One of the up-and-coming stars of the open source software revolution is the Firefox browser. We looked at its most recent version, 0.8, and were quite impressed.

Firefox is the browser component of the Mozilla application suite, which is a direct descendent of the very first Internet browser, Mosaic. When the Mosaic folks decided they wanted to make money, they left the academic world and formed their own company, Netscape Communications Corporation. Their new product, known on the market as Navigator, was given the internal name of Mozilla (Mosaic + Godzilla), probably after a few too many pizzas and Cokes. Internal names for software products are quite common. For example, Microsoft's next operating system is code-named Longhorn - after a ski resort in Canada.

In an ironic twist, Netscape was bought by AOL and became the redheaded stepchild of Ted Turner. After being ignored by the stuffed shirts, the source code for Navigator was released into the open source community and voila! Mozilla was reborn, much more in line with its roots as an egalitarian product. Although Mosaic was never truly open source software, it was treated that way. In addition to the Firefox browser, Mozilla consists of a variety of applications, including an e-mail client, Web page editor and a chatting tool.

Firefox can be downloaded easily from www.mozilla.org. or you can purchase a CD for $5.95 at the same Web site.

We downloaded the Windows version and its installation was quick and painless. It also is available for Linux, Mac OS X, Sun Solaris, and even OS/2.

The most recently released version of Firefox is 0.8. A 0.x designation usually implies that this version is not complete. Don't let this fool you - Firefox is ready for prime-time. We tried it on a variety of Web sites, including those of our b2b partners, and found it to be compatible with all but a few. Most of these exceptions explicitly state they are only compatible with Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE).

Firefox includes an impressive set of features, including its own pop-up blocker, built-in Google search and elimination of trick locations in the status bar (aka spoofing). Firefox also lets you control and examine your cookies a lot more closely. Major plug-ins, such as Flash, Javascript, and Quicktime, are all supported.

In our opinion, however, the best reason to use Firefox is the bugaboo we've all been dealing with the past few months. You got it, security.

Today, Firefox is inherently more secure than IE, for a variety of reasons. First, Firefox does not allow ActiveX controls. For non-geeks, ActiveX controls are basically programs that you download from the Web and run on your PC. Scary? You bet. While we've employed such controls in our own development efforts, we've always been leery about their use; especially by some anonymous developer out there on the World Wide Web. Theoretically, he (and they're almost always a "he") could launch a program to send him all of your financial information, for example.

Second, Firefox claims that spyware or adware cannot be automatically installed just by visiting a Web site. Since we are not a spyware development company, we could not prove this claim, but have no reason to believe it is untrue.

Finally, by default, Firefox is not as tightly integrated with Windows as is IE. This, in our opinion, is a double edged sword. From a security standpoint it's great. When your browser is cleanly separate from your operating system, you are intrinsically more secure. Despite Microsoft's protestations, it is clear that IE is tied to the operating system. The other side of the sword? Speed. Despite Mozilla's claims otherwise, in our un-scientific opinion, IE is slightly faster than Firefox.

Typically, the more popular a product becomes, the bigger a target it becomes for hackers and the like. This could change under open source. After all, the whole idea of open source is to encourage communication to improve software products.

Finally, keep in mind that open source software is not free. If you use the product, you really should consider contributing to its longevity.

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