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Firefox Lead Engineer On Origins, Security, And More

Posted by timothy on from the go-put-firefox-on-someone's-computer dept.

An anonymous reader writes "ZDNet has an interesting interview with Ben Goodger, the lead engineer for Firefox. When asked to comment on critics' claim that Firefox has a better security reputation than IE because it doesn't have enough market share to attract trouble, Goodger responded with a one-two punch. "Firefox is better designed in a number of ways -- we have no "mode" that allows untrusted content to be executed automatically, for example -- no "safe zone. Another reason -- market share does not predict security. Apache has more market share than has Microsoft IIS, which has more holes than Apache." On Longhorn, he believes it will be a tough sell for Microsoft because of backward compatibility issues."

7 of 57 comments (clear)

  1. It's simple by Stevyn · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The Mozilla Firefox team was able to look at all the wrongdoings of Microsoft and avoid them from the ground up. Firefox is a great app and I use it everyday. I cringe when I have to use IE at school.

    Microsoft could always ditch IE and use firefox code to develop their "new and secure" browser, but they've been pissing OSS for too long to take that route.

    The browser wars are starting back up again. IE hasn't changed in years because it hasn't had to. Now everyone is screaming to use firefox over IE. This hurts Microsoft because they need to keep the image that they're the best of everything.

    I hope firefox kills them in the browser wars. They have a better product. It was designed with usability and security in mind.

    1. Re:It's simple by prostoalex · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The Mozilla Firefox team was able to look at all the wrongdoings of Microsoft

      Let's set the record straight - Microsoft won the browser wars over the Netscape, because it delivered a better product with IE 4 and IE 5. Netscape Communicator 4 was bulky, glitchy, slow to load and slow to respond with ugly widgets. Netscape 6 was the same nightmare with different skin and off-the-scratch source code. IE at that point was faster, easier to use, and had native Windows widgets with faster response times.

      IE 6 is function-less, incapable of being customized (internal popup blocker did not come till SP 2) and is a security nightmare. Firefox just delivers a better product at the time.

      Microsoft was not always a loser in this game.

    2. Re:It's simple by dimator · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Let's set the record straight - Microsoft won the browser wars over the Netscape, because it delivered a better product with IE 4 and IE 5.

      Let's set the record a little straighter - are you sure bundling the browser had nothing to do with its popularity?

      --
      python -c "x='python -c %sx=%s; print x%%(chr(34),repr(x),chr(34))%s'; print x%(chr(34),repr(x),chr(34))"
  2. Re:final 1.0 by 0x461FAB0BD7D2 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    you could try the Mozilla Suite itself, replacing both IE and OE. And Mozilla Seamonkey is 1.7 (1.8 if you like alpha releases).

  3. Re:firefox vs. Nortons by tod_miller · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So it is fine for Spyware/Dialers to be taken of softwares 'threat' lists, but legitimate software?

    I cannot believe not more fuss was kicked up to stop Sophos (or whoever) removing the dialer software of thier list.

    It is thier software, they advertise it as preconfigured to thier judgement. If all cisco routers suddenly came preconfd to block mp3 packets, then we would all sooon find isp's telling cisco to remove this feature, or shop else where.

    I am guessing people wont mind dialers being blocked and that it is a service.

    Dumb client probably completely missread it, or saw a zonealarm request for access or something.

    User, pfftsk.

    --
    #hostfile 0.0.0.0 primidi.com 0.0.0.0 www.primidi.com 0.0.0.0 radio.weblogs.com
  4. Re:Correction by phobonetik · · Score: 2, Insightful

    While, yes, always prompting is essential, as soon as FireFox gains market share into the general base of 'standard pc literacy', people are way too careless to click 'ok' to anything, and hence install/wipe/ruin their computing experience. Having a prompt is a definate edge, but I hope from your implication above that XPI doesn't let runaway extensions on Mozilla to wreak as much damage.

  5. Right, but Parent is still right by brunes69 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Bundling did play a factor yes. And bundling is what has kept them in the lead for so long.

    But the parent is totally right in saying that Netscape 4 - 4.5 sucked donkey balls. It was slow, bloated, and incredibly hard to develop HTML for because of its goofy layers system. Even if MS had never bundled anything, I am quite convinced that Internet Explorer 4 (and later 5) would have gotten the majority market.

    After that it becomes more grey. If IE had never been bundled, IE6 vs. Netscape 6-7-Mozilla is much more difficult to call.