So, I've been working away today over at Defense Industry Daily, when my computer goes into cursor lockup and the laptop fan starts to sound like a Cessna preparing for takeoff. I'm part-way through an article, and I know what that means: Windows XP is headed for a complete crash and involuntary power-off shutdown.
Many curses later, I reboot the system. I click on Firefox. It says that the system shut down unexpectedly, and asks if I want to restore the previous session. I figure I'll at least have the sites I was using to write the article, and say yes. Whereupon it restores not only the sites I was visiting, but the unsaved article I was composing.
My jaw drops. Firefox 2's integrated spellcheck feature is very cool for a blogger, and I've tweaked About:config in order to fix a couple features. ForecastFox weather readings are cool, I like Table2Clipboard, and Noia eXtreme is a great look. But if you're a blogger or even a regular commenter, then tabbed browsing + spellcheck + session restore make Firefox 2 THE browser for you. Get it here.
I use it. It's good.
That's pretty sweet. I wish Opera saved what I was typing as well-for once, I'm envious of a Firefox feature.
I still like Netscape 7.2
No lock ups on XP.
The automatic save part of FireFox does sound like an excellent feature.
I still like the fact that we're not losing more soldiers in a pointless mission than the French did at Dien Bien Phu. Huzzah!
Is this a software-pimping site, or a foreign-policy site?
'Cause I can find better software criticism in about ten thousand other places.
How about a nice even prediction: will our current disaster in Mesopotamia end like that in Saigon, or that in Algiers?
[JK: stickler the troll is actually banned here, and this wildly off-topic piece of contentless snark is a clear example of why - see Winds comment policy re: relevance. One more for the fliters...]
Obligatory on topic comment: the one thing I don't like so far is that it's quick to decide you are taking too long to load a page, and in my experience not very good about trying again. If your connection is slow, this can be annoying.
#4 from stickler: "Is this a software-pimping site, or a foreign-policy site?"
It is (among many other things) a Sufi religious site, though on hiatus at the moment.
I feel a little guilty for being so oppositionist in comments. I always read those posts, thought seriously about them ... and came down dead contrary, and often slightly ticked off in some petty way. I guess, looking back, what I got out of that series was an awareness of how much believing some things closes other doors. If you want to see further, in a sense, it's easy to be aware of what you see at the far end of the telescope, and unaware of how much else you might be looking at all around, till serious alternatives are presented and, if at first only out of politeness, you pay some attention to them.
And whatever happened to good news shabbat?
This has never been just a foreign policy blog, and it never should be.
My satisfaction with Firefox 2 is such that I blanche when anyone uses Microsoft IE. I love Joe's description of the computer making a noise like a Cessna preparing for takeoff....that's exactly what my computer used to do and it was just the last thing you wanted to hear.
stickler:
{my first snotty comment elided for civility}
I cordially suggest you either grow up or play somewhere else. You don't like a thread, don't contribute to it. It's a big Interweb.
{ Later: Now that I'm a Marshal with backchannel capabilities to TPTB at WoC, I'll be rising to this sort of bait less often and dealing with it in a more soft-spoken yet implacable manner. --Marshal Nortius "Big Tuna" Maximus, wearing his funny hat and star, trying to act all grown up hisself. }
#5 (David Blue):
I, for one, hold your posts in high regard. People who make me think are always in short supply, whereas certain other types lately more in evidence here at WoC are a dime a gross. Thanks for contributing.
Re: #8 from Nortius Maximus: Thanks for the kind words, Nortius Maximus, and I value them more since they come from you, a true quality contributor.
Obligatory on topic comment: I still find I need Explorer for some sites.
You will soon be using a Google/Sun Open Office hybrid for the rest of your Office Apps. Take a look at Searchmash.com, Google's new comprehensive search engine and how it integrates pictures, videos, blogs, etc. in the same search. The Empire has lost its way, bu their are people working to help it rediscover its more humanist , secular and altruistic roots.
By the way, take some time to look at the Firefox extensions. Many are absolutely brilliant.
Firefox is good. And if you replace WinXP with Linux, you'll probably find you get fewer crashes as well.
These days, I only use Windows for playing games.
I have FF 2.0 the last time I tried restore last session I had a system crash so I haven't tried it again.
I will give it another shot.
You can do the same thing with Firefox 1.5.x - it's an extension called Tab Mix Plus, which not only gives you way more control over your tabs than you would ever need, it also includes a function called Session Manager which saves your tabs when you crash, you can specify open and/or unopened, and you can have it put 2 buttons on your top bar which open dropdown menus for closed and open tabs. (I find this an easier way to locate a tab if my window is very crowded.)
I haven't upgraded to 2.0 because what they built in isn't quite as good as Tab Mix Plus. Which is the Swiss Army Knife of Firefox extensions.
As a full-time blogger, my verdict is that FF2.0 runs circles around IE. The new spellchecker, the undo close tab, Tab Mix Plus--it's an absolutely lifesaver. There's also a word count add-on available, which has come in very handy. Bottom line: for professional writers, IE comes nowhere close.