I’ve been online since back during the BBS days. And I’m embarrassed to admit that my first GUI browser was AOHell. But then I moved from East Armpit, East Coast, U.S.A. into a larger metro area where broadband was available, and, upon the discovery of high speed Internet, I used MSIE along with everyone else during Microcrap’s golden days of its monopoly. It sucked, but it was the only thing available at the time.
For a short while, I used Netscape and was happy with it, but once AOHell acquired it back in ’99 during the halcyon days of the Dow 10k, the browser, just like the dot coms, eventually turned to shit.
Before long, Mozilla came along, and, I used it for no other reason than simply because it wasn’t MSIE. Eventually, the more secure and customizable Firefox became a popular alternative to MSIE, and, shortly thereafter Opera, Safari and Chrome came along thus initiating the browser wars.
Although I still keep the latest version of MSIE on my box, as well as Opera, I have been using FF as the primary browser since its v.1.0 release in 2004, and, quite honestly, have been very happy with it. My only bitch with it has been the covert manner in which it upgrades itself by default each time a new build is released. Sometimes, this can be averted by disabling upgrades in the advanced settings menu, but more often than not, Mozilla forces the user to upgrade to its latest version.
I have come to enjoy my add-ons and themes and have been loathed to upgrade to the latest & greatest version of the browser since the add-on’s & themes always seem to be about 5 time zones behind its own ass. End result: the new version of FF disables all the cool stuff I’ve grown accustomed to. Pisses me off, but whaddya gonna do.
This evening, my previously reliable 1-click weather add-on suddenly stopped working and would not function again until I upgraded to the latest Firefox. Henceforth, tonight is the maiden voyage of FF v.3.0.15 on my box.
So far, the only difference I’ve seen is that it seems to load a hell of a lot faster than previous versions. Also, there are several add-on’s that I’ve taken a liking to including Personas, Cooliris and Colorful Tabs. Cooliris looks like it was borrowed from Beryl.
The negative is that the upgrade disabled a boatload of old favorite themes/add-on’s, and, also somehow even managed to delete some of my bookmarks and saved passwords.
Aero Silver Fox Basic Skin
Click to enlarge.
You’d think what with all of the hoopla Mozilla generates for itself that it would have its act together and not allow something as ridiculous and Microsoft-like as deleted bookmarks and passwords to happen. But, sadly, as Mozilla has transformed from a small, competent operation into a giant, self-important corporation, it has been gradually becoming as inept and bloated as its big brother, MSIE.
Posted by Prattle On, Boyo 
Prattle On, Boyo 