Yes, the official, final release of Firefox 1.5 is now available, for Windows, Mac OS X, & Linux. Sporting much faster Back & Forward buttons, a redesigned Options/Preferences window, draggable tabs, a Clear Private Data button that dumps personal stuff fast, & a vastly improved software update process (download patches, not the whole furshlugginer thing!), this is easily the best Firefox yet … and it solidifies Firefox as the best browser in the world, period.

What are you waiting for? Go get it!

(And yes, I wrote a book about Firefox - Don't Click on the Blue E!: Switching to Firefox - that you might find interesting.)

(Check out all of our posts on Firefox.)

One thing that people tend to forget is that open source isn't just about Linux. Apple uses open source stuff in it's products - like it's kernel & web browser for instance - and even MSFT has released a couple of things as open source (and I'm not talking about their b.s. "shared source" license, which doesn't even deserve consideration). In addition, there's actually a lot of great open source software that runs on Windows. When I use XP, for instance, I don't use IE; I use Firefox. I don't use Outlook or Outlook Express; I use Thunderbird. I don't use Office; I use OpenOffice.org.

On 2 March, SecurityFocus published my column Where is Google Headed? (and reprinted at The Register), a look at Google's new AutoLink feature for its Google Toolbar for Internet Explorer. I'm critical of the feature, and although I was attacked on other blogs, and even called both greedy and a hypocrite, I still stand by my column. I've done more thinking about the AutoLink issue since my column came out, and I'd like to further my arguments with some clarification. Understand that I'm a fervent supporter of Rip, Mix, Burn culture, and I firmly believe that users have the right to alter web pages once they're in a user's web browser cache … but I think AutoLink - as currently implemented by Google - is a very bad idea.

The key distinction for me is this: I don't like it when large corporations make wide-ranging decisions for users that disadvantage those that the corporations choose not to favor. So, for instance, I like the Firefox Greasemonkey extension, but I don't like AutoLink. Both change the contents of web pages in users' caches, in radical ways (in fact, Greasemonkey is perhaps more radical than AutoLink). However, AutoLink only changes links in ways that Google approves and provides; Google in effect, then, becomes the gatekeeper for e-commerce and communication. For example, AutoLink automatically changes all ISBNs to point to Amazon.com, which sounds great, but what if you don't use Amazon? What if you like Barnes & Noble? Or BookPool? Or even better, you wish to support your local independent bookstore's web site? AutoLink provides no way to change this, which means that Google's decisions about links are immutable, and the company now has strong influence over the purchasing decisions of millions of its users.

Greasemonkey, on the other hand, is a framework that allows users to build upon that framework and change web pages in ways that suit them. I can download scripts that others have prepared, but you will never find millions of people using the same scripts, and there is complete freedom for anyone else to create (or modify) new scripts. Greasemonkey is an open architecture (it's just XUL and JavaScript, essentially), so it doesn't lock anyone in.

The same thing holds true for Adblock, another super-powerful Firefox extension that can be used to radically change the way web pages look and function by blocking annoying ads. Adblock installs as a blank slate, with no ads blocked by default. It is up to the user to select the ads he wishes to block. It is possible to import a list of ads to block from others, but this is completely up to the user's discretion, and it is possible to modify that list at any time. Similar Firefox extensions, which also empower users by giving them access to choice, include Autofill, BetterSearch, Flashblock, Nuke Anything, Resizeable Textarea, and WebmailCompose.

That to me, ultimately, is the difference: user control, rather than corporate-mandated impositions on my abiltiy to make a decision for myself. If Google changed AutoLink to allow users to input their own choices for books, addresses, and license plates, I'd be all for it. If AutoLink installed without any pre-made choices at all, and instead required the user to enter in her own URLs for searches, I'd praise it as another tool giving control back to users. But as it stands today, AutoLink is a case of Google leveraging its brand as a trusted source of information to exert too much power over the linking - and e-commerce - decisions of Google Toolbar users. I can't support it.

Ohmigod I love this extension. Love it! We all have to fill in forms all the time online, especially if we blog. Unfortunately, many of the textboxes we have to use are too small, either in width and height, or both. Now we've got a solution: the Resizeable Textarea extension for Firefox. Install it, restart Firefox, and go to a page that contains a textbox. Move your mouse to the bottom right corner, click and drag to resize, and you've instantly got a much bigger textbox resized to your specifications. Now THAT is cool!

