Firefox updates again!

Yesterday, Firefox stepped up to version 3.5.6 and their Beta version is 3.6 Beta 5. I use the beta version for most things, as I want the newest and best there is. Sometimes, I live on the edge using Beta versions, but that's a part of product development. When we use Beta versions of products, we contribute to the future. But I'm selective about which of these programs that I run. Mozilla has in the last few months impressed me with their rapid rise of Firefox. Simple things like watching a news clip without it breaking up, unlike IE8. And for those who have low spec systems (this probably doesn't apply to Windows 7 users), Seamonkey is an excellent choice as well. It leaves a small footprint and is customizable as well. For those out there with IE and dissatisfied, Firefox is an excellent choice. Not that there are others, too. But sheer numbers don't lie. Firefox is the #2 browser used today and the numbers that are going their way is steadily climbing. Their browser can be customized thousands of ways, not so with IE. IE doesn't even offer a simple ad blocker, such as Adblock Plus. I could go on and on about this, but I won't. The fact is Firefox is steadily moving forward, adding more and more features, but IE offers few options. It would not surprise me to see Firefox as the #1 browser at some point. Not one bit.

With all the anti-trust lawsuits flying around against Microsoft and IE, its no wonder Mozilla is doing so well and that there seem to be many more browsers than ever before....viva la difference!

Competition is good for all of us. Remember the days when we had to pay for our browsers? AOL used to send those junk discs that had 1,000 free hours on it, but they wanted a credit card to proceed. I like Microsoft products very much, but their browser (IE8) could be improved. IE7 was a fine browser on XP. But IE8 crippled my laptop, and until Firefox 3.5 (RC) came along, it remained that way. But when I installed 3.5 (RC at the time), my laptop came back to life. And Firefox has been my default browser since, even on Windows 7. I tried IE8 on Windows 7, but no improvement. Still page errors. No thanks, I say to IE. I'll stick with Firefox.

". IE doesn't even offer a simple ad blocker, such as Adblock "

I seem to have a good compromise with IE/Firefox. Truth is, I can not discern any difference, of consequence, between the two. As some know, Microsoft, up to (?) about 6 months ago, restricted entry to some of their pages to the sole use of IE. This ran into immense difficulties with their own frequent users. During that period, I guess I got over familiar with the use of IE, and now prefer it as my default.
It seems to be little advertised, but, fwiw, IE8 is the first browser to have a built in Ad blocker. - The "in private browsing" filter. It does precisely the same as the firefox adblock add-on and is customisable.
I'm lazy. Another useful feature I find is, that through automatic updates, IE8 can receive quite a few improvements. I have received four security updates to IE since the final Windows 7 release. In contrast, I have become bored with downloading and installing new releases of FF

For the sceptics, here is an interesting comment.
http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2009/12/14/121912/21

davehc, there is an IE tab that you can add to Firefox to visit those Microsoft sites and download programs. I use it a lot. True, Firefox is continually having new releases, why doesn't IE do the same? They are steadily giving you more security with each and every release. They don't affect your bookmarks or preferences. And you don't even have to accept them if you don't want them. You'll just be using a less secure browser. There are new online threats every day, and Mozilla works very hard to keep you secure, along with your anti virus program of choice. They are the #2 used browser in the world, and are rising fast. Sheer numbers don't lie. In fact, my default browser is 3.6 Beta 5, not 3.5.6. Too many problems with IE8 for me. Perhaps if they borrowed some of the engineers of Windows 7 (the greatest) and work with them for a while, IE may produce a better browser, one that loads pages correctly and you can watch a news clip without it breaking up and taking 10 minutes to watch a 4 minute video. When IE can show significant improvement in those areas, then I may consider trying it again.

So far I have tried IE8, Firefox 3.5.x And Google Chrome and I have a few things to say.
IE ran the fastest of all three, but was real bad with pop-ups and has too many security holes.
Firefox is a great browser. It has plugin capability, security, and could handle anything I could throw at it. But it hogged ram like crazy.
Now I am currently taking Chrome for a test drive. Each tab runs as an independent program, so if you have a bug on one page that causes it to close, You don't lose the whole browser. Since they run as separate programs, opening a new tab, or webpage can take longer.
So what I would like to see is something that can take the best parts of all these browsers, and put them in to one package. I want a browser that can do everything, and runs efficient. Is that really too much to ask in 2009-2010?

No, it's not too much to ask. You should search and find the browser that you're most comfortable with. There is also Opera, it's fast as well. But I didn't use it long enough to evaluate it. Your last question in your post is 100% correct. This is the year 2009, and we should by now have a browser that can do it all, but the sad truth is, we don't. I've tried all of the popular ones, and for me, Firefox works best. For others, it doesn't. It's a matter of taste and what you can put up with.

@ danperteet

Try Maxthon i like over all the others

I gotta admit, It does look promising for my needs. I am not gonna install anything until I put the RTM on here when I wake up this afternoon though. Not gonna install it now because I need sleep. Saturday I deleted everything I don't need, Deleted temp files, Cleaned up the registry, and re-did my partitions. I'll defrag when I wake up, and jump into the RTM install. Wish me luck.

Thanks Cat. As I said, under pressure they had to stop the practice.

I suppose we all have out likes and preferences. I really do not have any problems with IE? Nothing with loading pages or breaking up. Maybe I got lucky with my hardware setup etc.
Only thing I would add, to throw in a spanner, After several attempts, I just cannot get on with the highly acclaimed Opera.

Danperteet: "So far I have tried IE8, Firefox 3.5.x And Google Chrome and I have a few things to say.

IE ran the fastest of all three, but was real bad with pop-ups and has too many security holes."

I read this a lot but it still remains a litle bit of a mystery to me. How do the security holes manifest themselves?