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Pro-Firefox Group Launches Mission To Destroy IE By Walaika K. Haskins April 26, 2006 4:45PM Despite the vaunted rhetoric, the Firefox Four might be waging an uphill battle. A recent Forrester report on Web browsers found that Internet Explorer still dominates -- by far. AOL follows IE in a distant second place, with Firefox, Opera, Safari, and other alternative browsers scrapping for what is left.   Related Topics Internet Explorer Firefox Opera Safari Web Browsers Latest News Endeavour Inspected for Damage Autism Risk for Kids of Older Mothers Go Online and You Can Save the Planet In Haiti, Relief Gaps Are Spreading U.S. To Form Climate-Change Agency Styling themselves as political activists, a Massachusetts group has launched a concerted effort to inveigle Internet Explorer users to switch to the Firefox Web browser. The focal point of the movement is a site called ExplorerDestroyer.com. In addition to talking up the strengths of Firefox, the site highlights a new Google AdSense program that offers $1 to online publishers for every referred netizen who downloads Firefox. In a letter posted on ExplorerDestroyer.com, the group identified itself as "four friends" and said that Firefox is one of the most important software applications in the world as "it can play a big part in determining the future of the Web." According to the Firefox Four, the serendipitous announcement of Google's Firefox referral program has set the stage for the open-source browser "to take back the Web." Get Under 50 The group is urging online publishers to attempt to shift the balance of browser power in favor of Firefox by reducing the number of Internet Explorer hits to less than 50 percent of all browser accesses. "Your Mission - Get Under 50," the site states. Beyond merely offering a great deal of rhetorical flair, ExplorerDestroyer.com provides free scripts that Web site developers can employ to encourage users to switch from Internet Explorer. These plug-and-play scripts can detect if visitors are running Internet Explorer and can present pro-Firefox messages. The messages range from "gentle encouragement," amounting to big banners posted at the top of a page, to "dead serious" alerts that will block users from entering a site unless they first install Firefox. Even armed with the $1 AdSense incentive, the group might be waging an uphill battle. A recent Forrester report on Web browsers found that Internet Explorer still dominates -- by far. AOL follows IE in a distant second place, with Firefox, Opera, Safari, and other alternative browsers scrapping for what is left. Great Strides Although the report concluded that Firefox has made "great strides," with well over 100 million downloads in a little more than a year, few survey respondents indicated they were likely to switch their primary Web browsers. Forrester discovered that core browser functionality looks the same to most users, which prevents them from becoming "excited about new browsers." At the same time, built-in security features that could help users differentiate between browsers face competition from standalone products such as Norton Internet Security and Webroot Pop-up Washer. Vulnerabilities discovered in Firefox and Opera over the course of the past year also discourage users from switching from Internet Explorer. According to Forrester, Internet Explorer's dominance and the corporate world's desire for stability have slowed innovation among Web browsers to "a crawl." The report recommended that browser builders "stop navel-gazing and innovate."   Tell Us What You Think Your Comment: Also Visit: iPad Info Center Billions of Bytes Mobile Device Now Apple Info Center TopTechWire.com Advertisement  Computing 1.   Nvidia Auto-Switches Notebook GPU 2.   MS: Windows 7 Doesn't Hurt Battery 3.   Tips for More Windows 7 Productivity 4.   The Pros and Cons of Apple's iPad 5.   IBM Power7 Server Takes on Big Load EPIC Objects To Google-NSA Ties Cyberattack meant to rattle Google? Average Rating: Symbian 3 Is Now Fully Open Source But mobile OS remains linked to Nokia. Average Rating: Google Attack Highlights Black Market Paying for bug info is hotly debated. Average Rating:

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