Tags: Microsoft

The number 1 attack line for a Mozilla/Firefox evangelist against Opera is that Opera is not free. I beg to differ. I use the freeware version of Opera with the thin Google ad at the top. OK, Firefox does not show me that. But that does not make Opera NOT FREE and hence Firefox a better product.

Then they say, since Mozilla is open source it is bound to be better. More people have access to the code so more flaws are discovered and hence fixed. Well, how many people who claim that, have actually ever read the code and tried to check if it is indeed awesome? No doubt Firefox is a fine browser. But just because it is open source, does not make it a better browser.

If Firefox is so great and there are so many fans out there. Why do I get this message on the Mozilla forums? Is the loyalty limited to make fun at the expense of Opera users? If you think Firefox is the best thing to happen since sliced bread, why do not you donate something to the community besides the time you waste looking for posts to brag about the greatness of the browser?

Mozilla/Firefox is reaching a stage when it compete heads on with the monster of a company called Microsoft. And this is a stage when it does not look nice that the moment you release a new version, your site crawls like a snail, the extension/theme sites are inaccessible and the forums are restricted to lower the loads on the server. A commercial company loses its face if something like this happens to it, but Mozilla can get away with it because it’s open source. They are not responsible for anything. They are just doing a service developing a browser. And since they rely on donations, they can just hope more come in which can be used to get better servers to handle the load. This really does not look good for a new user. I know because I find it tough to explain why a new Firefox user (whom I converted from Internet Explorer) could not get access to the extension sections of the sites when version 0.9 was launched.

Mozilla needs a better source of revenues than just literally begging for donations. Mozilla users need to be more supportive. Instead of wasting time bragging, they need to donate more. Mozilla needs to get more sponsorships as they recently got from Nokia for their MiniMo project. Then only someday it will raise a serious challenge to Microsoft. Till then, I am better off with my Opera. It has an advertisement, but at least they don’t beg for donations and with every release it seems to get better and better.