Coincidentally, your blog has consistently broken when I view it in Firefox. You may not want to make the switch but something tells me that if you did, your blog would be a lot more cross-browser friendly.
For those that actually are looking for reasons to switch I present the following:
Sage: lightweight RSS and Atom feed aggregator extension.
BugMeNot: bypass compulsory web registration.
Spellbound: spell checking in web forms such as html textarea / input elements.
This is just to name a few.
Sure, a pocket knife is useful but there is a VERY good reason why Swiss Army knives are more popular. Firefox is to browsers what the Swiss Army Knife is to pocket knives.
#21 by Nicole Simon - February 23rd, 2005 at 10:38
Paolo: And sometimes, such a comment is made to allow other people to reflect on what they use / think / have opinions on.
As a Firefox user I can tell you: none of the above listened tools are of interest for me. I could go into detail, why they don’t bear any use for me. Am I setting up a trap too? I don’t think so.
The fact, that I find Swiss Army knifes cute, does not mean I need one or I even own one.
#22 by Lyynx - February 23rd, 2005 at 19:21
Jeremy,
Good on you. I dont subscribe to the browser wars. I dont even subscribe to the OS/Computer wars. (PC vs Mac etc). Competition is good. Otherwise they get complacent. Choice is good. I always say use what you like but keep an open mind. I’m using Maxthon because i like the Tab browsing.
I tried FireFox and it crashed. I also didnt like how the download manager plonked everything onto my desktop by default. I still use IE (some programs open IE rather than “default browser” and so i just use it if thats the case.
The next IE will have tab browsing. See, competition… New features to keep up. I’ll most likely go back to IE when that happens.
Cheers
#23 by Sean - February 24th, 2005 at 14:47
Ha…good post. I actually use both. IE is my primary browser because, well, I’m comfortable with it and it works for me. Firefox I use for when I need tabs…like when doing hosting support, etc, where I need to have many windows open. Or when I’m doing web development and need to check compatibility.
Both browsers have their pluses and minuses…you choose the one that suits your browsing habits and that you’re comfortable using…simple. I never try to convince anyone to use any tool over another if the tool they use works for them.
#24 by Marc James - February 24th, 2005 at 15:02
101 things that the Mozilla browser can do that IE cannot:
http://www.xulplanet.com/ndeakin/arts/reasons.html
#25 by Jeremy C. Wright - February 24th, 2005 at 15:14
*yawn*
There are similar lists for IE. The reality is that I’ll always use the browser that’s most productive and time saving for me.
I’m happy to switch to another browser as soon as it doesn’t cost me any time.
#26 by Adam - February 24th, 2005 at 16:52
hmm considering 90% of the internet population used IE, I don’t see the big debate. If you like IE use it. Same for Firefox. I’m on a mac where IE was discontinued in 2001 so I’m using Firefox. Tabs save me a bunch of time when i have to preview a bunch of sites or pages at once.
The only thing is, Flash makes mac Firefox freeze up.
#27 by Joey - February 26th, 2005 at 10:06
I’m like you. I try firefox off and on, but the fact of the matter is that I found avant browser first. It has tabs, flash blocker, image blocker, enhanced privacy features and many other things. Most of them I don’t use. I use the tabs. I’m not sure what on earth the Firefox thinks standard’s support is when I can code a page that validates as strict XHTML, count out my pixels to the pixel, use absolute positioning, and validated CSS in a separate file for my design and layout and still not have it line up the way it’s supposed to. This fact has driven me back to using tables for my important websites because I lack the time to fool around with the superior standards support.
Regardless, I respect your decision and its a good one. The same as mine. Do I have an experience with firefox that I can’t live without. Nope. Although, I’m forced to use it at work.
#28 by .Net Adventures - February 27th, 2005 at 16:00
The browser war again ? I don’t think that FF is next big thing. Maybe for short period of the time .
#29 by jc - March 17th, 2005 at 19:35
until open source has the drivers,support,and works like microsoft,then and only then,will i switch,haved tried many linux programs and still cant do what windows dose. (it should be easy not mind-blogging). they donot have the support mircosoft dose.and i dont see it coming anytime soon. MAKE IT EASY!!!!!