Mozilla's Firefox web browser has become kind of a big deal in the past few years because it's the first browser to actually make any kind of progress unseating Microsoft's clunky Internet Explorer behemoth. The reasons for this are simple:

1. Firefox is faster than Internet Explorer
   
2. Firefox is more extensible than Internet Explorer
   
3. Firefox is SAFER than Internet Explorer

If you want to continue listening to me ramble feel free, or just go start using Firefox now by clicking the following link. It will import all of your Internet Explorer favorites during install, so you don't have to worry about starting over.

One of the neat things about Firefox's rise to fame has been that it's forced Microsoft to actually start DOING something. Interesting fact: They sat around picking their bums on version 6 of Internet Explorer for almost FIVE YEARS before releasing version 7. That's absolutely insane. THINK of all the innovation surrounding the computer industry at that time! Almost every computer component quadrupled in power, "typing skill" was no longer a major resume builder, and your mother started reading your blog and saying things like "downloaded it from the internet" in common conversation. All that time Microsoft was doing nothing.

Then along comes Mozilla with Firefox and gobbles up 15% of Microsoft's share in the browser market and all of a sudden we've got two new versions of Internet Explorer in 3 years. Both 7 and 8 are available now, and you can bet that THAT's no coinkeedink. My hat is off to anything that inspires innovation. 

"Safer" is interesting too.Technically, Firefox really isn't any safer then Internet Explorer. The actual base code for the browser is posted online for anyone to see, nefarious or righteous in intent. However, since Firefox still has a relatively small market share, virus and spyware authors tend to focus on the browser everyone's using, not the little upstart. Therefore, there are like 1/10th as many viruses infect Firefox as there are IE viruses (I'm totally making that number up, but I'm sure it's close). It's the same reason why Mac's are so much "Safer" than PC's. Not because they're actually any more secure, just nobody cares enough to write viruses for them. A good slogan for them might be "Safer because nobody gives two craps!'.Actually, that's not a very good slogan.

Anyway, if I haven't sold you yet: Install a little program called "Adblock Plus" into Firefox once you're running it, and you'll come close to never seeing an internet ad again. Really.