IE Ranter

[Jeremy]

http://lxer.com/module/newswire/view/53159/

[Zxian]

What he also fails to mention is the continuing problems that Firefox has with flash and memory leaks.

Not to mention that poorly written extensions can cause Firefox to crash - leading people to believe that Firefox is the cause - not the extension. This is actually the exact reason why Opera and uTorrent developers have not implemented extension/plugin capabilities into their programs.

Since I am a Linux user, I never have seen these kind of things.

Also, since he's a Linux user, he'll rarely have to deal with the kinds of problems that Windows users have to, since you've got a better chance of getting someone's credit card number if you go after 90% of the market (Windows) vs. 5% of the market (Linux). The average malware writer is probably out to get something out of it, not just cause havoc. There's more to be gained from all the Windows users than all the Linux users out there.

Your kids and spouses may be at risk too. Don't let them do on-line transactions under Internet Explorer. The protection isn't there for them.

Wrong. Sorry, but this just isn't true. The data that is transferred from you to your bank (or whatever financial institution) and back again when using Firefox or IE or Opera is essentially the same. It's the same standard 128-bit encryption for all browsers. It's only if you've already got malware on your system that you can run into troubles.

The problem with this whole article is that the author is a knowledgeable Linux user. It's a fairly biased article with quite a few old misconceptions about IE. Properly configured, Windows can be very secure. I've never had a piece of malware affect my system for a good long while now. Service Pack 2 does wonders for preventing malware (i.e. no automatic ActiveX installations), and if you take 10 minutes to tell people how to properly use IE, they'll be fine.

The real question that people need to be asking themselves is: "what does the average joe user need from an internet browser". For older computer users who aren't too tech savvy, it's probably just something that lets them check their e-mails and read the news. I tried to show my parents Firefox and Opera and they hated it. Firefox isn't got everyone and it's got a lot of hype. I think the bubble is going to burst at some point... either that or the usage figures are going to level out eventually.

[teqguy]

Every pro-Firefox/anti-IE rant begins with the same opening line: "Internet Explorer pales in comparison to Firefox due to the fact that Internet Explorer is less secure".

My answer to them is simple: blame the OS, not the browser.

Most of the security risks that proliferate from websites are ActiveX objects that sneak onto the system. ActiveX is a proponent of the COM library, which is found in Windows, not Internet Explorer. Therefore, to eliminate security risks when browsing in Internet Explorer, the most simple solution is to just disable ActiveX.

Furthermore, why should anyone have to turn to third party software to feel "secure"?

Nine times out of ten, the fallacy lies not with the software, but the uninformed user... and I can honestly guarantee that this is a greater threat than any virus, spyware, or malware concievable.

We're a society that says(or clicks) "yes" without reading the fine print, opens attachments on e-mails from known and unknown addresses alike, and equips every available "always active" antivirus suite, spyware scanner, and firewall, only to download a file from a P2P network and not worry about the contents, simply because the name isn't questionable and Norton hasn't given any warning.

What troubles me most, however, are the Firefox adopters that jump on the bandwagon without knowing which direction it's headed. They could care less about what open source software stands for, as long as they're able to do everything they did in IE... only now they're doing it "in style".

Edited February 4, 2006 by teqguy

[Jeremy]

Wow, that's some deep insight. Thanks for that, teqguy.

[teqguy]

Wow, that's some deep insight. Thanks for that, teqguy.

Thank you.

Oh, and for the record, I prefer Maxthon over any other browser I've worked with so far.

A lot of what you would get through Firefox extensions are built right into Maxthon without adding the overhead you typically get from loading numerous extensions in Firefox. Browsing websites is more easily facilitated by "scrolling" through them with your mouse wheel and holding shift when you want to go back or forward, by using hotkeys, or via mouse gestures you create. To open a new tab, the key combination is CTRL + N, which is also a welcomed benefit for traditional IE users.

Resource usage is very minimal; Firefox uses an average of 18MB of ram with one page open, whereas it takes about 30 pages open to reach that in Maxthon.

Security wise, Maxthon blocks all ActiveX components and gives you the option of either installing them or blocking them permanently via a drop down bar, so if you ever really need it, it's still available.

Finally, aesthetics play a major role in choosing a browser... and in my opinion, the default Firefox theme simply doesn't cut it(a skin would just increase resource usage... not to mention, I have yet to find a skin for the minimalists of the world). I'm sure most would agree that more compact toolbars are better, because that would mean websites would have more screen real-estate. Unfortunately, even when you combine the toolbars and address bar so they're on the same line, the tab bar sticks out like a sore thumb. Sure, you could hide it, but then you'd be disabling the main reason most people prefer Firefox. In comparison, Maxthon's tab bar is nearly half the size of Firefox's.

Granted, Maxthon isn't open source, but as I mentioned before, most users don't even take the open source mentality into consideration, let alone appreciate it for what it's worth.

Edited February 4, 2006 by teqguy

[N1K]

Nicely said teqguy and Zxian, really interesting...I'm glad we have you on MSFN B)

[albator]

Quote Zxian:What he also fails to mention is the continuing problems that Firefox has with flash and memory leaks

The latest firefox patch fixes many of thoses issues. It now better than ever.

Do you have bugmenot and jetable email extensions in IE ?

Edited February 5, 2006 by albator

[teqguy]

The latest firefox patch fixes many of thoses issues. It now better than ever.

I don't know about you, but 18MB of ram with one page open, sans skins and extensions seems a little hefty to me.

Do you have bugmenot and jetable email extensions in IE ?

Both of those seem rather frivolous to me, considering I don't get much spam and signing up for websites is at most a two minute process.

[Zxian]

The latest firefox patch fixes many of thoses issues. It now better than ever.

The latest update of Firefox does not fix those issues. The two memory leak fixes that they list in the change log deal with relatively small fixes. On certain systems, closing pages that contained flash content would not release the memory that was allocated for the flash objects. This problem still hasn't been fixed.

Do you have bugmenot and jetable email extensions in IE ?

I use Outlook for e-mail, which has a pretty decent junk e-mail filter. It catches about 99% of the spam that I get. Opera has the wand, and otherwise, entering in your username and password in IE isn't too big of a deal.

[piXelatedEmpire]

great read people, thoroughly enjoyed this topic.

For the record, I am also an avid Maxthon user. I too have tried numerous browsers but nothing has suited my needs better than Maxthon.

[N1K]

great read people, thoroughly enjoyed this topic.

For the record, I am also an avid Maxthon user. I too have tried numerous browsers but nothing has suited my needs better than Maxthon.

Yes, Maxton is good, it's a shell for IE with a lot of nice features, although I use Opera now