I tried out the new Release Candidate 2 version of Firefox 3.0 beta the other day and I’m hooked. I love listening to Buzz Out Load from CNET and have been intrigued for quite some time with all the talk about Firefox and its “add-ons”.
Wow. There are add-ons that do all sorts of cool things for Firefox. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure you can find programs that do the same or similar things in Internet Explorer or Safari. But the way that the add-ons are presented and actually ENCOURAGED in Firefox makes them very easy to try out and use.
And I really like the interface on the Mac. It’s clean looking with a smart layout that is very intuitive. The largest button on the toolbar, for example, is the most often used one – the back button. You can use a Google-Reader-like star to record the current page as a favorite instantly. A double-click on that same star will allow you file it away in a folder for all you weird people that actually organize things. In addition, the browser seems to be quick to load and use.
Unfortunately, the Windows version I immediately put on my Vista laptop left a lot to be desired. The interface, while it attempts to imitate the Mac version, is clunky in comparison. And it seems to be quite a bit slower than Internet Explorer.
For now, I’ll stick with Internet Explorer on the Vista machine, but Firefox has replaced Safari on my Mac’s dock.
