View Full Version : Mozilla VS Firefox
Stargun007
06-25-2004, 11:24 AM
Right now I'm running Mozilla v1.6. However, I've been hearing very good things about Firefox. The reason I hesitated was that I see it's still in beta (version 0.9 is the latest available) and I'm afraid it's unstable. Does anyone who use it see any problems? I hear it's supposed to be faster than Mozilla, which does sound good, but it's not worth it if it crashes a lot.
Also, are there any advantages in upgrading to Thunderbird over Outlook Express? I'm sure there are, but can someone just help me out here?
JonGCR
06-25-2004, 11:27 AM
Well the thing I use is called 'Mozilla Firefox'. So I'm not quite sure what you're talking about. Mine works fine.
Stargun007
06-25-2004, 11:31 AM
Yeah, Mozilla Firefox is what I'm talking about.
Wet Ninja
06-25-2004, 11:36 AM
I get the occasional crash. It's maybe twice a week, but I'm on the Internet a lot, so my crash frequency is probably higher than normal. It's not a big deal though, because only Firefox crashes; I just have to kill it and reopen it, no reboot required. With that in mind, I'd say it's definitely worth it. Also, Firefox 0.9 can import all your settings from Mozilla 1.x, so it's even easier to switch.
As for Thunderbird, I use Outlook 2003 for email, so I can't help you there.
Wet Ninja
06-25-2004, 11:39 AM
Well the thing I use is called 'Mozilla Firefox'. So I'm not quite sure what you're talking about. Mine works fine.
Mozilla and Firefox are separate projects, but Firefox was created by the Mozilla team, and is based on Mozilla. It's a preview of the next generation of Mozilla. From the Firefox FAQ:
Mozilla (Application Suite, also known as SeaMonkey) is a complete suite of web related applications, such as a browser, a mail/news client, a chat client and much more. Firefox is just a browser, which makes it a better choice if you already have a mail client for example. Also, since Firefox is smaller than the whole Mozilla suite, it's faster and easier to use.
brushwood
06-25-2004, 11:43 AM
I get the occasional crash. It's maybe twice a week, but I'm on the Internet a lot, so my crash frequency is probably higher than normal. It's not a big deal though, because only Firefox crashes; I just have to kill it and reopen it, no reboot required. With that in mind, I'd say it's definitely worth it. Also, Firefox 0.9 can import all your settings from Mozilla 1.x, so it's even easier to switch.
As for Thunderbird, I use Outlook 2003 for email, so I can't help you there.
If it crashes twice a week, something is wrong. I use it 8 hours a day, 5 days a week and it almost never crashes on me.
abrannan
06-25-2004, 11:44 AM
I've been using Firefox for months, and it works great. I've put it on my mother's computer and she hasn't had any problems with it either.
Advantages for ThunderBird over OE?
-Built-in Spam filtering
-Far more secure (Fewer boneheaded decisions in the default settings, doesn't use the Microsoft HTML renderer and all of it's associated problems)
Again, I've got my Mother running Thunderbird, and she's happy as a clam with it.
eldad9
06-25-2004, 11:45 AM
It doesn't crash at all, in my experience. But Opera, when it recovers from crashing (the operating system crashes, power down, or in my case practically no free memory on my laptop) - remembers all the web pages open at the time! try and beat that.
alongx
06-25-2004, 11:53 AM
Firefox is outstanding, I've never had a problem with any of the beta's for it. I don't know much about Thunderbird, though...I still need to try that out.
donssword
06-25-2004, 12:00 PM
Firefox is plenty stable -- it has the same stability issues that Mozilla has.
The interface is more finely tuned and user friendly. As it is a browser only, the foot print is smaller, and also it is a little faster. Handles most if not all of the Extensions that work on Mozilla.
Still has the same bookmark bug Mozilla has that occasionally rears its ugly head.
All-in-all a great browser.
vanlandw
06-25-2004, 12:03 PM
I have used both and find them to be pretty decent. Thunderbird is pretty low on the features but the plugin's for it are great and seems when it reaches 1.0 should be a stable replacement for OE.