(Read all my postings about Firefox.)

I love the Googlebar extension for Firefox, but ya gotta admit, there's an awful lot of stuff going on in that one little toolbar. Heck, I only use about 10% of the features of the thing. The author of the Born Geek blog feels the same way, so he's created the Googlebar Lite extension for Firefox. It's a slimmed down, easier to use version of the Googlebar. Pretty nice. Give it a try, and if you don't like it, just uninstall the extension. What could be easier?

(Read all my postings about Firefox.)

By now, Firefox 1.0.1 has been out a while. Several friends and clients have called me, asking me why their copy of Firefox is acting weird. "Did you upgrade to 1.0.1?", I'll ask. "Yup!", they'll respond. "Did you install over your old copy, without uninstalling first?" is my next question. "Yup!", they'll respond again. Uh-oh. Not good. Clearly, I'm the only person who bothers to read release notes. But I'm a nerd, so it's not a surprise.

For the complete instructions for upgrading to 1.0.1, read Asa's "upgrading from firefox 1.0 to firefox 1.0.1", an excellent, very, very detailed post on his blog. It looks scary when you first see his post, but it's long & detailed because he purposely went through every single itty bitty step. Don't freak. Just read it and follow along. There is no way you can screw up with these instructions. Best of all, he covers Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. Very cool. Now go upgrade!

If you use Firefox or Tbird, AND you have a USB flash drive (and really, doesn't everyone these days?), AND you want the ability to pop that flash drive into any ol' Windows machine & use your favorite web browser or email program, then you must must must must go investigate John Haller's brilliant Portable Firefox and Portable Thunderbird (as I said, Windows only at this time). Slashdot covered it, if you wanna find out more.

Interestingly, mozillaZine is also reporting "Mozilla to Support U3 Standard for USB Devices". This appears to mean that Haller's project is going to be superceded, or perhaps used as the base, of an official project to allow users to run Firefox & Tbird on USB drives. Either way, it's very cool, and it just goes to show where the real innovation is occuring these days in the browser (& email) worlds (hint: not in Washington state).

Firefox has the extensions - oh my goodness, it has the extensions - that allow you to change the browser in an almost unimaginable variety of ways. Let's take a look at some of them, mmmmmmmkay?

First up, Novell has a short piece, with easy-to-follow screenshots, titled "Google Auto-fill Replica for Linux", about one of my favorite extensions: Auto-Fill. Get tired of having to fill out lots o' boxes on a form? Then Auto-Fill is the answer. I use it all the time, but I'm lazy as the day is long.

Next, we have Linky, really just a blurb at Linux Gazette and some pointers to the Linky extension. I've tried it, but it didn't do much for me. You, however, may find things to be different. At least read about it, so when you contempuously spit out, "Linky? Puh!", you know what you're talking about.

Finally, the big kahuna: PC Magazine has an article on "Top 15 Firefox Extensions". There are some I definitely agree with on that list - Adblock, ForecastFox, GoogleBar - and some that don't really grab me. Check out the list, read the mini-reviews, and try 'em out. You've got nothing to lose but your Profile!

In case you haven't already heard, it's over for Mozilla as far as future development is concerned. Oh sure, the Mozilla Foundation is going to keep maintaining the 1.7 branch, but that's it. All future work is aimed at Firefox & Thunderbird. This was announced years ago, but it finally became final this week, and evidently some folks are (justifiably) p.o.'d at the Mozilla Foundation for not making things clearer, sooner.

(Of course, volunteers can still keep Mozilla going, and it looks like folks are trying to do just that. More news as it develops.)

AOL is coming out with a new Netscape sometime soon, to be called #8, & to be based on Firefox (think about that: Netscape gave birth to Mozilla, which gave birth to Netscape and Firefox, and now Firefox is giving birth to a new Netscape! I'm my own Grand-dad, indeed!). I know a lot of folks aren't going to care - I don't, really - but if you're interested, go get it. Just be aware that it's UI is truly hideous. Can you say "That UI is busier than a long-tailed tabby cat in a room full of rocking chairs"? You can? Try it when you're drunk ... which may be when it would be most approporiate to download and try out Netscape 8 beta. Yeeeesh.

