Flawless Firefox

[Bold_Fortune]

I know, Firefox is perfect, and Internet Explorer is so not. Well, I hate to burst your bubble...

http://www.internetnews.com/dev-news/article.php/3408301

(I'm sorry. I couldn't resist it. There has been so much condemnation of Explorer here lately. And so much praise for Firefox as a browser. ...Someone here even told me that his Firefox couldn't be broken into. I don't think so.)

 

[Elvandil]

Mozilla is and always has been riddled with security holes. But being less used, it is just less likely a target than IE. If you want to inflict damage, you go for the browser used by the majority. Repeating the myth that something is secure makes it no more secure.

There is, and probably never will be, a perfectly secure piece of software. Security is a cat-and-mouse game with equally intelligent people working on both ends of the spectrum.

 

[Bold_Fortune]

Mozilla is and always has been riddled with security holes. But being less used, it is just less likely a target than IE. If you want to inflict damage, you go for the browser used by the majority. Repeating the myth that something is secure makes it no more secure.

There is, and probably never will be, a perfectly secure piece of software. Security is a cat-and-mouse game with equally intelligent people working on both ends of the spectrum.

Exactly.

 

[K-Man]

An employer of mine once told me, "Locks are for honest people. The lock hasn't been invented that could stop a determined thief. Locks are just for keeping honest people honest.".

 

[Bryan]

Like I mentioned in another thread, all software has holes and bugs. I'm sure there are plenty more to be found where that came from.

Along these same lines, I was having a conversation with a programmer friend of mine who is into security and hacks for a company for a living. Basically the company pays him to try and defeat their new products. He laughed hysterically when I mentioned Firefox because he said it's a piece of cake to hack into because he has access to the source code. He predicted that they would eventually have to secure their source or they would be doomed for obvious reasons. He mentioned that the only reason they've survived with open source up to know is because the real hackers don't find it even worth their time to hack it because there's such a small user base, what good would it do them. Plus alot are anti MS so they like hacking MS products and basically leave Mozilla alone as a deference to them. I guess we'll see.

Anyway, I applaud the people at Mozilla and wish them luck with it, I just wish some of the users of their software would just use their products, enjoy them and stop all of the undeserved MS bashing that you hear day and day out. The bashing just gets real old, real fast .... Mozilla software, like ANY software by any company, is no exception to the rule when it comes to bugs and holes. It's just a mtter of time before someone exposes the flaws that exist in any code.

 

[I Fix 4 U]

yah i wouldnt mind studying programming just to get a job that looks for bugs and holes in software. heck if MS hired me i'd be on their case for years lol. actually since i got linux i've been readin a book called linux programming. quite intense. basically its giving me startin grounds on popular languages so i an choose. my favorite so far is c, c++, and java. those seem fairly nice languages and are widely used.

as far as this thread goes i will definetely say that the hackers do have grudges against Microsoft so they want the people to use firefox as the continously exploit ms products. I mean look at bugzilla for mozzilla products. Its amazing. Also in other forums this is goin on and people who actually read over the source definetely found holes. I use Firefox personally b/c i can use tabbrowsing and it looks cooller.

 

[Bryan]

BTW, on the topic of Linux which I'll confess I haven't really followed much due really to the lack of time, I see that there's now three versions of Linux which each going in their own directions to a certain extent. Is that true? But I also read where they've agreed to stop and develop one version. Anyway, I hate to say this guys but I'm telling you Open Source and one OS with everyone cooperating is a dream all be it a good one but I just don't see it ever being a success story in the log term. I understand the advantages and the concept but in practice and taking into account human nature, egos, competition and capitalism, I just think it will never succeed in the long term. I guess we'll see if I'm right or wrong.

BTW, don't get me wrong, I'm not pooh poohing the idea in regards to Linux, Firefox or any other Open Source venture, I think they're all noble one's, it's just that I'm a realist and knowing what I've learned in my many years about people, I just don't see it working.

 

[Big-K]

As I remember theres way more than three types of linux. The three I can think of are caldera, redhat, and lindows, but I know theres many more(such as cd distros).

 

[I Fix 4 U]

open source is growing but yah, it just seems that it cant be the leader since its not making any money except for donations. although if everyone started to use it and disregarded the pay programs than they would lose money too and then that could change the way the world works as we know it.

there are probably 100 popular distro's in the linux user world and near 1000 others that exist. open source is great but some companies like redhat are moving to commercial. it the major companies for linux merge they would be on top of all. even though its commercial it will never be as expensive as MS and most parts of it will still be open source. the reason rh makes u pay is b/c it uses non-open source programs like crossover office.
the best 100% free linux i've used is knoppix livecd, which i installed to my HDD once but didnt feel i needed to so i deleted it and just store configfiles in a place in a fat partition i have.

ps lindows is now linspire and i did not like it very much since i've been in linux situations. linspire is for people who aren't used to linux or need a cheap computer with linspire pre installed. otherwise it will mess things up.

 

[brendandonhu]

open source is growing but yah, it just seems that it cant be the leader since its not making any money except for donations.

The financial backing for Open Source is definitely there. Look up RedHat, Mandrake, IBM, and Novell. They all do big business in open source, and I think all of them are publicly traded too (not so sure about mandrake). These are million/billion dollar companies embracing open source.

 

[Big-K]

I doubt the software market will ever go entirely open-source, or even a large percentage of it. People are just too greedy.

For some reason I was gonna mention the GNU GPL License but I forgot what I was gonna say.

 

[buck52]

for what it's worth...probably nothing...

mozilla is pretty slow on the box I installed in on to try it out...

buck

 

[Big-K]

Actually, yes it is pretty slow starting.

 

[buck52]

Actually, yes it is pretty slow starting.

thanks...

I see all the threads about it...

I guess my question is what's the big attraction

I have Opera on another box...it's very cool

IE on my main box and it is fast and causes no trouble...

buck

 

[southernlady]

The financial backing for Open Source is definitely there. Look up RedHat, Mandrake, IBM, and Novell. They all do big business in open source, and I think all of them are publicly traded too (not so sure about mandrake).These are million/billion dollar companies embracing open source.

Interesting reading:

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1645991,00.asp

Workers to Wield Linux RFID Devices

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1646006,00.asp

Linux Standard Base Takes on Industry Fragmentation

And while I was hunting for articles on open linux/open source, I came across this article, here is another reason to be annoyed with M$!
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1647115,00.asp
Microsoft Patent Could Hamper E-Mail Authentication Group

They may own the patent, but they COULD cooperate for once! Liz