Mozilla Firefox released!

[raga]

 

 

MOZILLA FOUNDATION RELEASES THE HIGHLY ANTICIPATED MOZILLA FIREFOX 1.0 WEB BROWSER

 

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. - November 9, 2004 - The Mozilla Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving choice and promoting innovation on the Internet, today announced the worldwide availability of the Mozilla Firefox 1.0 web browser. Development of Firefox has been driven by a desire for a more robust, user-friendly and trustworthy web experience. Mozilla Firefox 1.0 arrives on the heels of last month's highly successful Preview Release that over eight million people downloaded, contributing significantly to the final phase of its open source development.

 

Today's announcement marks the worldwide launch of Mozilla Firefox-with immediate availability for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux-as a free download from mozilla.org and by CD from the Mozilla Store. Firefox is now available in over a dozen languages, with many more on the way.

 

"We are delighted to be announcing this major milestone for the Mozilla Foundation and for the Firefox browser, which has been made possible thanks to the tireless effort of hundreds of community volunteers and developers around the world," commented Mitchell Baker, president of the Mozilla Foundation. "Now millions more will be able to enjoy a better web experience."

 

 

Award-winning Web Experience

 

The Mozilla Firefox browser has already garnered rave reviews and awards for its stability, trustworthiness and innovative features.

 

* Pop-up Blocking - Firefox includes an integrated pop-up blocker that lets users-not websites-decide when they will view pop-ups. Mozilla continues to set the standard in assisting users avoid annoying pop-ups.

 

* Online Fraud Protection - Firefox helps users protect themselves against online fraud such as "phishing" (attempts to trick users into giving away their passwords) and "spoofing" (fraudulent sites masquerading as popular, trusted sites) by clearly displaying the true identity of secure sites.

 

* Faster, Easier, More Accessible Search - Firefox tightly integrates support for leading search services into the toolbar, including Google search, , eBay, Amazon, Dictionary.com, Creative Commons, and more. The new Firefox Start Page also provides access to Firefox information, resources and application tips, coupled with an integrated Google search box.

 

* More Efficient Browsing - Firefox's innovative Tabbed Browsing allows many web pages to load within the same window, improving the speed and utility of web browsing. Firefox also introduces Live Bookmarks, which allows users to easily glance through the latest news and blog headlines.

 

* Extensible with Hundreds of Add-ons - More than 100 extensions are available for Firefox today, including the A9.com, Google, and toolbars, which make Firefox even more customizable and convenient to use.

 

* Easy Migration - With Firefox it's easy to switch from Internet Explorer and other browsers. Firefox imports your existing bookmarks, passwords, cookies, and other data.

 

Firefox has received numerous endorsements and industry awards including Laptop Magazine's Editor's Choice Award, Best in Show at Linux World Fall 2004, Best Open Source Solution at Linux World Fall 2004, and first place in Maximum PC's Softy Awards for 2004.

 

 

Extensive Support Network

 

With thousands of technology contributors and advocates engaged in the development, documentation, testing and marketing of Mozilla Firefox, a rich ecosystem of support resources and tools is available. Online documentation, tutorials, FAQs and links to commercial support partners are available online at http://www.mozilla.org/. Independent news, commentary and community support is available from mozillaZine at http://www.mozillazine.org/.

 

 

Getting Firefox

 

Mozilla Firefox 1.0 can be downloaded for free or purchased in a CD-ROM Edition with Firefox Guidebook from the Mozilla Foundation at http://www.mozilla.org.

 

 

About the Mozilla Foundation

 

Established in July 2003, the Mozilla Foundation is a non-profit organization hosting a collection of leading innovators whose mission is to preserve choice and innovation on the Internet. The Foundation provides organizational, legal, and financial support for the Mozilla open source software project. The Foundation is based in Mountain View, California and is the heir to the legacy & tradition of the Internet's first widely used browser, Netscape. Learn more about the Mozilla Foundation at http://www.mozilla.org.

 

[gHari]

Well worth the effort to set it up. It can load all my favorite pages immediately at startup. I may never go back to Explorer. And no more popups.

 

 

[krsna]

Firefox Leaves No Reason to Endure Internet Explorer

 

By Rob Pegoraro

Sunday, November 14, 2004; Page F07

 

Internet Explorer, you're fired.

 

That should have been said a long time ago. After Microsoft cemented a monopoly of the Web-browser market, it let Internet Explorer go stale, parceling out ho-hum updates that neglected vulnerabilities routinely exploited by hostile Web sites. Not until August's Windows XP Service Pack 2 update did (some) users get any real relief.

 

And yet people found reasons to stick with IE -- alternative browsers cost money, were too slow, too complicated, or didn't work with enough Web sites.

 

No more. Tuesday, the answer to IE arrived: a safe, free, fast, simple and compatible browser called Mozilla Firefox.

 

Firefox (available for Win 98 or newer, Mac OS X and Linux at www.mozilla.org) is an unlikely rival, developed by a small nonprofit group with extensive volunteer help. Its code dates to Netscape and its open-source successor, Mozilla, but in the two years since Firefox debuted as a minimal, browser-only offshoot of those sprawling suites, it has grown into a remarkable product.

 

Firefox displays an elegant simplicity within and without. Its toolbar presents only the basic browsing commands: back, forward, reload, stop, home. Its Options screen consists of five simple categories of settings -- most of which don't need adjusting, since the defaults actually make sense.

 

One in particular should delight many long-suffering Web users: Firefox blocks pop-up ads automatically.

 

But Firefox's security goes deeper than that. It doesn't support Microsoft's dangerous ActiveX software, which gives a Web site the run of your computer. It omits IE's extensive hooks into the rest of Windows, which can turn a mishap into a systemwide meltdown.

 

Firefox resists "phishing" scams, in which con artists lure users into entering personal info on fake Web pages, by making it easier to tell good sites from bad. When you land on an encrypted page -- almost no phishing sites provide this protection -- Firefox advertises that status by highlighting the address bar in yellow. It also lists that page's domain name on the status bar; if that doesn't match what you see in the address bar, you're probably on a phishing site.

 

To keep Firefox current with any security fixes, the browser is designed to check for updates automatically.