[TwinsX2Dad]

Through all the hype, Firefox & Mozilla are still nothing more than geek tools. They are not for 98% of Internet users.

They are lacking in features, support and compatibility. Getting full featured, interactive sites to work well with multiple browsers is next to impossible, so developers shoot for the greatest common denominator. That used to be Netscape, but now it is MSIE.

Sure there are security holes in MSIE, but there are just as many (if not more) in Firefox, no matter who says otherwise. Again, there is the greatest common denominator, coming into play. A hacker will more likely exploit the MSIE holes, because there are more browsers to exploit. More bang for the hacking buck, if you will.

So, choose Firefox/Mozilla to avoid the hackers, but also be prepared to lose functionality. I can see a return to the 'Optimized for (Insert Browser Here)' buttons on sites. In my own usage, I've found far fewer site incompatibilities with MSIE than I did with Opera, and far fewer in Opera than in Firefox/Mozilla.

While I doubt it will happen, Firefox & Mozilla may someday be the premier browser and sites will be optimized for them. But that someday isn't today. Using the alternative browsers should come with the understanding that you will have problems rendering sites.

Whenever I have someone complain about a feature not working, be it on my vB sites or my IPB sites or my Infopop sites, the first question I get answered is "which browser?" If the answer is Firefox or Mozilla, then I tell them the site is not optimized for those browsers - to use the site fully, they must run MSIE. If they demand an alternate, Opera is better.

Although, to be honest, I have far fewer browser compatibility issues with the Infopop boards.