Microsoft feeds a lot of people in China, and I am not talking about its employees there. I am not thinking about those that are probably helped by Bill Gates' foundation, if any. Look at the picture below, and you should get the idea - those selling fake Windows Vista copies surely must thank Microsoft for giving them the chance to do so, but it's not about them today. Quite unexpected, but it seems the Chinese authorities have just started an antimonopoly investigation into the US giant, but other global software companies are also being targeted!

<-234x60 Half Banner - left->The problem is simple - the Chinese State Intellectual Property Office has to prove that Microsoft is engaged in discriminatory pricing...or not. According to a Chinese source, quoted by Xinhua Financial News, the SIPO is waiting for August, when the antimonopoly laws are going to be enacted, to start a serious antitrust lawsuit, so Microsoft should get ready for a rough ride!

The interesting part of the story is that Microsoft seems unaware of this, or so they want us to believe. A Singapore-based Microsoft spokesman said "Microsoft is unaware of any investigation but is always willing to work with and cooperate with the Chinese government," so...where's the truth? May this be only a rumor?

To be honest, I think Microsoft is a cow with a lot of milk, and governments all over the world seem to see this. I know - they are not pure as a white dove either, but why so many lawsuits now? I guess the European Comission only created a reason for others to jump on Microsoft, after all...

At last - don't get me wrong - Microsoft also continues to go on with a huge marketing flaw - emerging countries need prices to match the purchasing power. I know this discussion can go on for days, but I am sure all of you can imagine other ways to recover those money a company may lose if selling low-priced software to emerging countries.

If I try to remember the browsers that I used since I discovered the Internet, there are a lot of them in the list, but when I think about my primary browsers, there are only a few. Unfortunately, Netscape is dead and gone now, so the remaining ones are Opera, the big crowd of IE-based browsers, such as Maxthon, Avant Browser and others, depending on my mood, and Firefox, just as expected.

I know there are a lot of Firefox fanboys out there, but I am not one of those, believe me! I see Firefox as a very good browser, but I always found it to have a bunch of problems, so I never fell in love with it. No problem, there's enough time left for that to happen, but if and when it does, Firefox should really become much better than any browser in the wild!

Today, Mozilla.com also got updated, and this happened only a few minutes ago. I love the new layout of the site, mainly because now I can feel it closer to the user, being less of a corporate site and more of a user-friendly one, and you can understand whatever you want when I say "user friendly." Just take a look at it!

OK, these being said, I think we should leave anything else behind and get busy downloading and installing Firefox 3, don't you agree?

Setup
<-125x125 Button - left->
If you already have Firefox installed, I guess the Update feature is the best choice for having Firefox 3 up and running in an instant, but I have chosen to download and setup the program once again manually, because the built-in updater was extremely slow in doing anything, but this is explained by the heavy loads on Mozilla's servers today. After all, they want to break all download records today...

The file to download has about 7MB in size, and can be obtained using the link at the end of the article(you'll want to drop a comment down there, anyway!). Once you got it on your hard drive and you have started the setup process, here's what you will encounter, if you're facing the flaming fox for the first time...

As I always do, I have chosen the Custom setup mode, but you can pick Standard and escape clicking the mouse a few extra times. Before arriving to the point where you press Finish and make sure that "Launch Firefox now" is checked, you will have to (read and) agree the License Agreement, pick the setup mode, and if you have chosen my path, you also need to choose install location, then set up shortcuts, so you can add Firefox to your desktop, Start Menu Programs folder, and Quicklaunch toolbar...or not, finally followed by pressing another Next button, reviewing the install options one last time, then press Install and get ready to rock and roll!!

Launching Firefox...

Interface

Most people will surely install their favorite skin sooner or later, and those updating Firefox to version 3 won't even have the chance to see the default interface, but my advice is to switch back, at least for a while. Why?

Just as the new default interface Opera 9.5 received a few days ago, Firefox 3 looks better than its predecessor. Much better, I dare to say. The icons have been changed, the Back/Forward buttons are looking very interesting, and the one-click bookmark icon has been added to the address bar. I know I may be missing something, so feel free to let me know what I missed!

Features

"Mammon slept. And the beast reborn spread over the earth and its numbers
grew legion. And they proclaimed the times and sacrificed crops unto the
fire, with the cunning of foxes. And they built a new world in their own
image as promised by the sacred words, and spoke of the beast with their children. Mammon awoke, and lo! it was naught but a follower.

from The Book of Mozilla, 11:9
(10th Edition)"

Why the quote above? Well, type "about:mozilla" in the address bar and press Enter. Some consider this to be one Easter Egg, I consider it to be a great quote to start talking about the features packed inside what Mozilla claims to be "the best Firefox yet." For those who want to see something else as a proof that Firefox 3 exists, since the official page seems to appear and disappear, there's the screenshot below...

