Bye Internet Explorer & Outlook!

[nChrist]

I've tried many different browsers that still use portions of Internet Explorer to work. Now I'm using Mozilla Firefox that is independent of Internet Explorer, and I'll never go back. There is no comparison on speed, and there are all kinds of other content available for Firefox (i.e. latest news, RSS feeds, etc.). I don't miss Internet Explorer based browsers at all. The extra speed is great for folks who still have slow dial-up connections, and that's what I have.

This week, I tried the email program designed to go with Firefox, Mozilla Thunderbird. It's also free, much faster, and much safer than the Microsoft based products. It's a keeper and FREE!

Firefox and Thunderbird are open source software, and that means they will always be FREE! Some might think that means they would be of lesser quality, but the opposite is true. Both of these products are excellent, and many of the security holes of Microsoft products has been closed by using these. In fact, there is no comparison with speed, safety, and quality. Used together, this dynamic duo is fun, has many more features, and you can also say bye to the frequent crashing problems of Internet Explorer and Outlook.

Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird are MUST TRY programs. They are both FREE with no strings attached, and they are rated higher in speed, safety, and features than the commercial products.

Love In Christ,
Tom

2 Corinthians 5:20-21  Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

[Saved_4ever]

Just wanted to make a little correction for you on the Open Source thing.

Open source does not mean free of charge but free to modify and distribute without any specific copyright things like pictures or proprietary or closed source parts.

You can not redistrubute firefox as "firefox" in an OS or such unless you leave it completely untouched.

Lots of linux distro's will use firefox as the main browser but if they change the pictures or make it "fit in" with their distro they have to call it something else.


Ok, just so you know, because open source doesn't = free of charge but free like "speech".

God Bless,

and hi again.  

[nChrist]

Saved_4ever,

Brother, I quickly yield to your experience in this area. I'm new to trying many open source programs. I probably misunderstand much of the lingo.

I know that I completely tossed Microsoft Office in favor of Open Office, and I am very happy that I did. Keep in mind that I bought Microsoft Office at least 3 times for big bucks, and I think it is garbage compared to Open Office. I only paid $5 for the CD and shipping for the complete Open Office Suite. It is much faster, not a memory hog, almost never any crashes, and it's free. It was too big to download on a slow dial-up connection or I would have gotten it completely free with no strings attached.

The same was true for Firefox and Thunderbird, but they were small enough for me to download absolutely free with no strings attached. I think that I know what is confusing me about the open source definition - I read that nobody could charge for it anything more than the media, the shipping, and handling. I saw the same type of language on Open Office.

My first thoughts were there had to be some sort of strings attached (i.e. advertising, tracking, or something else negative). When I finally started trying some of the open source software, I quickly came to the conclusion that most of it is excellent and has no problems at all associated with it. I'm still trying to understand how people can get outstanding programs like these either free for the download or with shipping and handling. I'm really thinking that a lot of it is GET EVEN WITH MICROSOFT.  Am I wrong? It seems there are top programmers working on these programs, and many of them used to work for companies that were either forced out of business by Microsoft, bankrupted by Microsoft, or mistreated by Microsoft.

The example of Open Office is 64 MEG of outstanding programs. I know that nobody can make any money selling me a CD for $5, including shipping and handling. I've read that they do make some money in large corporate environments, in training, and maybe some other ways, but they appear to be determined to give the general public outstanding programs for nothing or almost nothing.

I still have a lot to learn, but I'm not shy about trying open source programs any longer, especially the ones that are free or almost free. So far, I think the ones I have tried are head and shoulders better than the high dollar commercial programs. What I don't have figured out at all right now is how they make any money and who pays the bills.

Love In Christ,
Tom

Psalms 113:4  The LORD is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens.

[Saved_4ever]

Open Office is from Sun Micro Systems and they have a pay for version as well called Star Office.  There are pay for Open Source apps like Cross over office (for running MS software like adobe photoshop, Office, IE 6 and some others).  Most linux distro's that do make money charge for their OS and in corporate envirnments get money by given support for said products.

Yes Sun has a bone to pick with MS.  As far as linux is concerned (a lot of linux apps have been made or ported to MS to) a good portion of the programs were developed by learning college students and those that wanted to learn to program for little or no cost.  Linus Torvalds (the creator of the linux kernel and "founder" of linux as in Linus Unix) was a college student when he decided to write his own OS kernel and copied the format of Unix.  This is why the commands for both are the same or similar.  FreeBSD is an OS developed by Berklee students and such.  This is a good reason why you find so many strange titles and words seeing as they were learning at the time.

