[LINK] RFI: Firefox 3.5/3.6

[Roger Clarke]

>On Thu, Mar 25, 2010 at 8:57 PM, Roger Clarke 
><Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au> wrote:
>>  Roger Clarke wrote on Thu, 25 Mar 2010 14:27:22 +1100
>>>Call be paranoid by all means, but is anyone aware of an analysis of
>>>Firefox 3.5/3.6 from the viewpoint of consumer rights and privacy? ...

At 21:04 -0300 25/3/10, Fernando Cassia wrote:
>You seem to have an axe to grind against Mozilla....

I've asked a series of questions about Firefox's consumer-friendliness.

Is that axe-grinding?

If it turns out that Firefox is marketer-friendly and 
consumer-hostile (which looks to be the case), I'd conclude that 
consumers should be warned off Firefox post v.3.0.x.

Would that be axe-grinding?


>¿Is IE 8 any better?

I assume it's pretty bad (although lack of integration with Google 
could be a strength!).  But I've never used *any* version of IE on 
any machine of my own, and I'm unlikely to, so I can't tackle the 
question, sorry.


>Do you really know what goes on under the hood in your
>proprietary OS, namely Windows 7?. Or XP for that matter?.
>Do you know what BITS (Background Intelligent Transfer Service) does
>while your computer is idling?.

Similarly, I haven't used any of the above except on other people's 
machines.  You explained one of the reasons.


>Do you advise people not to use Windows?

Absolutely!  (Although only for about the last 20 years).


>or are you just complaining against Mozilla and Google?

Who's complaining?  I try to have a bit more impact than that.

1.  I'm asking
2.  I'm gathering evidence
3.  I'll then draw conclusions
4.  I'll then reflect those conclusions in what I do, write and say

The tentative conclusion is that consumers shouldn't use Firefox post v.3.0.x.

(I haven't yet had a need to assess 3.6 from a corporate perspective, 
but I suspect that the front-end and embedded protections that an 
organisation would have in place would render it unusable anyway).

Now, if you ask me 'so what do you recommend then?', I'm on pretty 
soft ground.  It's a great pity that the marketers hi-jacked the 
Mozilla community.


-- 
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