Seems I'm not the only one who saw lots of heat and strong opinions ... but few facts.
1) More FireFox Pros And Cons
In the current article on Firefox (
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=160900911
) my opening argument was "FireFox is a good browser, but not at all the
panacea its most ardent fans think it is." My closing argument was "It's
great that there are open-source alternatives to try, and it's smart to
proactively explore all your options. But go in with your eyes open: All
software has flaws. There are no panaceas!"
To me, it's hard to imagine less inflammatory statements. I mean: "All
software has flaws." How can anyone disagree with that?
But the froth-on-the-lips crowd is out in force, claiming I'm shilling for
Microsoft, or have my head far up a nether orifice. If members of the
rabid pro-Firefox crowd admit to any flaws in that software at all, they
say that the numbers of flaws are tiny, and the security holes
insignificant.
This view, however appealing, is totally false. There is no objective
evidence--- zero, zip, nada, nil--- to support that view. Instead, there
is a large and growing body of evidence that indeed and of course, there
are problems in Mozilla/Firefox, and some of them are quite severe,
opening the door to data theft, backdoor infections of your PC, and so on-
-- exactly the same kinds of problems that Internet Explorer is reviled
for!
In fact, in addition to the information originally cited in
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=160900911
, some new info came out this past weekend, after my article was already
written: The folks at Mozilla posted advisories on 9 newly-discovered
flaws in Mozilla and its offspring (including FireFox):
"Mozilla flaws could allow attacks, data access...Multiple
vulnerabilities that could allow an attacker to install
malicious code or steal personal data have been discovered in
the Mozilla Suite and the Firefox open-source browser." (Full
story: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5674883.html?tag=nl.e589 )
Again, these are *exactly* the same types of problems that IE is rightly
criticized for.
Does all this mean that Firefox is a bad browser? Not at all. It means
it's a normal browser, and will require vigilance to use safely.
Does this mean that Internet Explorer is wonderful? Not at all. It's a
normal browser, and requires vigilance to use safely.
If you keep either browser patched, and use the other security tools we
discuss here issue after issue, you'll be fine using either IE or Firefox.
In point of fact, most of the actual real-life exploits in IE have
affected out-of-date, unpatched, and/or unprotected systems. If you keep
your software up to date and protected, you'll be fine.
Bottom line: Firefox is a fine tool. If you like it, by all means use it.
But don't think that using it will automatically make you safe from
serious browser security issues--- in fact, cold, hard facts prove exactly
the opposite. So, once again: "It's great that there are open-source
alternatives to try, and it's smart to proactively explore all your
options. But go in with your eyes open: All software has flaws. There are
no panaceas!"
1) More FireFox Pros And Cons
In the current article on Firefox (
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=160900911
) my opening argument was "FireFox is a good browser, but not at all the
panacea its most ardent fans think it is." My closing argument was "It's
great that there are open-source alternatives to try, and it's smart to
proactively explore all your options. But go in with your eyes open: All
software has flaws. There are no panaceas!"
To me, it's hard to imagine less inflammatory statements. I mean: "All
software has flaws." How can anyone disagree with that?
But the froth-on-the-lips crowd is out in force, claiming I'm shilling for
Microsoft, or have my head far up a nether orifice. If members of the
rabid pro-Firefox crowd admit to any flaws in that software at all, they
say that the numbers of flaws are tiny, and the security holes
insignificant.
This view, however appealing, is totally false. There is no objective
evidence--- zero, zip, nada, nil--- to support that view. Instead, there
is a large and growing body of evidence that indeed and of course, there
are problems in Mozilla/Firefox, and some of them are quite severe,
opening the door to data theft, backdoor infections of your PC, and so on-
-- exactly the same kinds of problems that Internet Explorer is reviled
for!
In fact, in addition to the information originally cited in
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=160900911
, some new info came out this past weekend, after my article was already
written: The folks at Mozilla posted advisories on 9 newly-discovered
flaws in Mozilla and its offspring (including FireFox):
"Mozilla flaws could allow attacks, data access...Multiple
vulnerabilities that could allow an attacker to install
malicious code or steal personal data have been discovered in
the Mozilla Suite and the Firefox open-source browser." (Full
story: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5674883.html?tag=nl.e589 )
Again, these are *exactly* the same types of problems that IE is rightly
criticized for.
Does all this mean that Firefox is a bad browser? Not at all. It means
it's a normal browser, and will require vigilance to use safely.
Does this mean that Internet Explorer is wonderful? Not at all. It's a
normal browser, and requires vigilance to use safely.
If you keep either browser patched, and use the other security tools we
discuss here issue after issue, you'll be fine using either IE or Firefox.
In point of fact, most of the actual real-life exploits in IE have
affected out-of-date, unpatched, and/or unprotected systems. If you keep
your software up to date and protected, you'll be fine.
Bottom line: Firefox is a fine tool. If you like it, by all means use it.
But don't think that using it will automatically make you safe from
serious browser security issues--- in fact, cold, hard facts prove exactly
the opposite. So, once again: "It's great that there are open-source
alternatives to try, and it's smart to proactively explore all your
options. But go in with your eyes open: All software has flaws. There are
no panaceas!"