Firefox offers IU alternative browsing

Junior Rishi Verma thinks pop-ups are "annoying as hell." So, he was already looking for an alternative Web browser to Microsoft's traditional Internet Explorer when he found out about Mozilla Firefox. Firefox boasted increased security, a built-in pop-up blocker and new features -- all for free. Verma jumped at the chance to use it and has been a die-hard fan ever since.\nVerma is part of an increasing group of students, departments and universities which are dumping Explorer for Firefox and other browsers, or at least offering alternatives to the Microsoft stand-by.\nPennsylvania State University and the University of Florida are among the colleges increasingly favoring Web browsing alternatives, according to a July story in the Chronicle of Higher Education. For its part, IU is not ready to make any official switch but Firefox and other browsers are available to students, faculty and staff across campus.\nThe Student Technology Centers offer Firefox and other browsers in addition to Explorer and Netscape. Many departments including the Schools of Informatics and Journalism and the Computer Science department have Firefox installed on their computers, as well. \nThe added features and increased practical security are top reasons for some users to switch, but a majority of people still just stick with Explorer, Mark Bruhn, chief information technology security and policy officer said in an e-mail.\n"Savvy computer users are likely to look at different browsers, but the normal user is likely to use what came standard on the computer they purchased," he said.\nEight percent of Web surfers worldwide use Firefox, according to the story in the Chronicle.\nFirefox is also becoming more popular, if not dominant among Apple computer users as well, Lloyd Jones, a hardware support manager for the Computer Science department.\n"On the Macintosh side, I can definitely say that Firefox is the browser of choice," said Jones, who uses Firefox himself.\nJones said he likes the Mozilla browser because it offers features which Explorer doesn't, like tabbed-browsing and a pop-up blocker. Bruhn, who primarily uses Firefox, cited similar usability reasons for switching.\n"The security of course is always a big concern, too," said Jones. \nBut, Bruhn isn't convinced Firefox has more built-in security than Explorer.\n"It is true that IE has more reported problems and the user base is certainly vastly larger, and so those problems are magnified," he said. "If another browser exceeds IE in user-share, it is likely that the bad guys will target that browser also or instead."\nInformatics Professor Steven Meyers named another possible concern about Firefox. Firefox uses what is open-source, meaning anyone can view and download the code for the application. Normally this is seen as a good thing, because any of the application' users can look at the program from security flaws and bugs. But, this can also be \nharmful.\n"Just because anyone can look at the code, doesn't mean people who can find errors are the ones who do look at the code," Meyers said.\nHe said while Firefox depends on its users to look through the application for themselves, Microsoft pays computer scientists to sort through Explorer's code for flaws. That said, Meyers is a Firefox fan, too.\n"I use Firefox on all my machines," he said.