For the first time, people using Internet Exploder make up less than half of my browser audience and FireFox users make up over a third.
As I was reviewing my stats, I noticed I was getting hits from FreeRepublic. What the hell? Then I found that my anti-blogger’s been dissing me over there:
An Ironic Blow to the FireFox Hippies
We all know those people, who are intolerant of other viewpoints, who push their views on you and shove them down your throat and accuse you of sorts of evil if you won’t go their way.
I’m not referring to members of any religious group, I’m talking about the Fire Fox Hippies. We all know Fire Fox hippies they tell us Fire Fox is the waive of the future and gives us an opportunity to “fight the power, man.” We’re told its more secure and only a fool would use Internet Explorer because of its gaping security holes.
Today we get this news from Web Watch:
SpreadFirefox.com, the community marketing website for the open-source Firefox web browser, was hacked last week, potentially exposing user data.
Attackers broke into the website by exploiting an unpatched security vulnerability in the software that runs SpreadFirefox.com, the Mozilla Foundation said in an email alert to registered users of the site on Thursday…
Mozilla believes the machine was hacked to use it to send spam, according to the email. However, it is possible attackers obtained usernames and passwords and any other information people may have provided to the site, such as email and home addresses, birth dates and instant-messaging names, Mozilla said.
Oh, yeah, I feel so safe with FireFox on my computer. I’m glad that only my wife uses it. A day for Humble Pie for the FireFox hippies including Radical Russ who stills has a button on his front page reading, “Get Firefox, the browser you can trust.”
First of all, how can a guy with a shaved head be considered any kind of hippie?
Second, looks like the attackers busted in through “the software that runs SpreadFirefox.com”. That wouldn’t be FireFox; it’s a browser. Running a site may involve different server software or operating system software that got hacked, not FireFox.
Third, any browser or computer or network is hackable. The reason I espouse FireFox is primarily because it is a smaller target — more people want to hack IE because there’s more out there to hack.
Fourth, Microsoft software is notoriously hackable because of the corporation’s “trustworthy computing” mantra, sloppy code checking, and buggy releases. Every software company is vulnerable to those problems, but Microsoft seems to have them perfected.
Fifth, I prefer the concept of “open source” on a philosophical level. I like that there’s no high priest caste of programmers who secretly control all aspects of the software. I like that the user community contributes to the evolution of the software.
Sixth, FireFox performs better as a browser for the functions I require. Tabbed browser windows alone made it worth it to me, and lots of keyboard shortcuts sealed the deal. I also find that it loads pages and images faster, blocks pop-ups better, and just has a better look-and-feel, especially with skins.
Seventh, FireFox adheres to global standards of HTML rendering, whereas IE prefers to do everything the “Microsoft way”. When I code for FireFox, I know that every standards-compliant browser will see the page the same way. When I was coding for IE, I’d find my page looked out of whack on Netscape or FireFox.
Eighth, the whole bundling of Internet Explorer with Windows for free in order to destroy their upstart rival Netscape was dirty pool and wasted a whole bunch of taxpayer money in Justice Dept. investigations. Bill Gates wants to be able to pack anything and everything into his operating system and claim it’s just an upgrade so he can leverage his overwhelming desktop OS share as a loss leader against any small rival that finds a software need and exploits it. Isn’t capitalism supposed to protect the little guy innovator?
Ninth, I don’t really care if you use IE or not. If you can handle my annoying “Get FireFox” banners and buttons, fine. It’s my own little act of personal revenge for having to cope as a software teacher for four years with that damn annoying paper clip in Microsoft Word and my students’ inevitable FAQ: how do you turn that thing off?
Tenth, how does promoting FireFox in any way “stick it to the man”? Microsoft gives IE away for free, so does FireFox.
FireFox Hippie. I guess I’ll have to get a bigger nametag, so I can add that to “barking moonbat bleeding-heart blame-America-first lefty-loonie Bush-bashing asshat liberal blogger in the Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy.”
