I’ve been using Firefox exclusively on my Mac since version 2 was released back in 2006. Finally Firefox is getting an upgrade and version 3 is set to be released very soon. However, a beta version of Firefox 3 Release Candidate 3 is available now.
The new version has lots of great features and I’m going to tell you why it kicks Safari’s butt…
1. Firefox is “open source.” That means you can get Firefox for your Mac free. Plus, all you nerds can hack away at the code to make your own enhancements & improvements.
2. Speed. Firefox 3.0rc3 downloads webpages faster than other browsers. I’ve use both Firefox and Safari and I believe Firefox is slightly faster than Safari.
3. Extensions. Firefox allows all kinds of fantastic extensions to make a great browser better. My two favorites are adding a custom search to the browser and viewing the Google Page Rank and Alexa rank of every website you visit.
4. Bookmarks. Adding and editing bookmarks has never been so easy. Just lick the outlined star in the Address Bar and you’ve added a new bookmark. Now the star is filled in blue and you can double click it to edit or delete the bookmark without opening up any other windows. Plus, you can now “tag” your bookmarks instead of file them into categories – yay!
5. Address Bar. Typing a URL in new Address Bar shows a list of recent sites and bookmarks – now with much more information and smarter searches. By typing “sports” in the address bar, the top recent website was ESPN.com – but Firefox showed me the tagline for ESPN, “The world wide leader in sports” – and that’s where the “sports” match was made. Now the Address Bar searches webpage titles, URLs and your bookmarks.
6. Blocked Pop-ups. Firefox doesn’t just block pop-ups, it gives you the chance to make exceptions for websites you NEED pop-ups. Safari blocks all pop-ups or no pop-ups.
7. Improved security. Firefox 3 checks against Google’s enormous blacklist of potentially harmful websites to keep your personal information – and computer – safe.
If you’re ready to jump on the bandwagon now, you can download Firefox 2 or the version 3 “sneak peak” from Mozilla.org.
Or you can wait until the official release of version 3 on June 19th – and help set a Guinness World Record too!
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Tony Stocco is a total Apple fanboy - addicted to his iPad, iPhone, iMac, MacBook Pro, Hackintosh and iPod Shuffle... And anxiously waiting to see the new iPhone 5.