First of all, one thought - Firefox 3 still could be improved when it comes to memory usage. That should say it all, and I won't mention this again. It may be a feeling I get after using so many IE-based browsers that eat far less memory than Firefox ever did, but I know this can only get better. Good...now, let's see the highlights of those "more than 15,000 improvements," shall we?

As I was saying earlier, the thing that jumps right out in your face is the one-click bookmark feature. Everything is very simple - type an address, press the empty star to the right, and you have just bookmarked that site. Press the star, which has just become yellow, again, and you will see the window above, which allows you to set the options for this bookmark, including the tag, a handy new way of grouping bookmarks, apart from the good old folders.

Another side note - considering the way this feature works, a quick bookmark removal feature would also be welcome. If you ask me, I would go for a right click on the star, or a Delete option inside the window I have just shown you. Why? Think about trying to open a bookmarked site, and seeing that the domain has been parked, or that the site is no longer available in your country, and so on. Why click at least 4-5 times to delete it, when one click could be enough?

Obviously, Firefox 3 is faster than Firefox 2, just as expected. The score in the Acid3 test is still lower than Opera's, with 71/100, compared to 83/100, while Acid1 and Acid2 are both passed without breaking a sweat.

When talking about security, there's a feature called "Instant Web Site ID," having the purpose to help you "Avoid online scams, unsafe transactions and forgeries with simple site identity." It seems this is something similar to Opera's Fraud Protection, more or less...

Before moving on, one more thing - I don't understand why they still have left this behind, but Firefox 3 doesn't have mouse gestures! Well, you can't have them all...

When working with bookmarks, things have become a lot better, showing that Mozilla didn't simply watch those bookmark management extensions that appeared in the last years, without learning anything from them. The Library contains your browsing history, as well as you bookmarks, and you can sort them based on a lot of criterions, from name to location, tag or keyword.

Even more than just the above, you can save frequent searches in dynamic smart folders, saving a lot of your precious time, because these folders automatically update as your bookmark list and history grow. Pretty cool, huh?

The integrated Web Search now features smart keywords, so you can assign certain keywords to various search engines. This way, when you look for certain products, you'll use Amazon instead of Google, without having to change the default search provider. Even better, there are also search suggestions available, as you can see above.

As usual, this is only the top of the iceberg, because there's plenty to see in Firefox 3, especially when talking about security and usability. I guess that until I manage to decide which are my top 10 features of those that have been added, we'll have to be happy with what I noticed today...but you can help by adding your own observations, and I urge you to do so!

Final Thoughts

Ehem...all the official Firefox pages are now back to the old versions. I have no clue about what's happening, but I guess it has something to do with Mozilla's server being completely overrun by the incredible amount of traffic Firefox 3 can generate. We'll surely find out more about this in the coming days...or not!

What else to say about Firefox 3? I am impressed, honestly. I am not crazy about it, I didn't start to love it yet, because we have to get to know each other much better, and Firefox 3 is not one of those browsers to discover in a few hours.

So far, everything's good, and leaving aside the lower score in the Acid3 test, Firefox 3 may be even better than Opera 9.5, my current favorite, but only time will tell, because changing your primary browser is not something to do over night.

Developer: Mozilla
Price: free
Full version download: Download

No matter how strange it may sound, Microsoft is paying for Open Source! I know - this is not something you'd expect to happen, but this is probably more than meets the eye. Why? Well, the Redmond-based company is not actually paying to use Open Source software, but sponsoring The Open Source Census project. Ok, very nice, but WHY?

<-234x60 Half Banner - left->The aim of the OSC project is to track and catalog the use of open-source software in enterprises all over the world, but I am sure it's more in stake for Microsoft hear than the fact that they need to adapt to the increasingly heterogenous environments present in the enterprise world. I guess cleaning the sins of the past can go on second place, after all...

Just as a side note, I think it's good to see Microsoft giving back to the industry, after taking so much. Also, we're not in late 1990s, and things have changed a lot. Open-source software is getting more and more popular with enterprises and home users alike, and I think this is a great chance for everyone. To be honest, I don't trust Microsoft. It's not about Vista, not about the fact that Steve Ballmer doesn't seem the best mean to lead the company these days, it's just my personal feeling as one of those millions using Microsoft software, as well as open-source alternatives to the solutions provided by the Redmond giant.

Well, I guess we should wait and see how this entire effort moves along, and what's going to be the prize for Microsoft, because I am sure that behind every good deed, there's a reward, or at least the need for it.