More than a year ago I e-mailed Relevant and asked them to fix their website because it was always crashing my Netscape. (Now, don’t misunderstand me–I’m not a hardcore Netscape user, but during this particular period I was testing out other browsers, and also using them to debug clients’ sites.) When they responded to my e-mail, they said that it wasn’t worth it to make sure the website worked for Netscape because 99.9% of web users were using Internet Explorer. I’ve since deleted the e-mail, and they’ve since changed their policy on crashing non-IE browsers…
After years of toying with the idea of leaving Internet Explorer, I finally made the leap. When Firefox asked me so nicely if it could be my default browser, I clicked “OK”.
Of course, this meant I had to fix my own site to make it cross-browser compatible (translate vbscript to javascript, delete the Microsoft gradient filters, etc.). While I was at it, I finally added a the long-awaited client list and updated my skillset as well.
The coolest thing to happen by far since switching to Firefox is that my Outlook Express loads a billion times faster. Who’d a’ thunk it?
I highly recommend this article on Forbes.com about the Firefox browser, as well as this one about PC security on USATODAY.com. Oh, and one more on Slate.com (imagine that: a Microsoft employee rooting for the competition!).
Update circa 2011: I use Chrome now. IE 9 is supposed to be a lot better than the old ones, but it’s not cross-platform, and it’s too little too late…
Update: Outlook Express may be faster now, but it's still a little too slow for my liking. I am using Thunderbird on a trial basis to check my e-mail at the office, but I won't be able to see if it's faster than OE until I import the 2,500 messages into Thunderbird on my home computer. You should also check out this article for more info on T-bird, Firefox, and Mozilla.