Open Source Software....

Today's discussion is about open source software. I downloaded three open source products and I will make comments as to how the software performed in comparison to the commonly purchased and licensed competitors.

First, I would like to discuss the open source browser, Firefox. I downloaded and used Firefox for a few days and here is my report.

The dowloading process was very smooth and I experienced no glitches. I really liked the look and feel of the Mozilla Firefox open source browswer. What I liked best were the tools and the layout. In my opinion, it is very intuitive and I did not need to go chasing for where to find the options I needed. I also like that it is fast and responsinve and even when there is a problem, the software is set up to be interactive, which makes the user feel involved. Immediately, there is an error message (with some funny comment) and the browser offers to recover the page and apologises. I really like that and have often been able to recover the pages I was visiting when things crashed.

What I did not like, and perhaps will find a fix for or will find out if it is related to my computer or Firefox, is that YouTube and Firefox are not playing well together. I do not know if there are behind the scenes conflicts with the companies or if there are some plugins missing, or what? But, every time I open youTube and try to watch something the script crashes and my system freezes for a bit. I am having the same problem with HuluPlus as the screen keeps on freezing while watching one of my favorite "Novelas".

So in summary, Firefox is excellent for most things, however, I am not able to completely do away with Internet explorer, as IE as a browser is out performing Firefox, in those few areas. Furthermore, not only does HuluPlus and YouTube run on my same computer without a glitch when processed through IE, but also my work-related websites such as scheduling, PowerSchools, and payroll do not operate on Firefox at all.  So, the result is having to use both browsers to do unique functions. I would love it if Firefox could do it all, as I like the look and feel of Firefox, ten times more than that of Internet Explorer.

Paola :o)