Firefox is pretty sweet as well.
jebus179
06-25-2004, 12:06 PM
Just because FireFox works for you perfectly, doesn't mean it's going to work for everyone correctly. Remember it's beta, anything can happen. One thing about FireFox that sucks is the tabbed browsings and multiple windows. What's the point of having tabbed browsing when you click on certain links, they open up in a new window? That's just dumb. I heard that Mozilla, and the early versions of FireBird could just have one window, and have all links open in a new tab, not in a new window. Until they fix this, I'm going to be using Avant. And yes I know that there is an "extension" for this called Single Window, but for the most part it doesn't work. Out of my 5 friends that use FireFox .9, this extension does not work at all.
I switched to FireFox once 0.9 came out. Because it wasn't until then that I thought the interface was polished more than Mozilla. I have it running on 4 different boxes, with 3 of those using both Windows and Linux, and the browser is rock solid
One thing about FireFox that sucks is the tabbed browsings and multiple windows. What's the point of having tabbed browsing when you click on certain links, they open up in a new window? That's just dumb. I heard that Mozilla, and the early versions of FireBird could just have one window, and have all links open in a new tab, not in a new window. Until they fix this, I'm going to be using Avant. And yes I know that there is an "extension" for this called Single Window, but for the most part it doesn't work. Out of my 5 friends that use FireFox .9, this extension does not work at all.
If you wanted everything to open in a new tab, go to "about:config" in FireFox and scroll down to "browser.tabs.opentabfor.windowopen" and change the value from false to true. Most people don't want this behavior so it wasn't included as a nice little checkbox to clutter the interface. But if you want it, the developers have "about:config" to allow you to tweak to your hearts desire.
Mr. Anderson
06-25-2004, 12:49 PM
AVANT 4 LIFE!!
kelpie182
06-25-2004, 12:59 PM
Firefox is outstanding, I've never had a problem with any of the beta's for it. I don't know much about Thunderbird, though...I still need to try that out.
same here.
Wet Ninja
06-25-2004, 01:11 PM
If you wanted everything to open in a new tab, go to "about:config" in FireFox and scroll down to "browser.tabs.opentabfor.windowopen" and change the value from false to true.
Is that only in 0.9? I can't find that entry in 0.8.
FREAKMIKE3
06-25-2004, 01:24 PM
I have used thunderbird for a few months now. I like it a lot, except to check your hotmail or yahoo mail you have to use another program to set it up, called postman, and it can take some time to figure out, especially if you are not too computer literate. My only major gripe about TB is that I have not found a way to make universal filters. I have 6 email accounts I check with it, and each one has to have filters set up for it. But as far as spam filtering, it does a great job. I get about 120 spam messages a day between my accounts, and I only see one or two actualy get though. And as far as I can tell , it has never filtered wanted mail to the trash.
And though it has worked well for me, I have heard horror stories of all email and contacts being lost.
jebus179
06-25-2004, 04:39 PM
C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\defaults\pref
Yeah that setting does not exist at all in the javascript file.
jebus179
06-25-2004, 04:44 PM
C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\greprefs\all.js
Found it there, set it to true, and did nothing. I am pretty familiar with java enough to make simple programs, so changing a value from no to yes isn't a problem. AVANT 4 LIFE!
If you wanted everything to open in a new tab, go to "about:config" in FireFox and scroll down to "browser.tabs.opentabfor.windowopen" and change the value from false to true.
Is that only in 0.9? I can't find that entry in 0.8.
No it should be in all releases of FireFox, because it has been in Mozilla for a long time.
Stargun007
06-26-2004, 12:53 AM
I just installed Firefox, and within a few minutes it crashed after I tried to install a new theme. Could it be because my OS is the crappiest of the crap, Win 98 SE? I'm thinking it was just bad luck once, but either way, should I reinstall it and try again?
Firefox has only been out a week or so, and so there are that themes have not been updated to work with it. However, I've never had crashes when I tried to install theses themes. The install fails and the browser acts like nothing has happened.
It is most likely your computer's fault, because I've got FireFox on a dozen boxes with no problems.
For what reason is it crashing on your box? How would I know? The box isn't in front of me, I don't know what you have installed, etc. Windows is a piece of junk and I try not to deal with it unless paid to do so.
Good luck.