The death of Firefox

Posts: 2251 · Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2006 4:24 pm Post subject: The death of Firefox

I just found the beginning to the end of Firefox.

It appears to be very stable on my XP SP2 laptop. I have no clue about any know/unknown security issues...

Microsoft took huge leaps with this browser, it is everything Firefox is and so much more.

Posts: 2257 · Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2006 5:03 pm Post subject:

I may try it out, but the reason I like Firefox and am not likely to leave it any time soon is simply the inherent security in running a separate application.

IE is tightly integrated into the Operating System. It uses core system services to accomplish its task, and this is good for performance when those core services work well. In ensures consistency, and allows the browser to access services that are useful.

However, as we have seen in stack overflow vulnerability after stack overflow vulnerability, those core services (which often run with Administrative authority) do not always work well. The most recent "WMF file" vulnerability was a case in point - a browser should never be trusted to call an image rendering engine that runs as a core service. It should be relegated to sandbox memory, with its own instance of the image rendering engine that cannot execute anything.

The key to security in Firefox is that it is NOT a trusted system component. It comes with its own image rendering engine, for example, that does not have access to any core services in Windows. The worst that can happen in Firefox, in all but the most severe security breaches, is a Denial of Service attack that brings down Firefox but leaves Windows up and running. Programmer makes mistake - Firefox goes BOOM, rest of machine keeps running.

Many of the Internet Explorer vulnerabilities allow remote access to the computer. This is because IE routinely runs services that are designed to allow this, and it takes an active programmer role to keep those services from opening themselves up. Programmer makes mistake - Windows opens itself up to anyone who asks and allows them to look at your files, your settings, everything.

Internet Explorer was written too deeply into the core of Windows to expect it will be properly excised and given its rightful place outside the core of the OS. Their attempts at sandbox have always failed, because Windows is largely designed to have EVERYTHING running as "Administrator" (aka "root").

Layering is the key to security. Windows and its included components (including IE), in its default configuration, has little layering. It's tough to add it as an afterthought. Microsoft has been trying to do this since 1995, and I have yet to see a month go by without some patch or other since then. Wink

Posts: 2251 · Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2006 5:18 pm Post subject:

Ok, ok, enough of all the techy chat Smile

Check out all the cool eye candy (GUI for you).

It has tabbed browsing, recognizes and reads RSS, makes use of favicon.ico's in the tabs and in the URL’s... and a whole bunch of other stuff.

It is just hands down really cool.

Smile

Posts: 2257 · Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2006 6:47 pm Post subject:

Umm. and this is better than the same features Firefox has had for three years how, exactly? Wink

Well, OK, except for the RSS stuff. That was added only two years ago. I'll be fair. (grin)

And for the cool GUI look? Thanks, I'll take the skinning capability Firefox has had for four years and pick my own GUI look, several if which are Internet Explorer lookalikes for that "retro" look, or make one of my very own. (big grin)

Posts: 2251 · Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2006 6:58 pm Post subject:

yeah, yeah, but this is all bundled together, you do not have to go out and find the extensions... Smile

ah ha! it has a phishing filter! FF does not have that! Do they?

Posts: 476 · Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2006 7:29 pm Post subject:

dconnor wrote:

ah ha! it has a phishing filter! FF does not have that! Do they?

It sure does with this extension among many others. Now, is there a way to set up the IE7 Beta so that any URL typed in the address box (or the address box in the taskbar) will open in a new tab? What a PITA to have to first open a new blank tab. There are still a ton of things that MS has to do to make IE7 as usable and extensible as FF already is. This is a good first step, but they have a loooooooooooooooong way to go.

Posts: 2257 · Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2006 8:21 pm Post subject:

dconnor wrote:

yeah, yeah, but this is all bundled together, you do not have to go out and find the extensions... Smile

ah ha! it has a phishing filter! FF does not have that! Do they?

Phishing filter is available in Thunderbird, the Mozilla email client that is based on the same codebase as Firefox. Obviously, there's no need for a phishing filter in your browser... right?

And yeahhh, you don't have to go get "all those extensions", you're right.

Of course, other than the skinning, none of the features I've talked about have been extensions, either.

The extensions add things like:
Adblock (per-image or per-URL blocking of invasive tracking images),
Flash Click to Play (blocks all FLASH movies until you tell them to play),
Image Zoom (allows you to zoom in on images, or zoom out, right in the web page),
ForecastFox (shows current weather conditions and forecast in the menu or status bar of the browser),
and of course Click-2-Call from one of our own members (what would you EVER do without click-to-call straight from a Web phone listing like Anywho.com, Dan?).

Oh, and a couple thousand others available for various purposes. Fast proxy switching, kiosk modes, you name it.

Does IE have per-site cookie blocking yet? Do they have an intelligent popup blocker yet, not just that silly old always-on-until-you-ctrl/click nonsense? Wink

Internet Explorer. That's, like, so, nineties, man!

Posts: 85 · Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2006 8:12 pm Post subject:

The new IE wouldn't even work on our computers so we just uninstalled it. We love Firefox anyhow so it would take a lot to make us switch.

Posts: 1715 · Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2006 9:20 pm Post subject:

I'm with NateHoy on this one, 'though I also have an additional reason for not wanting to use IE: Because of the integration with the OS, when IE bombs, it often takes the OS with it. NOT good, especially for someone who values reliability. When FF glitches out, I can just end that particular task and life goes on, but try ending a stuck IE session... hint: the reboot switch on the front panel of the computer is the fastest way.

That said, FF has been more unstable over the past few versions. The VERY latest (1.5.0.1) has behaved itself so far, but we'll see.

Posts: 43 · Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2006 7:56 pm Post subject: Tabbed Browsing

I LOVE how the IE people are touting Tabbed Browsing like it's their brainchild in the IE 7 beta's tour.

It's quite possible that a large number of their users are in the dark about it...as for me, if someone were to come up to the and say something like "Wow! You should check out this new version of Internet Explorer: it's got these things called TABS..." I would have to slap them.

The way I see it, I'm glad that Microsoft has finally gotten back on the ball with browsers. Seeing as how every new copy of Vista is going to have it bundled in there anyway, I suppose it's a good thing that it's more like FF. As for me, though, I'll stick with FF. If only for philosophical reasons. I'm sure I'll see plenty of IE7 at work.