Hisham Mohamed IT 103-206 Date 10/5/2010
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Introduction:
The IT world is a very fascinating subject and it serves its clients very well. It is full of many applications and software and today I am going to discuss one of the most helpful ones available. Mozilla Firefox has helped many people overcome different problems with other browsers. In this article, I will talk about the historical background of Mozilla Firefox, the technologies that Mozilla Firefox uses such as the graphic interface, and what kind of applications it supports. There will be a further research component that will include statics of how many people have switched to Mozilla Firefox as well as the future of Mozilla Firefox with the latest updates that have been added to it. Finally, the conclusion will reflect my point of view about Mozilla Firefox and how can that application be improved in the future.
Background:
I. What is Mozilla Firefox?
Mozilla Firefox is an open source web browser that is ran by Mozilla Corporation. The web browser offers a very unique option, which is open source. An open source browser means that Mozilla Firefox can be updated and modified by anyone. Mozilla Firefox is considered one of the fastest Internet web browsers in surfing the web. Also, the browser supports a wide range of applications such as graphic interface applications, download manger applications, and many others. Mozilla Firefox is one of the most widely used Internet web browsers and according to an article published in suite101.com, “Mozilla Firefox is one of the most popular and widely used web browsers available” (Campbell, 2010). In addition, the web browser has as achieved some distinct capabilities that other browsers have not achieved yet such as viewing functionality, security features, and speed capabilities. In a sense, Mozilla Firefox is one of the leaders in
Internet web browsing.
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II. Historical Background about Mozilla Firefox?
Mozilla Firefox was launched in September 2002 and was initiated under a different name than it currently has. The original web browser forename was Phoenix, which eventually became known as Mozilla Firefox in later releases. The first few versions of Firefox were fragile and didn’t serve the clients interests and needs very well. The web browser contained a lot of bugs and according to an article published in about.com the “first Firefox versions did not contain tabbed browsing or a download manager which was far away from the commonplace at this time” (Orgera, 2008). In 2004, after two years of hard work and development on Mozilla
Firefox a new version of the web browser was released to the public. The new version of Firefox contained a lot of excellent and useful features such as offline browsing, Windows installer, and zip delivery. Surprisingly enough, it took only five days after the new public release of Firefox to pass the one million download mark. Two other public releases followed the original release and on November 4, 2004, Mozilla Firefox became official and available in 31 different languages and was well received by the public.
Technologies:
I. Potential Benefits (GUI, Speed, Security, Support Multimedia)
A. Graphic User Interface (GUI)
One of the most important factors that made Mozilla Firefox very popular as a web browser is the unique set of applications that it uses. One worth mentioning is the graphic user interface that it operates on. The graphic user interface that operates Firefox is called Gecko. It was developed in 1977 and is now considered the heart of Mozilla Firefox. The GUI that is used by Mozilla is simply undefeatable and archive.mozilla.org says, “Gecko is open, portable, extensible, and customizable engine” (Baker, 2004). Gecko made web browsing easy and fun to
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use and on top of that, an updateable feature that is hard to be found in other graphic user interface engines. This is one of many advantages that Mozilla Firefox has over other web browsers. The web browser obtains a strong and customizable graphic user interface that other web browsers simply do not have and cannot obtain.
B. Speed
With every web browser there is a common issue of speed. However, that is not the issue for Firefox. As I mentioned before, Mozilla Firefox is considered the fastest Internet web browser. The reason being because according to mozilla.org, “Firefox includes the Trace
Monkey JavaScript engine, which gives the browser dramatically better performance” (Mozilla,
2010). Firefox is now twenty times faster than before because of this software and it takes less than three seconds to access web pages. Now that is pretty impressive, less than three seconds means that Firefox’s speed is literary just like a blink of an eye. The fast speed feature is an advantageous feature that Mozilla has and none of the other Internet web browsers have it yet, neither IE nor Google Chrome. We have to keep in mind that clients are always looking for speed in the world of Internet.
C. Security
Most of us know that viruses and cyber-attacks are the Internet’s worst nightmare.
Nevertheless, Mozilla Firefox has taken care of that issue by providing an unbreakable security system to accommodate a great Internet browsing experience. Firefox contains some security features that other Internet browsers do not have; one of these features includes phishing protection. Phishing protection is a security program that informs the Internet user that certain websites include viruses and it also advises the user to not visit them. Another security feature that Mozilla offers is Malware protection and that is simply another security program that
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prevents hackers and cyber-attacks from successfully to getting into your Internet browser and computer to modify and control it as they desire. According to article published in PC magazine,
“ Mozilla Firefox included some security features that highly satisfied the clients such as No
Script—Block scripting except for sites you specify as trusted and Better Privacy—Enhanced protection against various tracking cookies” (Seltzer, 2009). We truthfully cannot see these types of security features in other Internet web browsers, so we have to admit for a fact that
Mozilla Firefox provides the safest security standards Internet web browsing.
D. Multimedia Support
There is a wide range of multimedia that Mozilla Firefox supports. The VLC media player is a highly portable player with multimedia framework capable of reading most audio and video formats and capable of converting media files. With VLC you do not need to worry about the format of your audio or video whether it was MP3 or MP4, and HD or HQ, VLC will take care of that for you. Firefox also provides a neat service with the Acrobat application suite. Now downloading PDF and SWF files are not hassle. With very fast downloads and clear, crisp texts, downloading and reading information on the web became easier and more enjoyable with
Mozilla Firefox. According to an article published in Digital Inspiration, “ Mozilla Firefox
Acrobat suite has an interface that is very well designed, the various features work just as expected and those visual effects make this suite all the more attractive” (Agarwal, 2008). So we can see how much effort Mozilla Firefox is putting into improving its support for multimedia and trying to reach the triumph of its goals, which is being the best Internet web browser.
