New browsers have compelling features and fewer problems.When continuing assaults from viruses, spam, pop-up ads and adware made Internet use almost intolerable in my teacher-son Karl's K-12 school in Massachusetts, the staff changed Web browsers A program that lets you look through a collection of data. See Web browser, microbrowser, class browser and browse. from Internet Explorer to Firefox Quite an Impact Firefox has received rave reviews and caused much notoriety. Within a few months of its release, millions of people downloaded it. Many view it as a safer alternative to Internet Explorer (IE), which is constantly being attacked. Although Service Pack 2 (SP2) for Windows XP made IE more secure, those enhancements are not available for earlier versions of Windows, and nothing stops hackers from inventing new attacks. and the problems decreased significantly. The changeover was quick and easy, thanks to a setup wizard that walked people through the process, and the new browser imported previous settings including passwords and favorite sites. "We were able to start using Firefox immediately," he says, "and our annoying pop-up ads dropped to zero." The near total domination of Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser--which the Web metrics firm WebSideStory estimates was close to 97 percent last year--made IE a high-profile target for Interact attacks that also exploited its known security gaps. And in spite of the rapid development of online technology, IE was also criticized for not releasing a major upgrade in three years. School users therefore started turning to alternative browsers including Mozilla What's a Mozilla? Mozilla was originally the code name for the Netscape Navigator Web browser and Netscape's first alligator-like mascot. Mozilla stood for "Mosaic Killer," because Netscape wanted to reign supreme, which it did for a while (see Mosaic). In 1998, the source code of the entire Netscape Communicator package was made available to developers, and Mozilla.org was created to act as a clearing house for contributions., Opera, Safari and the increasingly popular Firefox. Multiple Benefits Firefox runs on Linux computers as well as Windows and Mac machines, and was developed as an "open-source" grassroots effort involving thousands of volunteers. When version 1.0 was released in November, it was downloaded more than 12 million times in the first three months alone, and quickly grabbed nearly 5 percent of the market. The "Spread Firefox" Web site documents how supporters are promoting the new browser, and school systems throughout the United States have adopted the program. For example, the Web site of Washington's Cusick School District states, "Download the Firefox browser for a better experience on our site," and the site of School District #104 in Illinois proclaims, "The Firefox Web browser is safer than Internet Explorer, better at blocking pop-ups, fast, and free." And teachers in Michigan's Pinconning Area School District were even asked to return their laptops to have software with Firefox installed to "prevent disrupting the district network with viruses and other malware." But beyond trying the lower-prone browsers to decrease many of the problems that plague the Internet, the upstart programs also bring compelling features to schools that are not available on older browsers. For example, "tabbed browsing Tabbed Browsing in Firefox The top red arrow in this Firefox example shows the tabs that were created by pressing Control-T. Tabbed browsing lets the user quickly switch back and forth to selected Web pages. It avoids having to click back through a long history list of recent pages or keep multiple browser windows open." offered by Firefox and Opera allows teachers and students to designate groups of Web pages on topics of interest that open automatically when the browsers are launched. The most useful sites are therefore available immediately, and users can shift from one to another by clicking on-screen tabs for each resource. Other valuable innovations for school research applications include dropdown customized lists of search tools, and integrated support for Real Simple Syndication, so browsers can receive Web-based alerts whenever new content is added to subscribed sites. Users can therefore follow breaking news stories without having to visit Web sites to look for new information. Upgraded Choices The innovations among the challenger browsers will benefit all Interact users, as browsers are upgraded and new entries become available. For example, Internet Explorer crushed Netscape in the '90s as the browser of choice, by bundling IE as part of Windows, but Netscape is now back with RSS support and "antiphishing" technology that resists identity theft. Microsoft also released multiple patches to tighten the security of IE, and will launch an upgraded browser before the next version of Windows in 2006. Similarly, Opera is adding voice-activated features, and America Online is reportedly preparing its own standalone browser. But while the new browsers will not be accepted universally--Washington's Snohomish School District rejected Firefox for "lacking support and interoperability with other installed software"--they offer clear advantages that your staff should consider. The browser wars are a boon to us all. Web Resources * Firefox www.getfirefox.com * Mozilla www.mozilla.org * NetCaptor www.netcaptor.com * Opera www.opera.com * Safari www.apple.com/safari * Spread Firefox www.spreadfirefox.com * WebSideStory www.websidestory.com Odvard Egil Dyrli, dyrli@uconn.edu, is senior editor and emeritus professor of education at the University of Connecticut. |
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