Have you ever gotten a a message that the mail-daemon returned blah blah blah blah?  That's because 50% or more of the net is run by linux and unix servers.  The word daemon pronounced Day-mon or demon is a greek word for a harmless or "non-evil" demon.  Just some silly greek mythology but dealing with computers I can relate to the name.  Daemons control jobs and services in linux.

Mozilla developers get paid to write the code for those programs.  I forget who is bankrolling them but they get payed.  However, a lot of distro's (like PCLinuxOS which I like) get money from donations and such.  There are plenty of people who work for free in their spare time.

So this is probably way more than you wanted to know but there you go.

[nChrist]

Saved_4ever,

Brother, I actually find this information to be fascinating. It's pretty hard for average people to understand everything going on in the hi-tech world. I even understood most of what you said.  

I'm almost sure that Christians Unite is on a Linux server. If I understand correctly, it is much more secure from attack than Windows servers.

I have made some donations for free software that I really like. I really felt guilty getting something of such high quality and not paying anything for it. Maybe that's how many of those young and excellent programmers pay some of their bills.

Love In Christ,
Tom

Matthew 5:14-16  Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

[Rhys]

I have Firefox but have had nothing but trouble with it, so I am still using Firebird 0.7 most of the time. That has some bugs as well, but nothing like Firefox, which wouldn't fill in forms and log-in boxes correctly. They looked O.K., but when you tried to submit them it wouldn't work. Sometimes you got a message back telling you that you didn't fill the form in.

One time I got a look at the results and all the information entered in all the boxes was crammed together in the last line.

It also didn't parse the html correctly, with bits of code showing up on the screen.

After the last update it has done better - no more code onscreen and I can log into Yahoo now with it, but still can't upload files to Geocities.

I wish they would get it running correctly as I like the browser and the RSS feeds.

Incidentally, I'm not the only person who has had this problem with Firefox.

[nChrist]

Rhys,

I've heard about some folks having problems with Firefox, but I haven't had those problems. The only problem I've had is it not playing music when someone puts music with a post or the site has music. For filling forms and passwords, I use Roboform, so maybe that's why I don't have some of the problems you are having. Roboform did have to supply an additional program to make it work with Firefox, but I've had no problems with Roboform.

Who knows, maybe some of the other problems are associated with firewalls, spyware programs, or something security related. OR, there are bugs with Firefox. I do know that they released a couple of versions pretty quickly between Firefox 1.0 to Firefox 1.02. So, maybe quite a few were having problems. I use Avant when I want to listen to music.

Love In Christ,
Tom

Romans 8:31  What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?

[Joey]

For any fifefox users, the latest version has just been released, version 1.03. Pretty much the same but patches a few holes found in version 1.02. Downloaded it today any working like a dream.

Joey

[nChrist]

For any fifefox users, the latest version has just been released, version 1.03. Pretty much the same but patches a few holes found in version 1.02. Downloaded it today any working like a dream.

Joey

Thanks Brother Joey! I'm still getting used to some of the features of Firefox, but I'm liking it more by the day. I'm also liking Thunderbird, the email program designed to go with it. It is extremely fast and has a great spam filter with it.

Love In Christ,
Tom

3 John 1:4  I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.

[seekeraftertruth]

Blackeyedpeas.......Firefox is great, GBU/Linux is great. Leave your Firefox browser installed, and download the Opera browser (Opera , and then compare the two for "speed" and features.  I thought Firefox was the ultimate until I tried Opera.....Opera is just flat AWESOME!! http://www.opera.com
[By the way, Firefox latest is version 1.04]

IE/Windows are generic systems used by most simply because they are "easy" to work with....but they are also the least secure/most attacked....I don't know anyone who uses IE/Windows that hasn't had problems with viruses (or massive amounts of spyware/adware).

Another decent browser is K-Meleon, very fast, and I'd rate it as being right up there with Firefox.  Try the Opera 8 and let me know what you think...everyone's opinion is different, but I think Opera 8 is likely the best in the business!

Oh yes, by the way, OpenOffice is just as good, if not better than MS's office suites, and look at the "size!"  At 150MB OpenOffice is less than HALF the size of the MS package. Also compare some of the better "free" antispyware packages to MS's new antispyware pkg.....MS's package is over 25MB!  Kind of makes ya wonder WHAT ELSE it's doing!!!

Antivirus, antispyware/adware, registry cleaners/repair, system cleaners, whatever, there are any number of excellent FREE programs that equal or exceed the performance of the "paid programs," I don't know why anyone even BUYS these kinds of programs anymore!!

