With Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 7 and Mozilla’s Firefox 2.0 web browser both releasing updates within days of each other, a true head-to-head comparison is finally possible.  What’s at stake?  A lot will argue money (that’s a gimmy) but more importantly – braggin rights!    

With most things in life (especially computers) either you love one style and hate the other.  Unfortunately Internet Explorer endures a special kind of comparison since Internet Explorer (IE) is the default browser installed on your PC.  You don’t get the opportunity to like one or hate the other because you don’t get the option to.  Back in the beginning of commercial internet you had the choice of Netscape or IE and even though IE went about with a lowball approach to gain market share; I believe the better of the two internet explorers came out on top.  Unfortunately that left IE on top for a LONG TIME with no real competition.  That was until we started getting some serious dissatisfaction with the IE product.  FireFox is born.

FireFox exists to bring what IE isn’t.  FireFox is only alive because IE couldn’t keep the masses happy. 

Now when Firefox first jumped on the scene, I was skeptical.  I have seen software companies claim to be the new best thing and in 6 months you never hear about them again.  That wasn’t the case here.  I installed it and I felt really wrong about using it (like I was betraying my family or something.)  I am a die hard Microsoft user but credit has to be given where credit is due and the truth is – firefox is a better product. 

Microsoft just recently released IE 7 which is a HUGE improvement on IE 6 (which we have all fallen in disapproval of) but even with its mimicked look and features of Firefox, it’s still lacking.

Even with its flaws, IE is the dominant choice of Internet browser and probably will continue to be as long as everyone uses Microsoft operating systems.  If anything, this is a win-win for Microsoft. They will continue to mimic other great software products (like Firefox and the Mac OS) and incorporate it into their own suite. 

So once again – Microsoft rocks.