Foxy Bird

Mozila FirefoxA new version of the resurgent Mozilla project’s Firebird browser was released yesterday under the new name “Firefox,” which seems to me to be an even dodgier moniker than Firebird, but I guess they had a good reason for the switch. I downloaded the Mac OS X version and played around with it a bit today, and it seems buggier than previous versions of Firebird that I’ve used; I had some trouble scrolling through a few Web pages, troubles that seemed caused by the application’s user interface, rather than the rendering engine.

Firefox Toolbar

Aside from that, which I expect will be remedied before too long, this release continues to build on the browser’s reputation as an up-and-comer. Exactly how it will achieve a critical mass of users, I’m not at all sure, but I remain enthusiastic by its elegance. I’m also feeling pretty positive about the new default theme for Mac OS X, which goes by the name of “Pinstripe.” It cannily combines the elegance of Safari’s toolbar set while eschewing Apple’s gaudy fixation with brushed metal windows.

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6 Comments

  1. Naz

    I managed to download it yesterday after waiting to get a decent connectiion to their FTP site. Firebird 0.7 has been my default browser for the few months and I’ve been happy with it. Firefox does have some quirks and bugs. I still have a version of Firebird I may switch back to until Firefox becomes a little more worked out.

    I’m not quite sire if it’s all that much faster or responsive compared to 0.7. But it’s a nifty browser indeed. Tabs! How did we browse without them all this time?

    One of the things I’d wish they did, Apple that is, is make Safari available for PC. If they can port iTunes to Win, why not safari?

  2. Khoi Vinh

    Well, I would say that the reason Safari hasn’t been released for Windows is that it represents one of Apple’s strategic differentiators between Mac OS X and Windows XP. Safari, which some would argue is the simplest, most elegant and safest widely-used browser available, nevertheless represents zero potential income on the Windows side, unlike iTunes. Anyway, I think you should (sooner or later) start seeing some of the benefits of Safari on the Windows side as the Konqueror project makes use of Apple’s contributions to the open source project.

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