The Firebird lives
Mozilla.org has released Mozilla Firebird 0.6, the first release of what used to be called Phoenix. In case you’ve really been missing out, here’re some of the reasons you really should get Mozilla Firebird:
- Fast
- Mozilla Firebird starts up in half the time that Internet Explorer does on my computer (Dell Dimension 600T, Intel Pentium III 600 MHz, 128 MB RAM). It acts very fast, and zooms by Mozilla, which it is based on.
- Standards-compliant
- Mozilla Firebird supports plenty more Internet standards than Internet Explorer does, including the really-cool MathML and, optionally, SVG. It supports CSS enough that the redesign of this website will be displayed correctly only in Mozilla-based browsers, including Mozilla Firebird.
- Simple
- Mozilla Firebird has a very simple interface that isn’t cluttered up with menus for everything under the sun (cough Mozilla cough Netscape cough). Its Options dialog box makes accessing your preferences much easier.
- Customizable
- Mozilla Firebird’s toolbars can be customized even more than Internet Explorer’s.
- Favicons
- Mozilla Firebird fully supports favicons — little icons for bookmarks that make using bookmarks easier — while Internet Explorer only supports them on random occasions. They’s just cool.
- Tabs
- Mozilla Firebird has one feature that Microsoft hasn’t even dreamed of: tabbed browsing. Instead of opening yet another window, just middle-click on a link to open the link in a new tab, which you can easily switch to and from. This feature is just one of those things that you just have to try to see the value of.
- Download Bar
- Mozilla Firebird stores all of your downloads in a simple, easy-to-use Downloads sidebar, instead of cluttering your Taskbar with download dialogs. When you’re done with downloads, you can just leave them there, and even turn off your computer. The files will still be there in the list, waiting for you to double-click on them.
There are so many reasons to switch to Mozilla Firebird. Maybe it’s just the environment of the program that makes it so easy to use. Download it today, for Windows, Linux, or MacOS X!
One note: if you don’t like the default theme, get some other themes to use. Mozilla Firebird Help has probably the most comprehensive (and fun-to-use) listing. I personally prefer Luna Blue (you can also use Luna if you have Windows XP).
I don’t think this entry does the poor browser justice. You should check out Ben Goodger’s page on this.