Firefox - Take the Upstart for a Spin
I’ve added a new 80×15 icon to the right sidebar, 
to show support for what I feel is a faster, more versitile browser. If you haven’t already, make sure you visit the Download Firefox page to install the latest version - it’s available for most systems. Firefox 1.5 is the current distribution version.
Firefox in General
Take your time to explore all the geeky advantages to running Firefox, but a quick list of reasons a lawyer should pay attention to Firefox would be:
- Firefox is faster - page load time is (generally) reduced. Save you and your staff time and money, bottom line. As the spreadfirefox.com site says, “Improvements to the engine that powers Firefox deliver more accurate display of complex Web sites, support for new Web standards, and better overall performance.”
- Integrated Support for RSS News Feeds (aka Live Bookmarks) - “Instead of constantly checking Web pages for changes and additions, a Live Bookmark delivers updates to you as soon as they are available.”
- FREE Firefox extensions and themes - since Firefox is an open web standards application, independent developers are constantly developing useful web tools you can easily find and install. A great place to start for general look and feel items is the Firefox Addons page, but an initial list of addons lawyers might find interesting:
- Legal Information Institute Search Plugins
- dictionaries - French, Czech, British English and more
- language translation utilities
- Forecast Fox - weather utility from Accuweather.com
- Forex Fox - displays currency exchange rates in your status bar
- try, the “Australasian Legal Information Institute Toolbar” - I haven’t yet, but it looks interesting
Firefox User Base
One of the more interesting aspects of the Firefox browser is the “grassroots” support it has from users worldwide. The SpreadFirefox.com forums are interesting to watch, with users of varying tenacity argue the merits of the browser. A particularly good thread I read recently proposed this Firefox Eats IE logo:
What do you think? It goes without saying that most Firefox users don’t have room in their hearts for both IE and Firefox.
In all, if you want to ease some of the difficulties in your daily Internet use or if you just feel like bucking the (Microsoft) establishment, download the Firefox browser and give it a spin.
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