firefox spam...........

[massey]

What in the world is up with all the firefox spam. Google and FIrefox have hooked up in hopes of getting more users to use firefox. Sites are starting to show up like this one  [snip] I have not seen it as of yet I here some sites will not let you in unless you have firefox. Of course they want you to install that stupid google toolbar. I hate toolbars and refuse to install them. Looks like google and firefox are teaming up to shove firefox down the throat of everyone they can. Sorry. Thats just wrong and no beter than bill gates garbage. Firefox Is gonna turn off users and people will go in search of other browers like opera.

[jypagan]

I don't know why they want you to install google bar when you have the google search tab on your brouser already

[php]

What about dansdata?  I don't see anything about Firefox or Google on there.  Maybe I just didn't look hard enough.

And it's not spam if you're going to these sites and seeing/reading it...

(Did I mention Firefox rules?)

[tommie gorman]

Yeah, php, it is at the top. Like most of us, we are programmed to ignore ads when surfing. It is full of it.

We see you're using Internet Explorer.  Try Firefox, you'll like it better.

     

[massey]

Styling themselves as political activists, a Massachusetts group has launched a concerted effort to inveigle Internet Explorer users to switch to the Firefox Web browser. The focal point of the movement is a site called ExplorerDestroyer.com.

In addition to talking up the strengths of Firefox, the site highlights a new Google AdSense program that offers $1 to online publishers for every referred netizen who downloads Firefox.

In a letter posted on ExplorerDestroyer.com, the group identified itself as "four friends" and said that Firefox is one of the most important software applications in the world as "it can play a big part in determining the future of the Web."

According to the Firefox Four, the serendipitous announcement of Google's Firefox referral program has set the stage for the open-source browser "to take back the Web."

Get Under 50

The group is urging online publishers to attempt to shift the balance of browser power in favor of Firefox by reducing the number of Internet Explorer hits to less than 50 percent of all browser accesses. "Your Mission - Get Under 50," the site states.

Beyond merely offering a great deal of rhetorical flair, ExplorerDestroyer.com provides free scripts that Web site developers can employ to encourage users to switch from Internet Explorer.

These plug-and-play scripts can detect if visitors are running Internet Explorer and can present pro-Firefox messages. The messages range from "gentle encouragement," amounting to big banners posted at the top of a page, to "dead serious" alerts that will block users from entering a site unless they first install Firefox.

Even armed with the $1 AdSense incentive, the group might be waging an uphill battle. A recent Forrester report on Web browsers found that Internet Explorer still dominates -- by far. AOL follows IE in a distant second place, with Firefox, Opera, Safari, and other alternative browsers scrapping for what is left.

Great Strides

Although the report concluded that Firefox has made "great strides," with well over 100 million downloads in a little more than a year, few survey respondents indicated they were likely to switch their primary Web browsers.

Forrester discovered that core browser functionality looks the same to most users, which prevents them from becoming "excited about new browsers."

At the same time, built-in security features that could help users differentiate between browsers face competition from standalone products such as Norton Internet Security and Webroot Pop-up Washer. Vulnerabilities discovered in Firefox and Opera over the course of the past year also discourage users from switching from Internet Explorer.

According to Forrester, Internet Explorer's dominance and the corporate world's desire for stability have slowed innovation among Web browsers to "a crawl." The report recommended that browser builders "stop navel-gazing and innovate."

  I personally can see opera gaining more and more ground in time. Firefox is turning into evrything most hate about IE. Firefox has issues with security same as IE. As populairty grows so will the exploits that target firefox. Just my oppinion.

[resopalrabotnick]

google has commercialized the previously communist firefox "community".

while firefox is all well and good (wouldn't use it unless someone deleted my ie though) it is now being aggressively marketed by the personal information gatherer #1, google.

they package it with their google ad and spybar.

google is one of the preset search sites in firefox. it is the preset search site (unchangeable) in safari. they have bought a billion worth of aol stock to become their number one search tool. now they are threatening legal action against ms for setting msn to be the default search engine in ie, claiming it's as bad as packaging ie with windows, curtailing the consumers choice etc. etc. etc. (it takes a half dozen mouseclicks to change from searching with the assistant to searching with google. google is even 3rd in the list of search engines, way ahead of yahoo.)

.

[tommie gorman]

while firefox is all well and good (wouldn't use it unless someone deleted my ie though)

.

[netmasta]

[resopalrabotnick]

firefox, the browser you can trust to bend over to the first company offering it some cash.

msie is bad for third party advertisers, ms is too big to be swayed by dinky offers like firefox and aol. that's why google bought into them and is considering sueing microsoft.