Firefox was a product of the older Mozilla project, which in turn was formed when the source code for Netscape, the original web browser, was made public. Firefox v1 was released in 2004, and by the end of November 2008 had achieved 20% of the market. Firefox has been an open source product since its launch
Transparent software needs to be easy to use, and not put barriers in the way of the user. The most common browser when Firefox was launched, and still today, is Internet Explorer. This was not transparent to users, since it did not conform to recognized standards from the World Wide Web Consortium. Developers were caught between trying to meet the needs of the web standards or the market leader. The net effect was that web pages did not behave as they should. Firefox has emerged not only as a much more standards-compliant browser but has dragged Internet Explorer along with it so that Internet Explorer versions 7 and 8 are also much more standards compliant than previous versions, making web browsing a much more consistent and reliable experience.
The introduction of tabbed browsing allowing several pages to be used within a single browser was a major step forward in usability, and again copied by Internet Explorer. The use of Smart bookmarks integrating RSS feeds into the browser is a major plus, and seems a major omission in the newer Google Chrome browser.
The reason why Firefox is at no.2 is because it not only has made web browsing a more transparent experience for its own users but because of its positive influence on the product genre. It is also much less prone to the irritating quirks that Thunderbird, the accompanying email client seems to suffer from, hence Thunderbird’s absence from my top ten list.
A major part of Firefox’s usability and popularity is its ability to work with third party add-ons and extensions. Some of my personal favorites are the Web Developer toolbar, to assist with web development; the Google toolbar integrating search facilities into the browser; IETab which renders pages in the fashion of Internet Explorer; FireFTP which adds uploading facilities into the heart of the browser, and Scrapbook which works just like a scrapbook.
Firefox is a product that has redefined its genre. It has added usability features which genuinely make it easier and better to use. It offers great flexibility through its range of add-ons. And it’s free! The only question can be what has beaten it to the top of my list of the top ten most transparent software apps.
