IE's Warning of Change

[Kortpeel (imported)]

Hi All,

As one of the more metathesiophobic people on this board, especially where matters cybernetic are concerned, IE's warning on another section of this board filled me with dread. It's taken me years to get even half way up to speed on this site and now it's going to change yet again.

The major changes that have occurred over the years on this site have always been a set back for me. What makes it worse is that everyone else seems to understand the changes automatically.

However, the reason for posting this under Tech and Computer is the eternal quest for understanding.

Namely: 1. What is wrong with Internet Explorer? It seems to work ok for me.

and 2. Presumably Firefox is another browser doing the same job as Internet Explorer. How is it better and is it worth changing over to Firefox - bearing in mind the learning curve?

Regards

Kortpeel

[Riverwind (imported)]

Internet Explorer has two main problems, its a Microsoft product. It is part of your operating system and its prone to vires infection. Foxfire is stand alone and the firewall is much better. The learning curve should not be more that a few minutes, an hour or so at most. Foxfire does have hundreds of little add ons that all take part of your CPU which you may want for other things, but straight out of the box its OK

River

[BossTamsin (imported)]

Hi All,

As one of the more metathesiophobic people on this board, especially where matters cybernetic are concerned, IE's warning on another section of this board filled me with dread. It's taken me years to get even half way up to speed on this site and now it's going to change yet again.

The major changes that have occurred over the years on this site have always been a set back for me. What makes it worse is that everyone else seems to understand the changes automatically.

However, the reason for posting this under Tech and Computer is the eternal quest for understanding.

Namely: 1. What is wrong with Internet Explorer? It seems to work ok for me.

and 2. Presumably Firefox is another browser doing the same job as Internet Explorer. How is it better and is it worth changing over to Firefox - bearing in mind the learning curve?

Regards

Kortpeel

1) There isn't necessarily anything inherently wrong with Internet Explorer. If it works for you, please feel free to keep using it. At no point will I ever put a page up that doesn't work in Explorer.

2) Yes, Firefox is one of the competitors to Explorer that does essentially the same thing, namely display web pages and let you surf the net.

Part of the animosity goes back to the early days of the internet, when Explorer first came on the scene. Microsoft did not design it to 'play nice' with the standards of the time, instead trying to show off by creating its own versions of the standards. Suffice to say, there's a lot more to this history, but in some ways that remains today.

True, it's gotten a heck of a lot better, and IE does follow the rules better than it once did, but it still has quirks.

As to if it's worth trying Firefox, only you can answer that question. Personally I find it had a lot lower learning curve than the transition to Explorer 7 did. I still have problems figuring out where Microsoft hid things when they 'upgraded' the interface.

It can't hurt to download and install it. Firefox won't take over if you don't want it to, and there's no rule saying you can't use both.

[IbPervert (imported)]

I recommend to people to use IE only when they have to, for example when you need to update your computer at the Microsoft Update site and if your a web deisgner to check your site to make sure it works with IE. Other wise for every day browser use use Firefox.

[Paolo]

My biggest gripe with IE (the browser) was when 7 came out, and they made it so that you HAD to have XP to use it. It looked and acted nothing like IE 6, which I was so very used to from 5, etc.; they all looked the same. Things in 7 were hidden here and there, and it just didn't "look" right. Needless to say, I won't have XP nor Vista. When I can longer get by with Firefox in Windows 2000 (the best OS yet), then I'll go to a Mac.

[StefanIsMe (imported)]

Up until only two years ago, my 'web browsing' computer ran on windows 98 and explorer 5 . Strangely enough, I could see virtually every site, and had the added bonus of being seemingly invulnerable; NOTHING out there for viruses etc seemed to phase such an ancient OS and browser version. I still fire that one up when going to questionable zones of the web.

My 'main' computer, which I'm using right now, is XP and explorer version 6 (I've not let it upgrade) and I can't remember every having trouble with a website...

Guess I've been grossly lucky .

[Kortpeel (imported)]

Internet Explorer has two main problems, its a Microsoft product. It is part of your operating system and its prone to vires infection. Foxfire is stand alone and the firewall is much better. The learning curve should not be more that a few minutes, an hour or so at most. Foxfire does have hundreds of little add ons that all take part of your CPU which you may want for other things, but straight out of the box its OK

River

Hi All,

My thanks to Riverwind and everyone else who replied. My contribution to the total amount of ignorance in the world has been reduced.

This has stirred me to download and install Firefox which has brought me here to write this. All in all it has been good for the soul and dislodged me from my comfort zone.

I shall never be a metathesiophile but perhaps, thanks to some good people here, I am now less metathesiophobic.

Regards

Kortpeel

[IbPervert (imported)]

My biggest gripe with IE (the browser) was when 7 came out, and they made it so that you HAD to have XP to use it. It looked and acted nothing like IE 6, which I was so very used to from 5, etc.; they all looked the same. Things in 7 were hidden here and there, and it just didn't "look" right. Needless to say, I won't have XP nor Vista. When I can longer get by with Firefox in Windows 2000 (the best OS yet), then I'll go to a Mac.

Yeah, I did not like the skin job MS did to IE7 either. I like to move the buttons around to positions that suit me better, and IE7 will not let me move them!

[Batman (imported)]

My biggest gripe with IE (the browser) was when 7 came out, and they made it so that you HAD to have XP to use it. It looked and acted nothing like IE 6, which I was so very used to from 5, etc.; they all looked the same. Things in 7 were hidden here and there, and it just didn't "look" right. Needless to say, I won't have XP nor Vista. When I can longer get by with Firefox in Windows 2000 (the best OS yet), then I'll go to a Mac.

I'll go along as the best MS OS yet for business....the best for a PC based OS I have found was OS/2 1.3 that puppy never crashed, multi-tasked like a dream (if you had multiple OS/2 programs) but the DOS box as they called it could only run one program at a time.

OS/2 2.1 and up came closer and did the multiple DOS support as well as Windows 3.0 support. MS released Windows 3.1 at the time and through a combination of bad press and marketing by IBM, and the speed of Windows 3.1 and the fact it came on everything preloaded kept MS the King's. Up until then MS and IBM were partners, after the split IBM got OS/2 and what was to be OS/2 3 became Window NT and the war began.

It's a shame really as OS/2 2.x and higher WERE the best I've used in a PC (not counting all the Linux, I'm going back a long time here) OS/2 had the desktop object oriented interface, multi-tasked like a dream and IBM destroyed it with bad salesmanship. Over pricing, and poor record of helping people port their programs easily.

<sigh>

Batman

Batman

are

[transward (imported)]

I think you should at least mention another option to IE, one that seems to be a favorite among a lot of tech savvy types, namely Opera, the Norwegian Browser (no thats not an ethnic joke) It's probably the fastest of the three major browsers for Windows and is exceptionally easy to use and seems to work on amost all the sites I visit.

Transward