Consider the last time you had to wait for your computer to stop automatically upgrading your current browser, yes, yesterday, yet again. Consider the frustration of having to wait while your web browser takes over your computer. I did all that and pretty much said some unkind things, out loud, too. I'm aggravated with Firefox's login bug that will not die. Flock is ok but it always pesters me to upgrade some nit picky thing, just as Firefox does. Seems everyday there is something else I have to wait for. Well, this won't do! I... am the important one here, not the minions I allow to serve me on this computer.
Yesterday I came across a site giving a last gasp tribute to Netscape, one of the early browsers and the main opponent to MSIExplorer in the legendary browser wars. Now Netscape is being mothballed, abandoned to go to seed. However, I see that as a huge plus. No more upgrades, no more updates, no more having fancier and bandwidth clogging features which I don't really care about.
All I really want is a web browser. It does not need to wash windows for me. It does not need to cook dinner or update my blog while I'm nuking something either. It does not need to sing to me while I'm online. It just needs to get from point A to point B without making me yell at it.
I downloaded Netscape 9 from an archive last night and I am already happy, happy, happy! I will not delete Firefox or Flock but in this computer Netscape is getting a second wind and it will be the ever bandwidth clogging browsers that get mothballed. Goodbye computer hoggers and space suckers! I am free... free to browse the web again!
3 comments:
I see your point but being a developer myself, I would look at this from both sides.
Needless updates are indeed a major drag. I've seen dozens of my favourite programs go from being the best thing ever to being horribly bloated. They became slower and harder to use, and in some cases they inundated users with ads. Microsoft Word, WS_FTP Pro, ICQ, Internet Explorer and Firefox have all disappointed me with their recent versions. (Well, in the case of IE6, anyway- I prefer IE7 to 6 but only use Firefox.)
I'm currently using Firefox as my main browser, but I've had to upgrade to Firefox 3 (still in beta) on my desktop computer. I know it's not finished, but I have had so many crashes in version 2. I use v2 on my laptop and Facebook and Gmail are the main culprits that cause the browser to crash. I guess perhaps that's not Firefox's fault, but both sites work perfectly in v3... so maybe it is the browser that's at fault?
I'm not sure why it takes so long for Firefox to get updated - why they don't do releases between major versions - 1, 1.5, 2, 3 seems like a risky way to release software. Smaller updates with some performance fixes would help.
On the other hand, it's hard enough to support as many browsers as possible when building websites without throwing outdated browsers into the mix. IE6 is one of the biggest annoyances in that department.
The most important point is security issues. Whenever I see hack attempts on my various websites, they are always, always from IE6 - presumably a hijacked computer where the user has opened IE6 and clicked on something that they really didn't want to click on. IE6 is a death trap as far as Internet security goes. In theory, Netscape could go the same way as it is not receiving security updates- the one type of change you NEED.
With mobile browsing on the rise I can see more browsers being used, but it is becoming harder and harder to test websites because there are so many variables!
Hi Ben,
Between Firefox, Flock and add-ons for those I am getting an update twice a week. I don't use a ton of add-ons, I try to keep those to a minimum cause the more you add the greater the risk of bandwidth sucking, bug meltdowns and the fact that something won't work with something else.
I don't know what all the updates are for. I've never had a security problem that I know of. I used to reformat my hard drive once a year and reinstall everything fresh. I can't do that now cause I'm worried about not being able to reload Windows without a CD from the new computer. Really bites that they can sell you an OS without actually giving you anything.
Anyway, I will see how it goes with Netscape. Right now I'm enjoying not having toolbars. I do have other software for security, seems that should really be enough. How much of that stuff does one computer really need?
It's ironic that the computer I had ten years ago ran about as fast as this one I bought last year, as far as getting websites to load. Faster computers but a huge increase in things that suck up the bandwidth.
I don't know what all the updates are for. I've never had a security problem that I know of.
The updates may be fixing issues you haven't come across, or addressing security issues. You may be free of security problems because you stay updated. It's a bit like saying "I don't get any viruses so I'm going to try turning off my anti-virus software". Some software updates are very important - though it would probably help if users were given a short list of changes in each update.
What was asking to update all the time? It doesn't matter how many add-ons you use if there's one that keeps updating all the time. Firefox itself does not get updated twice a week, I don't know about Flock, but I'd be interested to know what was asking to update so often.
You can always turn toolbars off or uninstall anything that adds a toolbar you don't want. :)
I have talked to people who have way too many security programs running - two firewalls, three or four anti-spyware programs, plus an all-in-one "security suite" - there really is no need for all of those. A lot of those programs sit in the background and monitor everything that's happening - so if you have a few of them running, the computer can run a lot slower.
The first thing I do when I get a new PC is to uninstall most of the junk that is pre-installed by the manufacturer. That's a good way to get the PC running a lot more smoothly.
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