Firefox 2 browser beefs up security, adds features

Stronger Firefox increases the challenge to Internet Explorer

The battle for browser supremacy continued in August as Mozilla launched the second beta of Firefox 2, just a week after Microsoft delivered version 7 Release Candidate 1 (RC1) of Internet Explorer (IE).

The 5.5MB Firefox download is about a third the size of IE7 RC1, and can be installed on Windows 2000 Professional systems as well as earlier unsupported Microsoft operating systems, unlike Microsoft’s newest IE version. To gauge the current new feature sets we installed Firefox 2 Beta 2 on Windows 2000 Professional and XP Professional systems.

In addition to a general refresh of Firefox’s theme and user interface, there is now built-in protection against phishing. Sites will be checked against local and online lists of phishing sites, although currently Mozilla is only using a limited list to “test the core Phishing Protection framework within the browser”.

Other features include a session restore feature for restoring the last user session following a system crash; an inline spell checker; improved tabbed browsing with close tab buttons; and the history menu will keep a list of recently closed tabs, allowing accidentally closed ones to be quickly reopened.

There are also enhanced search features, better support for previewing and subscribing to web feeds and the ability to create bookmarks with “Live Titles” for web sites that offer microsummaries. Support for Scalable Vector Graphic (SVG) text and JavaScript 1.7 has also been added.

Mozilla is conservative in estimating its global market share, which it said is about 12 percent. However, other figures, from Janco Associates for instance, put its share at nearly 14 percent. Janco estimates Microsoft’s IE has nearly 76 percent.

The increase in Mozilla’s market share has slowed since Microsoft started its IE 7 programme.