Rodent Regatta

In the past couple of weeks, I’ve avoided launching IE6 at all. I’ve forced myself to work with Firefox, then I configured (tried to configure) Opera. Here are my findings:

• I like both browsers a lot. Either would suit my needs as replacements for IE6.
• Firefox locks my system up an average of once a day. It’s guaranteed to do it more than that if pdf files are opened. Firefox also opens any link in an email twice. It also opens new windows for email links rather than new tabs.
• Opera cannot display the IE ”links” toolbar. They call it a ”personal” toolbar, and no amount of trial-and-error with the customization of that toolbar gets me more than three Opera-related links on it. This is a big drawback. I start my day by clicking from left to right on the string of favorites I have set up on my ”links” toolbar. It works fine in Firefox and IE.
• Opera also cannot display the formatting buttons on the Movable Type text entry screen. I found a fix for Firefox that even allowed me to change the tags from B to strong and i to em. I haven’t found such a fix for Opera.
• In fairness, Opera feels like the more finished package. Firefox really reminds me of the old Netscape browsers that seemed to have a feature, but you couldn’t get it to work.
• I use technology a lot. It has to work reliably. While I get a small amount of enjoyment out of toying with it, I do not like to spend hours trying to make something work only to have an intermittent or flakey result. Both of these products have important areas where they fall into this category.
• While I believe SP2 is going to make IE a bigger target for a while, there is at least some hope that SP2 might bring some security to the browser and add some much needed features.

Just a note for passers-by. Browser choices are not religious events for me. I don’t care which browser I use so long as 1) it worx reliably 2) enough other people use it to have a support foundation 3) it can be configured using set-and-forget work habits.