Chapter 10. Surfing the Internet

When it comes to Web browsers on the desktop, Linux users are faced with an embarrassment of riches, with plenty of alternatives to choose from. For those who are looking for a screaming-fast browsing experience and can do without the graphics, Linux offers a number of text-based browsers. (I talk about these at the end of the chapter.)

In the graphical world where most people will spend their browsing time, a new program has set the browser world on fire. It's called Firefox. In just a few short months, it has reignited the browser wars and done what no one thought possible taken a substantial market share away from the security-problem-plagued Internet Explorer. Thanks to the incredible popularity of Firefox and its multiplatform support (it is also available for Windows), Internet Explorer's browser market share had dipped to below 90% in the first five months following Firefox's release. This is quite a feat, considering that Internet Explorer had commanded something around 95% of the market before Firefox. Better security and advanced features were drawing millions of users away from Microsoft's browser. Firefox is an exciting program, and I show you how it works in this chapter.

Then we have KDE's own browser, Konqueror. Besides being a great browser, Konqueror is a powerful file manager (as you discovered earlier in the book). I should tell you that I myself move back and forth between browsers. In fact, I tend to be a two-browser guy, flipping between Firefox and Konqueror (although I do favor Konqueror these days). If you are running KDE, you won't need to download Konqueror. It's part of the whole KDE environment. Exploring Konqueror's Web browser persona is where I begin this chapter. Then I move on to Firefox. Compare the features and decide for yourself what will define your browsing experience.