I just found some really, really, really nice OpenOffice.org tutorials covering Writer, Calc, and the new Base. Even better, they're for both OOo 1.1 AND the upcoming 2.0, so you can get an advanced look at the upcoming release. Even better than that, they're in Flash, so you can actually watch the tutorial and see what's being described (finally, a good use for Flash!). Even better than that, you can download the tutorials to watch 'em on your machine. And even better than that, they're packaged for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X. And really, there's nothing I can find at this point that's better. I'm bettered out.

NewsForge has an overview of the upcoming OpenOffice.org 2.0 on its site: "First look: OpenOffice.org version 2.0 beta". If you use OOo, or recommend it to others, or even if you use Microsoft Office, you owe it to yourself to read it.

The good: a ton of new features, especially for Writer. Word count (finally!). A better installer (at least for Windows; since I use Debian Linux, installation is just an apt-get install openoffice.org for me). Better, more "normal" toolbar behaviors. Renaming "AutoPilot" to "Wizard" (the reviewer doesn't think it's necessary, but I think it'll help Windows users). The recent file list now shows 10, not 4, items (thank you!). Tables can now break across multiple pages (thank {diety}!). The adoption of the OASIS file formats (supported by everyone except … you know who!). Better mail merge, which I've complained about before.

The bad: Charting still sucks. Some changes in OOo tools that limit functionality in order to be more like MSFT Office (wow … that's a great idea!). Greater dependency on Java - bad bad bad bad!

Go read it!

When you're dual-booting (or triple-booting, or …), or when you're sharing a portable USB2/Firewire hard drive among different boxes, all of a sudden, file systems become important. NTFS isn't supported by Mac OS, to my knowledge, and while you can read it under Linux, writing is still iffy. Fat32 is supported by everyone, but that's kind of a sucky filesystem. So what can you use?

Ext2 isn't a bad choice, since it's supported under Mac OS X, Linux (duh), and even Windows, to some degree.

Mac OS X - Ext2fsx

http://sourceforge.net/projects/ext2fsx/

Windows - Explore2fs

http://uranus.it.swin.edu.au/~jn/linux/explore2fs.htm

Mac OS X & Linux can read & write Ext2; Windows, however, can only read. However, with all OS's you get support for large partitions and large file sizes, which is great. Too bad you don't get journaling …

Big news today: Firefox 1.0.1 has been released! Don't look for new features - this one is mainly about bug fixes and security (especially the punycode/IDN debacle of a few weeks ago that I wrote about in SecurityFocus). OK, there is ONE new feature: better tab control, or, as the release notes put it, "You can now make links opened by other applications open into a new tab, reuse an existing tab, or open a new window". Cool. People have been asking for that for a long time.

OK - so how do you get it? Head over to the Release Notes and follow the instructions. And fer gosh sakes, read the frickin' Release Notes, OK? There's some important stuff in there, like DON'T INSTALL THE NEW FIREFOX OVER AN OLD FIREFOX. There. I capitalized it so you'd see it.

(For those of you who use BitTorrent, head to the Firefox 1.0.1 Torrents page and grab those torrents! But read the Release Notes anyway, 'k?)

Go get it!

(Or, if you're like me and you use Debian, the one true Linux&tm;, wait 'til it's in the APT repositories)

Don't believe me?

IE's market share is dropping, dropping, dropping, & guess who's taking its place? Firefox.

Microsoft's IE continues to be seen as insecure and buggy, but guess what browser has a much better security record? Firefox.

Guess which browser has people asking why it's so gosh darn "compelling"? Firefox. (Note: ignore the first link in the referenced piece - it's an incredibly stupid cartoon.)

What browser has folks in India, Boston, & Britain talking? Firefox.

Which piece of software has reignited the browser wars, which everyone, including Microsoft, thought were over? Firefox.

What's getting really super-knowledgable IT pundits to write about it? Firefox.

Which browser's popularity is enabling developers to make money supporting it & writing addons for it? Firefox.

What software is now at the vanguard of the FLOSS (Free, Libre, Open Source Software) movement?

Heck, if you don't know that answer to that one by now, you just ain't been paying attention.