The v1.4b version of the Mozilla browser has been released. Also, the Phoenix browser (my own personal favorite browser) is being renamed to Mozilla Firebird. The latest Mozilla Firebird nightly builds are built using the Mozilla v1.4b source code. So download Firebird now and you will also get the latest Mozilla Gecko rendering engine fixes and improvements. Firebird's latest nightlies appear to be working quite well in my own experience. Firebird's ability to prevent advertisement pop-ups alone makes it worth switching to. But it also has great tabbed browsing support and other useful features.
For those unfamiliar with the Mozilla project: Netscape v6 and later versions are built using the Mozilla open source browser project as the base source code. By using the Mozilla browser you get what is basically a slightly stripped down version of Netscape. Netscape does not release browser versions as often as the Mozilla source code comes out in major revs. So if you download Mozilla you will usually get a much newer browser with more neat features.
Other browsers are also constructed using the Mozilla source code as the starting point. See, for example, K-Meleon and also Chimera for the Macintosh (and Chimera is changing its name to Camino). The latest Camino nightly build for Mac OS X is available here. You can find links to all the Mozilla-based browsers here.
If you are using an older browser then for security reasons you should move to a newer browser. If you are using Netscape v4.x or earlier you ought to try a more modern browser. If you are using MS Internet Explorer you ought to check out the features available in other browsers. The other browsers have advantages that make me prefer them very much over IE.
Posted by Randall Parker at May 11, 2003 09:28 PM