[Joey]

Blackeyedpeas.......Firefox is great, GBU/Linux is great. Leave your Firefox browser installed, and download the Opera browser (Opera , and then compare the two for "speed" and features.  I thought Firefox was the ultimate until I tried Opera.....Opera is just flat AWESOME!! http://www.opera.com
[By the way, Firefox latest is version 1.04]

IE/Windows are generic systems used by most simply because they are "easy" to work with....but they are also the least secure/most attacked....I don't know anyone who uses IE/Windows that hasn't had problems with viruses (or massive amounts of spyware/adware).

Another decent browser is K-Meleon, very fast, and I'd rate it as being right up there with Firefox.  Try the Opera 8 and let me know what you think...everyone's opinion is different, but I think Opera 8 is likely the best in the business!

Oh yes, by the way, OpenOffice is just as good, if not better than MS's office suites, and look at the "size!"  At 150MB OpenOffice is less than HALF the size of the MS package. Also compare some of the better "free" antispyware packages to MS's new antispyware pkg.....MS's package is over 25MB!  Kind of makes ya wonder WHAT ELSE it's doing!!!

Antivirus, antispyware/adware, registry cleaners/repair, system cleaners, whatever, there are any number of excellent FREE programs that equal or exceed the performance of the "paid programs," I don't know why anyone even BUYS these kinds of programs anymore!!

I also have Opera and use it from time to time but i do not find it as good as firefox. Yes, you are probably right about the speed issue. My biggest beef with Opera is its cookie handling. I am very fussy about cookies and only let my browser accept what i need and trust. No matter how many variations i try in Opera's settings for cookies, i can never get them to work properly. My biggest problems are with the Yahoo and Hotmail email pages. But as you said in your post, we all have diffrent prefrences. But they are both good browsers.

[Joey]

I have Firefox but have had nothing but trouble with it, so I am still using Firebird 0.7 most of the time. That has some bugs as well, but nothing like Firefox, which wouldn't fill in forms and log-in boxes correctly. They looked O.K., but when you tried to submit them it wouldn't work. Sometimes you got a message back telling you that you didn't fill the form in.

One time I got a look at the results and all the information entered in all the boxes was crammed together in the last line.

It also didn't parse the html correctly, with bits of code showing up on the screen.

After the last update it has done better - no more code onscreen and I can log into Yahoo now with it, but still can't upload files to Geocities.

I wish they would get it running correctly as I like the browser and the RSS feeds.

Incidentally, I'm not the only person who has had this problem with Firefox.

It may be worth creating yourself a new profile for Firefox and see if that cures the problem. I have no idea what the problem may be that you are experencing but i know that creating a new profile sometimes helps. A while back i was having some issues with Firefox and in the end i deleted the browser, then reinstalled it but when i started it up, i found i had the exact same problem. I had to delete everything to do with my Firefox, including my profile and then when i reinstalled it and ran it, it worked fine. Just a thought.

[seekeraftertruth]

Joey.......have you tried "gmail?"  Another good one is "xmail."
http://www.xmail.net   It has a built-in messenger service, VOIP, lots of web page storage, etc., etc...VERY GOOD service, but short on mail storage spage.  I use gmail for storage...2+GB storage.  Gmail is not yet "public" officially and it takes an invitation to get it, but if you want to try it, send me a PM with your e-mail addy and I'll send you an invtiation for gmail.  I used to use Yahoo and Hotmail....no more....now its gmail and xmail, and Firefox or Opera seems to handle them with no problem. (Yeah, Opera does have some cookie issues, but since you can run both Firefox and Opera, you shouldn't have any problem.)

[nChrist]

SeekerAfterTruth,

Brother, I've tried everything you have mentioned except Linux and Opera. I've been using Open Office for over a year and find it excellent. I bought MS Office several times and will never do so again.

I'm planning to try Linux soon, and I might take a closer look at Opera. I haven't tried Opera because it appears to be either ad-ware or pay. Firefox has been too good for me to get serious about putting up with more ads or spending money I don't have. If I am considering the purchase of software, I like the try before you buy full version (Shareware). First, it's usually much less money because you eliminate all the middle-men and packaging costs. Second, if you don't like it enough to purchase it, you simply uninstall and have nothing invested but some time.

Love In Christ,
Tom

Psalms 116:13  I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the LORD.

[seekeraftertruth]

Blackeyepeas..........Yes, the "free" version of Opera does come bundled with ads, but strangely enough they are very unobtrusive and most of the time I don't even notice them!!

The combination of Linux and Opera is about as "speedy" as one can get, but if you keep Firefox you won't lose much speed.  There are over 8700 pkgs you can get (Open Source) with Linux.....OpenOffice is just one of them, and you already have that (terrific, isn't it...I like it better than MS anyday!!).

Another good little browser is the K-Meleon, which is easy to make the transition to from IE (without pulling your hair out)!
http://kmeleon.sourceforge.net/