Further Research:
I. Statistics on how many people have switched to Mozilla Firefox and Why?
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According to statistics provided in w3schools.com, “an estimate of Internet Explorer’s 12% of users have switched to Mozilla Firefox since the start of 2009 to the second quarter of 2010, which ends in June” (Schools, 2010). There are many reasons why this abysmal switch of
Internet browsers has been going on. Among the most recognizable and critical reasons are safety, speed, easiness of usage, and customization. Nowadays, Mozilla Firefox is the most used engine browser and it is that because it provides and gives the user an extreme felling of speed when it comes to browsing the web. As well as speed, Mozilla gives the user the opportunity to customize the search engine browser the way he or she wants, which is what many people are seeking for.
II. The latest updates that have been added to Mozilla Firefox?
The last update Mozilla Firefox had is the 3.6.4 version. According to the release notes, PC magazine wrote “the main change in Mozilla is a stability enhancement which keeps the browser up and running when a major plugin crashes. Other stability and security enhancements are also noted” (Seltzer, 2010). Technically, this update is going to prevent Mozilla Firefox from crashing even when a major plug-in crashes. I think this feature is what every engine web search needs. Often enough, web browsers tend to change search engines because of the continuous crashes; but now, it looks that Mozilla found a way to put an end to it.
Conclusion:
All in all, I think Mozilla Firefox is where it needs to be and deserves to be thanked because of the improvements and updates it has gone through. However, while it has cutting edge technology that allows it to be the fastest and most secure web browser, I think it is still missing some key features that many users are still waiting to see. I hope to see that for the next upgrade,
Mozilla would be able to find a way to add extension benchmarks to the add-ons manager, as
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well as to add a context menu editor with nesting entries. I believe that if Mozilla adds these new features to the next version, it will be part of the next web browser generation, where nothing is unachievable.
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References and Annotations:
Campbell, R. (2010). Internet web browsers create virtual worlds. Suite101, 1
http://www.suite101.com/content/wonder-web-browser-virtual-worlds-a206715 accessed on 10/1/10 (this source is a valid because it provides helpful and truthful information about the popularity of Mozilla Firefox and it also valid because it was authored and dated.)
Orgera, S. (2008). The history of mozilla's firefox web browser. About , 1-3. http://browsers.about.com/od/historylesson/a/firefoxhistory_3.htm accessed on 10/1/10 (this source is valid because it provides a good explanation about the history of Firefox, and I have also searched the information again to make sure that it’s identical and it was. Plus this source was authored and published in a trustworthy website which is about.com.)
Baker , M. (2004). The mozilla toolkit. Mozilla , http://www.icyte.com/saved/www- archive.mozilla.org/348359?key=5c98ccb8f14c3d2688e8468cf54b7a520a58d9c0 accessed on
10/1/10( this article contains valid information because it describes detailed information about the graphic user interface that Mozilla supports and information that you can rely on. In addition the source is authored and published on a honest website Mozilla.org.)
Mozilla, tag">C. (2010). Super speed . Mozilla Firefox , 1-10. http://www.icyte.com/saved/www.mozilla.com/348372?key=a9830ab59c3e0d1a23edcc13e81
8aa1cf884f2e3 accessed on 10/1/10 (this article is valid source because it is helpful and clear it’s meaning, and it was written by a community of IT scholars which is known by the Mozilla community this are enough proof to say its valid.)
Seltzer, L. (2009, December 10). Mozilla packages security suite for firefox. PC
Magazine , 1. http://www.icyte.com/saved/www.pcmag.com/348469?key=2e117f308f1a6748b88df75db6fed76
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a2ac6d089 accessed on 10/1/10 (This source is a valid source because it helped me understand the security standards that Mozilla Firefox provides and the ones that will provide in the future.
This source was authored and was published on well know website PC magazine.)
Agarwal , A. (2008). Adobe acrobat.com is good but there are many limitations. Digital
Inspiration , 1. http://www.icyte.com/saved/www.labnol.org/349502?key=0f47bb9daa8342fdfd33639dd8d8d5a
2933e9117 accessed on 10/1/10 (This source is helpful and valid because it lists a point of view about the Mozilla Firefox support acrobat suit. The source is authored and dated and if it wasn’t valid a source it wouldn’t have been authored or dated.)
Schools, w. (2010). Web statistics and trends. W3schools, 1-5. http://www.icyte.com/saved/www.w3schools.com/348834?key=9f5ffcde7a9cf05eae44bd0c9157 e0cc6f246480 accessed on 10/1/10 (The source is valid it provides valid and truthful information which is statistics and it even breaks down each statistic by percentages and months now that’s have to be valid information.)
Seltzer, L. (2010, JUne 23). New firefox 3.6.4 blocks crashing plugins. PC Magazine, 1
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2365553,00.asp accessed on 10/1/10 (The source is valid because it contains trustful information about Mozilla’s latest updates. I have even checked to see if the information on PC magazine was accurate and they were because Mozilla’s website stated the same information about the update.)
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