Hands-on Review: Firefox 2.0 (Released Today!)

Why, it seems like only yesterday we got one new browser (Internet Explorer 7), and now we get the full release of Firefox 2.0, hot on its heels. I've been giving the new Firefox a shot (and managing three computers with various combinations of IE6, IE7, Firefox 1.5, and Firefox 2.0 is not something I have enjoyed). And, again, I'm here to give you some opinions on the subject.

Firefox 2.0 is officially set for release on October 24. You can download it here (just wait for the site to update for the 2.0 release). 

I Like It!

• Real-Time Spell Checker – A godsend. It's worth switching browsers for this feature alone. When filling in web forms or typing up discussion group postings, you get that familiar red dotted line underneath any words you misspell. No more clicking the spell-check button (if the web site even has one). Now you can see at a glance if you've mistyped something. For those of us who work on the web all day, this is a feature of rare awesomeness.
• Anti-Phishing Features - This works similarly to those in IE7 (though they're even more forceful about warding you away from bad sites in Firefox). Again, no complaints. I haven't sneaked one past the 'Fox yet.
  
• Better RSS - Poking around with RSS? You'll find Firefox's version of an integrated RSS reader far more sophisticated than IE's, though inexplicably it defaults to the Google newsreader instead of its own service.
• Easy Add-On Manager - Firefox power users often add numerous "add-ons" to their browser to customize it. Firefox lets you deactivate these in a central place in the Tools menu. IE makes you do uninstallation via the Control Panel.
  
• Quick and Easy Install - The browser's less than 6MB to download. IE7 is much larger and requires Windows validation just to install it.
• Upgrades Under the Hood - Most of this, like JavaScript 1.7 and SVG text support, you'll never notice.
  

Indifferent (Or Mostly Unchanged Since Earlier Version)

• Fancier Icons - The look and feel of Firefox is almost unchanged. In fact, if I had to say anything, I'd say it actually looks more like IE6 than ever before. Now buttons light up when you hover over them, that's about the only change worth mentioning.
• Suggestions During Search - A lot like most search toolbars, Firefox now offers "suggestions" when you start typing in words in the integrated search bar in the top right of the screen. This can be helpful, but the suggestions are too slow to appear and, in my experience, haven't been all that relevant to anything I've been searching for.
• Tabs "Improved" - I took heat for disliking tabs in my IE7 review, but I still don't much care for them in Firefox. Firefox 2.0 at leasts make their use (vs. opening a new window) more consistent and easier to turn off.
  

Not So Hot

• It's Kinda Crashy - Firefox 2.0 seems a bit on the unstable side. The browser crashes or completely freezes on me about once every couple of hours, and IE7 has been more stable than that. However, Firefox 2.0 is far better at recovering from those crashes, as version 2.0 can restore the windows and tabs you had open, generally pretty close to the way things were when the browser went south, including any text you had typed into a web form. (Note this doesn't always work, so be careful.) So it's a negative with a strong positive tied to it.
  
• Microsoft WMV Video Still Unsupported - Pages that stream video using Microsoft's WMV streaming format (Embedded Windows Media) don't work in Firefox out of the box. You can install this plug-in manually (you can't even use the web service to add it), but the process is needlessly complex. Note this doesn't affect most video sites, like YouTube, which use Flash to stream videos.

What's the bottom line? If you're on Firefox 1.5 (or older), upgrade ASAP! The new features far outweigh any stability issues, which will probably be resolved as the software is updated and patched over the next few months. If you're using Internet Explorer, give Firefox 2.0 a try today. The improvements over IE6 are palpable, and while IE7 is more of a contender, Firefox 2.0 handily beats it. Since Firefox can import all your favorites, cookies, passwords, and even your history, there's no reason not to give it a try.