Chapter 13. About Firefox and Thunderbird


Most people on the Internet use the Microsoft Internet Explorer Web browser to cruise the World Wide Web and use either Outlook or Outlook Express to send and receive email. They use these programs because they came with Windows, not because they chose them for themselves. This is like buying a toaster that comes from the factory set to make toast much darker than you like and leaving it that way instead of trying different settings until you find one that makes toast to your taste.

The only problem with the toaster analogy is that a toaster comes with a knob or other device you can use to change the way it toasts, but Windows doesn't come with a choice of Web browsers or email programs. You need to go get them for yourself, and once you start looking for better onesand there are plenty out thereit's easy to get confused.

For most people, the best Web browser choice is Firefox, and the best email choice is Thunderbird. They have been favorably reviewed by almost every publication that tests software, not to mention hundreds of newspaper and TV computer reporters.

The Firefox Web browser.

The Thunderbird email program.

Here are some of their primary advantages over their Microsoft equivalents:

  • They are immune to virtually all Explorer and Outlook security exploits.

  • Firefox has tabbed browsing, a feature you'll never want to be without once you've tried it.

  • Firefox has a built-in popup ad blocker, plus an easy-to-add blocker for almost all banner ads.

  • Thunderbird has built-in junk email/spam filters you can easily "train" to meet your needs.

  • Many customization options are available, allowing you to use the Internet "your way."

These programs are developed and maintained by the Mozilla Foundation, a group originally set up, staffed, and funded by Netscape (now owned by Time Warner) in much the same way Sun Microsystems set up and financed OpenOffice.org. However, the Mozilla Foundation is now totally independent from its original corporate master and, instead, is financed by donations from individuals and corporations that love its products.

A Netscape Web browser is still available, and it is based on Mozilla. It's free in the cost sense, but in many ways it is not as technically elegant as Firefox and Thunderbird. Netscape is a Web browser and email program combined, which means it is cumbersome and slow to load.

Firefox and Thunderbird are available for most major computer operating systems, and they work almost exactly the same in all of them. The Firefox screenshot shown here was taken in Windows. The Thunderbird screenshot was taken in Ubuntu Linux running a Gnome desktop. Both programs take on the characteristics, or "themes," of their surroundings so that they look like all the rest of your programs. But the buttons and icons are all in the same place no matter what desktop you use, which makes moving from Firefox and Thunderbird on one computer to the same programs on another computer a no-brainer.

Mind you, you can change the "look and feel" of Firefox and Thunderbird almost any way you can imagine instead of sticking with the defaults. You can change colors, fonts, and many other display characteristics, and you can add many nifty plugins and extensions to extend the usefulness of Firefox and Thunderbird.

But we won't go into detail here about Firefox and Thunderbird themes, plugins, and other customizations. This is just a brief introduction to these two fine programs. Learning everything about themand about some of the many fine open source programs available for other Internet taskswould take another whole book.

Point & Click Firefox! sounds like a catchy title, doesn't it? Hmmmm . . .




Point & Click OpenOffice. org.
Point & Click OpenOffice.org
ISBN: 0131879928
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 143
Authors: Robin Miller

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