Open Source and the End User |
Open Source and the End User2008:PC1 by Kathryn EzeugwuEverybody loves free stuff I didn't care to find out what my husband was so excited about with open source until I recently bought a PC at a local computer show. When I got it set up and took it on the internet, pictures and text from certain sites were not coming up, I was using the current Internet Explorer browser. I adjusted the active x controls, checked my firewall security levels and still the Internet Explorer browser would not let me view half of what I wanted to see. Having spent countless hours before on small computer problems, I was not looking forward to the task. The shortcut and answer to my problems was open source. My husband sent me to the mozilla download site, in minutes I had downloaded the firefox browser and I now can view whatever I want through my pc. Firefox will import all of your favorites and data you have collected on internet explorer and make it a part of your firefox browser. The two browsers work basically the same so there is little adjustment time, anyone can download firefox for free. That is what open source is free code. Do not be put off by the word code, you get free programs and applications for your PC and they work great. Firefox has many advantages over internet explorer the main one is better security. Firefox is available for users who runs Windows (Windows 98 through to Windows XP), Mac OS X, all the leading versions of Linux, as well as some lesser-used operating systems( Bacak, http://ezinearticles.com/?Firefox:-Benefit-Analysis-versus-Internet-Explorer&id=114838). Why is Mozilla giving away free code? They are born out of Microsoft's old competitor Netscape. Netscape was closing up shop and basically decided to release its source code for the world to use. This came out as Mozilla, and Firefox is their browser application and has been available since 2004. Firefox has been tweaked by programmers in an open format which allows anyone with the ability, to add their skills to improving the program. The benefits are that we all can use it and it is free. At some point the the programmers will make money from people who need to run more advanced versions of the applications for larger institutions and businesses. At which point the experts can charge for their skills. However, for now the end user can utilize these free, open source applications and save alot of money (compare free to the price of Microsoft products). It is free, it is safe, go check it out for yourself! Download your copy today . Sources: MOZILLA RELOADS FIREFOX : Open source group releases new preview release of next generation browser June 14, 2004 (The Internet) Matt Bacak Firefox: Benefits analysis versus internet explorer Bookmark This Information 
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| Last Updated ( Monday, 11 February 2008 ) |
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