Remember when Netscape's web browser ruled and Internet Explorer was the upstart? History could be repeating itself, only this time the upstart is Mozilla Firefox. According to The Mozilla Organization, more than 25 million people are now using Firefox. Why? Yes, it's smaller. Yes, it's more (but not completely) resistant to spyware since hackers largely target Microsoft products including IE. Yes, in many ways it responds noticeably faster than IE, whether on dialup or broadband (though it's choked on PDFs several times while I've been using it).

The most compelling feature to me, however, is tabbed browsing. Opening as many web pages as your system's memory can handle—within a single browser window—makes browsing a joy again: neat, clean, easy to bounce back and forth between sites without ever needing Alt-Tab or your taskbar. A wide variety of useful extensions are available, one adding even more functionality to tabbed browsing. Unfounded was my concern that Firefox simply wouldn't handle most websites. It's been rare that Firefox won't properly load or paint a page, though you'll lose some elements on occasion. For example, Yahoo webmail text attributes disappear when using Firefox, but I'm not big on text attributes in e-mail anyway. When there is a problem with a page due to IE-specific code, a simple right-click within a tabbed Firefox page (using a small add-on) easily enables you to launch Internet Explorer. Some also tout its built-in, Safari-like Google search capability. I find this function useful, but not as capable as the Google Toolbar for IE (not yet available for Firefox). An interesting sub-function of the built-in Firefox search function is a customizable drop-down to search any number of sites such as Amazon, EBay, AskJeeves, Webster, Wikipedia, Yahoo, and more.

To learn more about the impact Firefox has made, see such articles as Firefox Continues Gains Against IE. Even with Firefox punching Goliath's toes, IE commands more than 90% of the browser market. Microsoft doesn't have anything to worry about. Or does it? Some claim that Microsoft is reacting to Firefox with its just announced IE 7.0 for Windows XP—representing the first time IE has been a non-integrated Windows component.

Technology research firm Gartner says that Firefox has made inroads with individuals, not corporations, and that firms should consider how to manage browser coexistence. The report also recommends that corporations should not switch to Firefox in the near-term, which also would seem to hold true for the engineering community. ActiveX controls are both IE's strength—the critical threads through which many engineering-specific and other applets function—as well as its weakness (those same threads are often used by spyware.)

Might IE naturally move up-market (a la MS Word), while Firefox assumes a useful and prominent position as a no-frills desktop tool (a la Wordpad)?

For now, Firefox is worth the quick download and install. Try it. For once, you've got nothing to lose as long as IE is available for some tasks.